37

A.—4

words the Prime Minister of South Africa alluded to the establishment of everlasting peace. Peace means a stable and unalterable relationship between communities —based on honourable equality and recognition of equality of status. To embody this ideal—there are deductions from it now in actual practice —we are going to submit—l mean our Indian delegation—for the consideration of this Cabinet, a resolution, the terms of which I understand have already been communicated to you. This is a resolution that will be regarded in India as the test by which the whole position must be judged. I will not say more than that. It is of supreme importance that that subject should be considered and disposed of satisfactorily at this meeting, and it is of the most urgent and pressing importance that we should be enabled to carry back a message of hope and of good cheer. There is no conviction more strongly in our minds than this : that a full enjoyment of citizenship within the British Empire applies not only to the United Kingdom, but to every self-governing Dominion within its compass. We have already, sir, as you are aware, agreed to a subtraction from the integrity of the rights of the compromise of 1918 to which my predecessor, Lord Sinha, was a party, that each Dominion and each self-governing part of the Empire should be free to regulate the composition of its population by suitable immigration laws. On that compromise there is no intention whatever to go back, but we plead on behalf of those who are already fully domiciled in the various self-governing Dominions according to the laws under which those Dominions are governed —to these people there is no reason whatever to deny the full rights of citizenship, it is for them that we plead ; where they are lawfully settled, they must be admitted into the general body of citizenship, and no deduction must be made from the rights that other British subjects enjoy. It is my unfortunate part to have drawn prominent attention to what we consider a great defect in the present arrangements. It may seem to be of comparative trifling importance to the other issues we have to consider. I only plead that there should be no occasion for small bickerings, no occasion for mutual recriminations amongst us. We have great tasks : let little things be got out of the way. I only wish that all our common energies should be bent towards realizing more and more within the Empire, and extending further and further outside the British Empire, those generous ideals of progress to which, sir, you gave such inspiring and, if I may say so, such alluring expression yesterday. STATEMENT BY MR. CHURCHILL ON THE COLONIES, ETC. Mr. Churchill : The Prime Minister has asked me to give a brief statement to the Conference, or meeting—however we are to define it —about the Colonies and possessions which are administered directly under the Colonial Office ; and I need hardly say that if I were to attempt to give you a picture of the condition of these States I should occupy an enormous amount of time, because each one is a story in itself full of interest and full or romance. In every one of these Colonies there are problems similar to those in larger States, though on a smaller scale. In some cases, indeed, they are more complex than those which are found in great States, because in many of them there are great differences of race. Their finances are also complicated. Some are so exiguous that the sale of postagestamps to those who take an interest in philately is an important feature in their revenue. The production of turtles is in one case almost the staple source of export and of revenue. Others are great, wealthy, prosperous Protectorates, exporting forty million or fifty million pounds' worth of goods to this country, and supplying Great Britain, and to a certain extent the Empire, with the raw materials of some of their essential and vital industries. Prosperity during the War. As long as the war lasted practically all the Colonies and Dependencies were very prosperous, but with the arrival of the happy conditions of peace a wave of depression has fallen upon almost every one of them so far as their trade is concerned. During the war we got our tin from Malaya, plumbago from Ceylon, wolfram from Hong Kong, mahogany for frames of aeroplanes from Honduras, fine cotton for their wings from the West Indian Islands. The sugar-producing Colonies