Science in Public Affairs 



recommendation of periodical conferences of re- 

 presentatives of all the colonies and protectorates, 

 to report upon matters affecting the native popula- 

 tion that would be valuable in the unification of 

 native laws and administration. 



The first practical step towards federation was 

 taken when Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange 

 Free State formed themselves into a Customs 

 Union ; the next, when the railways and the con- 

 stabulary of the Transvaal and Orange River 

 Colonies were placed under an inter-colonial 

 council. Since then, the Customs Union has been 

 extended by the inclusion of the Transvaal and 

 Southern Rhodesia, and representative conferences 

 on various subjects are gradually paving the way 

 for a closer union. 



Passing now to the last branch of the subject, 

 the crown colonies, it is to be remembered that, 

 not only the Governors, but the principal officials, 

 are directly appointed by the Government of the 

 United Kingdom, which has a complete and un- 

 divided responsibility. Whatever may be thought 

 of the value of the electoral power enjoyed, for 

 example, by less than one per cent, of the popula- 

 tion of Barbados, it is generally agreed that full 

 self-government is out of the question in any of 

 the crown colonies ; and, as the possession of 

 legislative power without control over the executive 

 generates friction, without any adequate benefit to 

 outweigh it, the prevailing tendency is to prefer 

 Crown Colony Government in the strict sense of 

 the word. It means that, though a few unofficial 



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