“EXPLOITATION” FALLACIES

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23260, 23 July 1945, Page 8

“EXPLOITATION” FALLACIES

British Colonial Empire Misconceptions Exposed LONDON. ' Some current misconceptions about| Britain's treatment ol he r Colonies ! were vigorously answered i.y Colonel! Oliver Stanley. Colonial Secretary, in ; an address in London 10 an audience i which included many Americans. Among ihe major misunderstandings, : he said, was that though we had been , in these Colonial territories for many was less than hah a truth. The chief Colonial expansion took j place in the latter half of the nine- 1 teenth centrn '. In great stretches of I Africa we were dealing with people who had been completely i.smaiwl for centuries from the development, of the | Western world and whose hist, acquain- I tance with European thought and methods had been within the l.ictime I of people now living. To have attempted within th. short lime a catac’vsmic change from a traditional society, centuries old. to the complete adoption ol Western ways would have been as impracticable as it would have been disastrous. But it was wrong to suppose that, great changes had not taken place. Complete internal security had beersubstituted for tribal ’.. arlare and sk.ve-raiding; the title of law for the autocratic whim of the tribal chief; and Western ideas ol health, education and social services were being constantly expanded. Another belie! was that these territories wore ruled by autocratic governors. supported bv military power, and withou responsibility to local opinion or desires. Nt,thing could be farther from the truth. The degree in which the inhabitants were associated with, their Government varied from territory to territory ranging from almost complete internal self-government in Ceylon to various forms of legislative councils in which the proportion of I locally-born members varied. “Bed i:n Other Foot’’ Then there was the cherished belief I that the British Colonial territories were regions of great wealth, so ex- I plotted that the inhabitants remained poor while the rulers grew rich. In fact, the Colonial Empire was, for its area and population, far inferior in mineral resources to the' United States; and it made no contribution whatever to the United Kingdom Exchcouer. The boot was very much on. the other foot. In regard to our alleged exclusive trade policy, in 1938 the Colonies imported 24 per cent from the United Kingdom and 76 per cent from the rest of the world, while they exported ' respective!.' 35 per cent and 65 per cent. As for the "immense profits” drawn by private capitalists, the best answer was a cakiil.Vion recently made byLord Hailey, that if all the money invested in the Colonial Empire in the last 50 years had been invested in Government securities, the return to the investor would have been just about the same. The aim for the Colonial Empire could be briefly stated. It was ‘‘the 1 maximum of self-government within the Empire at the earliest practicable time.” Colonel Stanley concluded by saving | that anyone in his position had to ; deal with hard realities; and it was self-government and not. independence which he believed to be to the real advantage of the Colonial territories.