74

A.—s

Third Day. 18 April 1907.

Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL : On the point of payment for the secretariat, I understood that there was a general agreement upon the assertion of the paramount responsibility of some minister of the British Government with regard to the control of such secretariat. I cannot help feeling that that would be very much impaired if it was a secretariat supplied and financed from a joint fund. I am quite sure it would undoubtedly weaken the control and authority of the minister presiding over the department if that department was supplied and financed from a fund collected from a great many different contributory bodies. Mr. DEAKIN : That is quite a fair criticism from my point of view, except that it must be remembered that the functions of this particular Department are strictly regulated. It is a small secretariat which is to collect, receive, and distribute information, answer inquiries, and follow them out. Therefore, the only ministerial control required is office management, seeing that the officers are doing their work, and for that the head of the Department would* be responsible Our secretariat would have had no executive or any other kind of power. It would have been a collecting, collating, analysing, tabulating, and distributing medium. Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL : But you would give the head of the Department administering it power, for instance, to dismiss a member of the secretarial staff with whom it was dissatisfied? Mr. DEAKIN : Certainly. Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL : But if you took a different view with regard to the conduct of that member I Mr. DEAKIN : He would have the right of appeal. Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL : But the Colonial Government which took a particular interest in that member, or felt that he had a special reason or claim to speak on their behalf, might take a strongly different view from the Home Government in regard to the member's position, and the fact that they contributed actually a portion of the fund out of which he was paid might lead them to assert in a very definite form that division of authority which you all seem anxious to avoid. Mr. DEAKIN :I do not think that would occur. There must be one head for office purposes. Dr. JAMESON : As we said before/the Prime Minister in charge of ih' secretariat would represent all the other Prime Ministers. It is very natural, if we pay towards the upkeep of the secretariat, to choose some one, in the, absence of the others, to take charge. That is a different position from that of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who, of course, is entirely concerned with the Imperial Government. My own view was not so much as to the question of which department of the Government it should be under, but I was anxious as to the knowledge of the people who form the secretariat. My great point is, that it should be composed of people well informed in Colonial affairs, and I hope Lord Elgin will take that into account when he is forming the secretariat, and then I shall be quite satisfied. Sir JOSEPH WARD : I would like to say, my Lord, that I understand from the observations you have made, that the Prime Minister cannot undertake this duty.

Future Constitution of THE Conference.