Reflections on British Colonial Policy

THE PREVALENT OPINION of the British people with regard to colonial development was well expressed by Lord Hailey in a lecture at Toronto in 1942. is no place, he said, in the British Commonwealth of Nations for peoples who are condemned to be permanently 'backward', nor for areas that must be always 'depressed'. It can have no place for communities which cannot expect a future in which they will rank as free members of a society of free peoples. Similar opinions have been frequently asserted on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom. An understanding of the ultimate aim is essential to any attempt to appreciate the practical policies of British colonial administration. One of the most important Parliamentary debates on colonial affairs was held on July 13, 1943. In the course of it Colonel Stanley, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, gave clear expression to British aims. central purpose of our colonial administration, he said, often been proclaimed. It has been called the doctrine of trusteeship, although I think some of us feel now that the word 'trustee' israther too static in its connotation and that we should prefer to combine with the status of trustee the position also of partner. But we are pledged to guide colonial people along the road to self-government within the framework of the British Empire. We are pledged to develop their natural resources. The principle of trusteeship has, as a matter of fact, been an accepted principle of British colonial policy for a hundred years or more and, although much has been left undone, much has also been done to make that conception a reality. In recent years, however, a new stress has been laid on the economic aspects of the colonial problem and statesmen have come to understand the need for building up the social and economic stability of the dependencies as a necessary preparation for the development of self-government. There was undoubtedly a need for a new approach to colonial economy, which would give the colonies greater opportunities for sound economic development than had formerly been open to them. To understand the change and the reason for earlier policies it is necessary to take note of British political philosophy in general and the changes

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