LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
COLONIAL AIMS
SIR, I hope that Col. Stanley's article of January 21st does not indicate that the Conservative Party is considering an alteration in the policy of working towards Dominion status for the Colonies. The right to secede from the Commonwealth is the fundamental test of our sincerity in claim- ing to develop Colonial peoples for their own benefit and for that of the whole world. It is significant that Col. Stanley does not use the words " partner " or " partnership " at all, and indeed a little caution in this respect is not altogether undesirable. It is clear that not all Colonials are sufficiently advanced for equal partnership in the Imperial venture at this time. Both Col. Stanley's article and your own leading article warn of the dangers of generalisation, and it may be that in some cases " apprenticeship " is more appropriate than " partnership" as a term to describe the present phase of Colonial development. Apprenticeship is not a status incompatible with the self-respect of Colonial peoples who are endeavouring rapidly to learn the skills acquired over a period of several generations in this country; but surely equal partnership in the Commonwealth must be our final goal.
Our aim should be so to conduct Colonial development that the right to secede will not be used. We have to make the Colonial peoples our willing partners in the democratic way of life. In this respect Col. Stanley's aims are not dear ; there is nothing in his article which is designed to attract Colonial peoples to the idea of working as partners with us in the modem world, and no positive appeal to them for their co-operation. It is not enough to disclaim dreams of permanent paternalism (my italics). What we need now is an attitude in ourselves which will induce in the Colonial peoples (especially in the educated sections) a feeling that by working with us they are pulling their weight in an exciting venture of mutual benefit to themselves and to us. If we cannot or will not produce this feeling, either the Communists or the Americans will take our place.
If the Conservatives' forthcoming " Imperial Charter " is to meet the need of the times, it must attempt to inspire the Colonial peoples as well as to awaken the British electorate to our Imperial opportunity. It is of more than party political significance that such an attempt should be
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