I quite realise that it is open to anyone who wishes to go into it, but what I meant to say was that special facilities should be given by the Government in collaboration with the Dominions Governments. A thing that wants emphasizing is that we should make it quite clear, by definite statements, that if the Canadian Government wanted at any time to revise the British North American Act there could be no objection from this country to their doing so. That may seem superfluous, but if you study the debates in the "Empire Parliamentary Association Journal" you will find that these ideas are being constantly raised and their denial makes no difference to the number of times that they are brought up. The same applies to the Privy Council appeal, although there they have to clear up the position with their own provinces. You see this talk of a limited independence in the debates of several of the Dominions. There is nothing in it, because the Dominions know that they can go out of the Empire to-morrow if they like. They often complain at our dictating Foreign Policy, but they know that it is quite open to them to take a share in the foreign policy of this country if they wish to do so and have the energy and initiative, and that is their own fault, During the heat and passion of what has gone on in Canada recently, statements were made in responsible quarters that in cases prior to the appointment of Lord Willingdon as Governor-General the Dominion Governments had not been consulted or given an opportunity to approve of such an appointment; as this is injurious to Empire liaison, I should like the Secretary of State to say that there is no foundation for that and that for many past years the Dominions have been consulted and have approved before any such appointments have been made.

There are one or two points that should be taken up and taken up seriously in the Conference. One of them is the question of the Pacific. The Pacific, in terms of hard cash, is costing us a great amount of money, the Singapore Dock, for instance. This problem will cause a lot of trouble on both sides of the water one day. We know about the growing population of Japan, but we have never said where Japan may expand and develop. I do think that all the Pacific countries should be called together to discuss the question of where there can be found an opening for the growing population of Japan. A day will come when this problem will have to be decided why not decide it now in peace and quiet before the problem arises? Many countries, quite rightly, have said that she may not come to them, and it is up to those countries to decide where she shall go.

I wish also to raise a question in connection with the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act of last year. A Committee was set up last year to inquire into the difficulties thus created with regard to migration of our personnel to the Dominions. The Report which they issued showed a position which was disquieting, and I do hope the opportunity of the Conference will be taken to see whether we cannot get some co-ordination with the Dominions legislatively and administratively as to pensions to make the flow of migration easier from now on. With regard to the question of migration, it is, perhaps, not fair to taunt the Secretary of State with the fact that when the 1922 Act was passed it was said that the numbers would be, roughly speaking, six times greater annually than history has shown them to be, but I think this matter will have to be faced when the Conference comes up, as certainly it is not nearly adequate as things are. One of the most interesting reports on this subject was that of Mr. Banks Amery on group settlement is Western Australia, and I think that successfully removes all the doubts with regard to the principles and operation of group settlements.

5.0 P.M.

I hope the Commonwealth Government will be encouraged to remove as soon as possible all the obstacles that lie in the way of that scheme being renewed and that other Dominions will be encouraged to investigate it. I discovered the other day, by chance, a glaring case of waste in the Dominions Office, although it was a year ago. Telegrams were sent out to the various Dominion Governments in connection with the Geneva Protocol and they were of course sent out at great length. That is always the method that is associated with Government Departments; but my point is that this same long telegram was sent out to the Irish Free State. If the message had been sent to Ireland as a dispatch the answer could have come back just as quickly as the answers from the other Dominions. Whoever was involved in that transaction should certainly be put on the rack. When I had the inestimable privilege last year of being the only Englishman who was on the Gallipoli peninsula at the tenth anniversary of the original landing I was tremendously impressed with the care and attention, and, indeed, almost love, devoted by the Australians in charge of the War graves to those cemeteries which they are making into what will one day be the most beautiful plantations. I should like to ask the Secretary of State whether now that there is a better atmosphere prevailing between ourselves and Turkey, we could see that the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne are carefully carried out in regard to the roads leading to those graves. When I was there those roads were being ploughed up by the Turks simply because the Turks wanted to make themselves objectionable. There were also cases of shooting at the staff, many of whom are Russian refugees, and I should like to know whether they have now ceased. This road question is not merely a legal matter of the Treaty, but a sentimental offence. I should like to ask whether the right to have crosses on these memorials could not also be raised, as this means a great deal to many of us. At a time like this, when our liaison has so greatly improved with Turkey, it might be a good opportunity to raise these questions.

There is one other point which I feel I must put before the Secretary of State, and I suggest that he might make representations to the Cabinet and to the Foreign Secretary upon it. That is the question of the sphere of the Colonial Office. It seems to me that the proper function of the Foreign Office is liaison; the proper function of the Colonial Office is administration, and therefore I cannot reconcile with that the principle that the Sudan should be under the control of the Foreign Office. There you have people in many cases administering a lot of very primitive black negros, to a very large extent the same type as those you find in other parts of Africa, and yet you have them under the control of the Foreign Office of all Departments! The Colonial Office should be the proper Department to take control of the Sudan, and more and more we must aim at the linking up of this territory with British East Africa as it is economically very largely already. I cannot see what this craze for the condominium is founded upon. One of the few things that I agree with in the policy of the Leader of the Opposition is the practical suggestion which he made some time ago that we should entirely separate the Sudan from Egypt, and get a permanent. Mandate from the League of Nations to run the Sudan on good sound British lines. That policy as to Colonial Office control should also be pursued as regards our administration of Aden and the Persian Gulf Protectorates which are linked up with Arabia and Iraq, both mainly Colonial Office concerns. I can see no possible sense in their being controlled by the India Office. Why the India Office should be considered more capable of conducting matters in that part of the world than the Colonial Office is a matter which is entirely beyond my small intelligence to understand. It is high time that the Chartered Company, a system which has done such good work in opening up backward territories, should come to an end in regard to British North Borneo, that the administration should he handed over to the Government, and that these matters should not be kept in the hands of a private company. That is unsound in principle and might one day, if there were any trouble, land the Government in much embarrassment.

I wonder whether it is premature to ask the Secretary of State to tell us whether the Government have come to any decision with regard to the future of North Eastern Rhodesia, and whether they have considered linking it up with Nyasaland, or whether they are going to continue the present impossible system of running it from the adminstrative centre at Livingstone, many weeks' journey away. I also want to ask another question, and that is with regard to the college in Achimota, in West Africa. I hope that we are not attempting to introduce into Africa education of the British secondary school type, but are teaching them crafts which are far more adapted to their mentality. May I also ask whether any steps have been taken to link up the Uganda Lakes with the Nile system, so as to make a quick and cheap through transport service? At the present time there is a tiresome break of, I think, 60 or 70 miles, and money might well be spent, perhaps, out of the guaranteed loan or by some other means in linking up these two lines of communication, by road, rail and river. I should like to suggest also that we should show more initative, as do the French, in considering the potentialities of the development of our backward African States. The French are always doing such things as sending motor cars across the Sahara. We never hear of our doing anything of that kind. Why should we not have organised motor trips as from, say, Lagos to Mombasa?