Colonies and Claimants The Colonial Secretary stated in the House
of Commons on Wednesday, in response to a group of rather disturbed M.P.'s, that " the Government had not considered and were not considering the handing over of any of the British colonies or territories under mandate." That is a safe and wise statement, but no one can suppose that it is the last word on the colonial question. The demands of Germany and Italy for some modification of the present position--7-which by no means necessarily means " handing over " anything—arc too insistent and have too much reason behind them in some of their aspects to be ignored. Lord Lothian's• letter in Tuesday's Times was a forcible and necessary reminder that a League that can do. nothing but -stereotype the status quo is more likely to plunge the world in war than to save it from war. And the first field in which some change, even if it is no more than the opening of closed doors to the trade of all nations, is required is the colonial. The question of what steps can best be taken needs careful but immediate study. An article by a, German writer on a later page of this issue may suggest a •partial solution. .Miss Perham, in the course_ of her three important articles in The Times this week on " Our Task in Africa," coined a constructive phrase—" the inter nationalisation of Imperialism," That aim is a chal lenge to the " colonial-minded " in all countries,
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