of the utmost importance, in the interests of the Empire as a whole, that such Indians as have already found a home there should receive fair and generous treatment. The recognition of a modified form of self-government in India under the system known as " dyarchy " and the extension of representative in- stitutions have greatly stimulated the political consciousness of the peoples of India; and things are now noted and resented which a few years earlier would have been treated as matters of course. The presence of Indian representatives at the Imperial Confer- ences of 1917 and 1918 served to bring home to the minds of dominion statesmen the new status obtained by India in the British Commonwealth of Nations, and the need for a new spirit in dealing with its population. Rules against Indian immigration could be reconciled with Indian dignity when reciprocal measures by India were formally sanctioned, and the hardships of existing laws with regard to the introduction of the wives of those already domiciled, or with regard to facilities for temporary or occasional visits, admit of easy mitigation. More difficult is the question of the franchise. In the past the argument has been that, as Indians had no voice in public affairs at home, they could not resent being treated in a similar way in a dominion. But now that they have begun their political apprenticeship in India itself the case is different; and, at the meeting of the Prime Ministers in 1921, the Indian representatives having laid great stress on the necessity of finding a remedy for this grievance, the conference, " in the interests of the solidarity of the British Commonwealth," recognized the desirability of granting citizenship to Indians lawfully domiciled in a dominion. It is significant, however, that the representatives of South Africa were unable to accept this resolution.
Nor is it in the dominions alone that this difficulty has been encountered. The Highlands of British East Africa (Kenya Colony) have developed into a white man's land, and Kenya is probably on its way to full responsible government. But Indians have for generations resorted to the shores of East Africa, and Indians have held that British East Africa's destiny lay in becoming a field for Indian immigration, under the British flag. The complete failure of such expectations, and the treatment accorded to British Indians in Kenya Colony by the British settlers, have doubtless been a contributory cause in promoting feelings of distrust and suspicion in India.
Under the Peace of Versailles a new form of colonial possession came into being. It seemed impossible, both in the interests of the natives and for military reasons, to restore to Germany the colonies that had been taken during the war. At the same time it did not appear seemly that a war, fought for moral ends, should be followed by a mere division of the spoil. The " mandatory " system was, therefore, evolved; the aim of which is to enforce the lesson that the possession of colonies, inhabited by savage or semi-civilized peoples, entails moral obligations toward such peoples. Accordingly their tutelage is entrusted to advanced nations who, by reason of their resources, their experience, or geographical position, can best undertake this responsibility, and who thus become mandatories on behalf of the League of Nations. The character of the mandate is differentiated according to the stage of development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions, and other similar circum- stances.
There are three kinds of mandates. Under the first (class A)
ithe mandatory power stands in the position of administrative adviser and assistant until such time as the dependent com- munity may be able to standalone; its existence as an independent nation being provisionally recognized, subject to the execution by the mandatory of its trust. In the case of the second form of mandate (class B) the popu- lation, as in German East Africa (assigned mainly to Great Britain), was still at the stage in which the mandatory must be exclusively responsible for the administration of the country; under conditions, however, which would guarantee freedom of conscience and religion (subject to the maintenance of public order and morals); the prohibition of abuses, such as the slave trade, traffic in arms or in liquor; and would prevent the estab-
lishment of fortifications or military and naval bases, and the military training of the natives for other than police purposes and actual defence. In territories under this form of mandate equal opportunities must be given for the trade and commerce of all nations belonging to the League of Nations.
Lastly (class C) there were territories, such as German South- West Africa and certain of the islands in the Pacific south of the Equator (assigned to the Union of South Africa and to Australia and New Zealand), which, owing to the sparseness of their popu- lation, their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilization, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the mandatory Power, could be administered most conveniently under the laws of the mandatory as integral portions of its territory; but subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.
The recognition of this last class was, in great measure, due to the exigencies of the British dominions. The Union of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand were all countries having a protective tariff. Had their new possessions come under the provision applying to class B, they must either have set on foot different tariff arrangements in their possessions or else have incurred the obligation to throw open their commerce to all members of the League.
That the League of Nations intended to take very seriously its work under the mandatory system was shown by the amend- ments proposed by the sub-committee of the executive com- mittee which dealt with the British draft of the mandate for Tanganyika. Amongst other alterations of a stringent character it was proposed that, on the coming into force of the mandate, " all lands not already alienated by regular title, whether oc- cupied or unoccupied," should be declared " native lands," and that no native lands should be alienable, a provision which would apparently render impossible any kind of European colonization or development. The further proposal that any person in the territory should be able, through the medium of the mandatory Power, to bring complaints to the League with regard to the non- observance of the terms of the mandate might, conceivably, lend itself to abuse, in the event of such complaints being manufac- tured or encouraged for political purposes.
With regard to trade relations, there was no movement during 1910-21 in the direction of an imperial Zollverein. In Canada the party that in opposition had denounced protection had found insuperable difficulties in the way of changing the policy of their predecessors and contented themselves with maintaining the British preference. But the effect of reciprocity with the United States, had it come into force, must have been to diminish the advantage to British trade of such preference. In these years, whilst the policy of preference for British goods gained in favour throughout the dominions, it was seldom advocated unless it could be accompanied by a general raising of the scale of the general tariff. In Great Britain the Unionist leaders had found themselves faced with the difficulty of proposing duties upon primary articles of food; and the revised platform merely de- manded a preferential treatment of goods produced in the Empire which were already subject to duties, a modest proposal which was carried into effect by the budget of 1919.
At the 1911 Conference Sir W. Laurier, tired of general dis- cussions in which neither party was able to convince the other, made the practical proposal that a peripatetic Royal Commission should be set on foot, to take stock of the existing resources of the Empire, and to consider how trade might be increased between its component parts. This commission did much useful work in the years before the war; and the appointment of new trade com- missions in the different dominions and colonies had the effect of stimulating trade with Great Britain. Unfortunately, in the special circumstances which were the aftermath of the war, there were more formidable obstacles in the way of the expansion of British trade than ignorance or indifference on the part of possible customers.
In another direction the war has had regrettable results. Nothing can help so much to promote imperial unity as a cheap postage system, both for letters and for newspapers, and cheap
