THE COLONIAL SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 9

THE COLONIAL SERVICE

GREATER EFFICIENCY SOUGHT . RUGBY', May 1. The creation of a single Colonial service is recommended in the report of the committee which has been considering appointments in the Colonial Office and the Colonial service. The committee w: appointed last year by Air L. S. Amery (Colonial Secretary in the Conservative Government), with Sir Warren Fisher as chairm: For some time past it has been considered that certain changes were necessary owing to the growth of the British dependencies towards a new status of Dominions as established at the last Imperial Conference. It was found that under the growing system of independence there were now many anomalies. The Colonial Office itself, for example, has become a dual department, that is the Colonial Oliice proper and the Dominions Oilice. The report deals with the territories handled by the Colonial Oliice. These comprise fifty different territories covering more than 2,000,000 square miles, with a total population of 50,000,000 people with varied nationalities and religions. The expenditure of colonial government alone has risen from £19,000,000 in 1909 to £68,000,000 in 1929. The governmental staff has increased from 93,208 to 220,770.

In recommending the creation of a single colonial service the committee urges that special services, such as agriculture, medicine, and education, should be organised within this single service. "With regard to the appointments now made through the machinery of the Private Secretary to the Secretary of State, it is recommended that the final collection of candidates should bo made by the Colonial Services Appointments Board, which should be set up, consisting of ?*. chairman and two members nominated by the Civil Service Commission. With reference to the elections of Governors, the committee recommends that prior consideration should be given to the suitability of of’cers holding high offices in the colonial services. The Committee produces figures which serve to show that there is no real ground for the suggestion-, that /the older universities have anything like a monopoly of colonial appointments.