Walter Monckton It must be rare for the obituaries of
a public man to contain so little criticism and so much affection as those following the death of Lord Monckton. But then, he was both the nicest and the least controversial figure imaginable: too gentle perhaps for politics.
I think that his greatest service to his country may well have been his chairmanship of the Central African Committee of Inquiry. He was in his seventieth year when he embarked on a long and exhausting tour of duty in the Federa- tion with his colleagues. He had to go in the face of uncomprehending hostility from Welensky and Whitehead, and a virtual boycott from the Labour Party here and African nationalists abroad. Some- how he succeeded. His report made it easier, indeed possible, to complete in due time the transfer of power in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and it is well worth reading again as the intractable problem of Southern Rhodesia looms nearer. Perhaps another commission would help•--but there can never be another Walter Monckton. Only he could have inspired unity in the motley crew he was given to captain.
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