ing the procedure up to date, and he was entirely satisfied with the existing machinery, which he believed could be made to work even more satisfactorily in the future.

In the Gold Coast a scheme of decentralization and of coordination of work of the technical and administrative services on lines described by Sir Gordon Guggisberg had now been in force for over seven years, and had been entirely successful in its operation.

Sir Edward Grigg explained that in Kenya also the Colonial Government were anxious to establish the principle that the district officer was the representative of the Governor in his community, acting indeed "as a father to all the other services " and helping them in every possible way. Progress was being made, but the existing practice of constant changes from one part of the territory to another in the case of both administrative and technical officers made real co-operation difficult at times.

As regards Tanganyika, a memorandum which had been issued on Native Administration in the Territory laid it down. that the channel of communication between a Native Administration and the Government was the Provincial Commissioner and the District Officer, and it was through this channel that departments should as a rule communicate; but in purely technical matters the representatives of technical departments might directly advise the Native Administrations, just as the administrative officer advised them on matters of administration.

As a further measure to promote better co-operation between the technical and administrative staffs, the Conference attached. importance to the practice already adopted by certain Colonial Governments of arranging periodical conferences between heads of departments. By this means every officer would in course of time become familiar with the work of other departments on matters of importance. In Palestine, for example, there were fortnightly staff conferences in the Jerusalem District, presided over by the chief administrative officer of the District, which all the provincial heads of technical departments attended.

In Ceylon and other places a very useful practice had come into operation whereby the administrative officers and the technical officers went on circuit, i.e., travelled together in the districts, so that they could study and discuss the various problems together.

XI. CO-OPERATION AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION.

The Conference reviewed the present arrangements for the exchange of information and intelligence between different parts of the Colonial Empire, particularly in relation to technical and scientific matters. It was obvious from statements received from Colonial Governments on this subject that, while great progress had been made in this direction, there was still considerable

room for improvement. The consensus of opinion at the Conference was that Colonial Governments should consider afresh whether the existing machinery for the distribution of reports, etc., should not be overhauled. Many of the statements, for example, received from the various Governments showed that the distribution from this country and elsewhere of Colonial Annual Reports, Blue Books, Bulletins of technical departments, etc., was still carried out in a rather haphazard fashion, and that there was, in fact, very considerable diversity of practice, particularly in the distribution of Agricultural and Veterinary Reports.

Emphasis was laid on the desirability of full publicity being given by Colonial Governments to the bulletins and reports of scientific and technical bodies forwarded from this country, and the importance of ensuring that copies of such papers were widely circulated in each Dependency.

Mention was made of the valuable publications of the Imperial Bureaux of Entomology and Mycology, and of the quarterly Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, copies of all of which are distributed regularly to Colonial Governments. Reference was made to the work which was being carried on at the Imperial Institute under the scheme of reorganisation effected by the Imperial Institute Act, 1925, in the collection and dissemination of technical and commercial information regarding the production and utilisation and marketing of Empire raw materials of plant and animal origin.

As regards the distribution of information on agriculture generally, the Conference took note of the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on Agricultural Research and Administration in the non-self-governing Dependencies (Cmd. 2825, Part II), which were reaffirmed in the report of the Committee on Colonial Scientific and Research Services adopted by the Conference (vide Section VIII). To remedy to some extent the defects of the present arrangements the Committee had recommended that agricultural officers other than entomologists and mycologists should be required to submit, through local Directors of Agriculture to a central clearing-house in this country, a full report of their investigations. This clearing.

house would sift, index, and collate the whole of the material so received, at the same time collecting, so far as possible, relevant information from other parts of the Empire and from foreign countries. It would then prepare extracts of all this material for circulation in the form of a bulletin to all concerned. The Committee considered that, if their proposals for the establishment of a clearing-house were approved, the Imperial Institute was the body best qualified and adapted to organise this work, more especially as the collection and dissemination of information relating to raw materials was already included in its statutory functions.

The attention of the Conference was also drawn to the Report of a Committee recently appointed by the Secretary of State to examine the contents and form of the Colonial Annual Reports and to make recommendations on possible improvements.* The Secretary of State stressed the great importance of ensuring a high standard of quality in such Reports, in the interest not only of the working of the administrative machinery of the Colonial Office and the Colonial Governments, but also of the distribution of knowledge between Colonies. The recommendations, therefore, in the Committee's Report had been framed with a view to enabling Colonial Governments to draw up a Report which would be uniform with those of other Colonies, and would present an interesting account of the main activities of the local Government and of the progress and development of each Dependency during the preceding year. In particular, from the point of view of trade development it was essential that the section on "Trade and Economics" should contain information as to the state of trade, the trend of development of imports and exports as shown by statistics, and the character and size of the import and export trade, particular attention being paid to trade between the Dominions and the Colonial Empire and information as regards openings for British products. It was explained that the Report of the Committee would be communicated to all Colonial Governments for their information and guidance.

The Conference warmly supported a proposal that the Crown Agents for the Colonies should consider the preparation of a half-yearly" Public Works Bulletin " for the information of Colonial Governments. It was suggested that this Bulletin should contain engineering and other technical information based on the experience of the Crown Agents in supplying the requirements of the Colonial Governments and on the experience which those Governments had obtained of the use of such materials. The proposed Bulletin would not encroach upon the ground already covered by technical engineering publications which were accessible to all Governments. It was further suggested that this Bulletin could also be used as a means of distributing information as to the suitability of British road plant for Colonial conditions.

A proposal for the issue of a Colonial Educational Bulletin is dealt with under Section XXI (a).

It was also realised that great advantage accrues to all concerned from the system, already in force to some extent in the West Indian and East and West African groups of Dependencies, of periodical conferences of heads of the various technical departments-Educational, Medical, Sanitation, Veterinary, Agricultural, Forestry, Lands and Survey, Public Works, Railways, Customs, Posts and Telegraphs, and Prisons. The Con

*. See Appendix VIII. in Cmd. 2884.

ference strongly recommended that this system of group conferences of technical officers should be encouraged and regularised in every possible way.

The Conference made the following other suggestions which they regarded as worthy of consideration by the authorities concerned :

(1) that Colonial Governments should make a practice of sending to the Colonial Office and to the Imperial Institute extra press copies of annual reports of technical departments immediately they become available,

(2) that Colonial Governments should endeavour to arrange that copies of the Colonial Annual Reports should be available in the Colonial Office as soon as possible after the close of the calendar year.

(3) that the Imperial Institute should be permitted to correspond direct with heads of technical departments in the Colonies on details of technical subjects and on arrangements of a routine character relating to the exchange of information,

(4) that, as regards the printing of Colonial Reports, Colonial Governments should arrange for reports to be printed in this country, if either economy or expedition of production could be so obtained,

(5) that the Ministry of Transport should arrange for the distribution to the Directors of Public Works in Colonies, etc., of copies of the Annual Report of the Road Fund, and, on the occasion of the first such distribution, should suggest co-operation between the Ministry and the Public Works Departments on road problems of interest to individual Colonies,

(6) that a Handbook of Administration, dealing with matters common to many Colonies and giving summaries of the methods in use in various places, would be of great value, e.g., as regards licensing systems, motor vehicle regulations, public health control, food-adulteration laws, and co-operative trading. Such a publication would make it possible for the fruits of experience in one part of the Colonial Empire to be made more readily available for other parts, and would be of assistance to the various. Administrations.

XII. THE PROCEDURE AND CONDUCT OF BUSINESS IN COLONIAL LEGISLATURES.

The discussions on this subject were based upon a memorandum* which had been prepared for the Conference by Mr. Bryan Fell, Senior Clerk in the House of Commons. In this

* See Appendix IX. in Cmd. 2884.

memorandum attention was drawn to the influence which procedure in its broad sense exerts on constitutional development, and certain suggestions were put forward regarding the procedure to be followed in Colonial Legislatures. Reference was made, among other points, to the importance of the taking of the Oath of Allegiance, as his first official act, by every member of a Colonial Legislature; the possibility in some Colonies of a gradual transition from the presidency of a Governor to that of a freely-elected Speaker; the advisability of a greater use of cere-monial; the desirability of the general adoption of a Rule or Order referring to the practice rather than to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons in cases of doubt; and the importanceof standardizing methods of voting.

An interesting discussion took place regarding the procedure and usage followed in the various Legislative Assemblies. The Conference recognised that, in view of the widely divergent circumstances and stages of development of the several Colonies, no absolute uniformity in these matters was practicable, but they considered it desirable that there should be the largest possible measure of uniformity in procedure both as regards Standing Orders and as regards ceremonial. The desirability, generally speaking, of a greater use of ceremonial, especially in the opening of Legislatures, was urged; the taking of the Oath of Allegiance, as his first official act, by every member of the Legislature, the use of a regal emblem in the shape of a Mace, and the opening of Proceedings with Prayers would, it was thought, help to increase the prestige of the various Assemblies.

As regards the position of the Governor as President of the Legislature, it was pointed out that in the case of certain Colonies, which had enjoyed for many years a very considerable measure of representative government, a freely-elected Speaker already presided in the elected branch of the Legislature and that the Governor had few, or even no, opportunities of addressing the Legislature. It was felt, however, that as regards most other Colonies, although the substitution as President of a freely elected Speaker might be possible at some future date, it was essential in present circumstances that the Governor should retain his position as President and continue to participate in the proceedings of the Legislative Council. In any event, even in such cases as Ceylon, where the Governor delegates his presidency to a Vice-President, it was felt that the Governor's right to address the Legislature at any stage in its proceedings should be preserved.

The Conference decided to recommend that sets of model Standing Orders should be drawn up for adoption in the various Colonies, and in this connection it was agreed that reference in case of doubt should be had to the practice of the House of Commons and not to the Standing Orders, many of which are obviously inapplicable to the Colonies.