778 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



October 1, 1913. 



who would thus continually have the 

 idea of the Empire brought before 

 them. The Commonwealth building is 

 in course of erection at the east end of 

 the site, and all that is now wanted is 

 for the other Dominions to erect a 

 building on the central spot. Such a 

 building on such a site would be a mag- 

 nificent monument to the Empire, and 

 would do an immense amount of good 

 bv simply stimulating the imagination 

 and so leading to a greater interest in 

 the Empire, which is the one thing 

 needful for the development of sane 

 Imperialism. 



AN IMPERIAL CO VENT GARDEN. 



But this is only one object of the 

 scheme. The others are, firstly, the con- 

 centration of all the officers of the 

 Dominions under one roof. At present 

 they are scattered, and the would-be 

 colonist has to wander all over London 

 if he wishes to obtain information 

 about all the Dominions. To be able 

 to acquire all information concerning 

 the Dominions in one building would 

 be a great boon, and for the Dominions 

 the advantage is obvious. 



Besides the offices of the Govern- 

 ments, the proposal is to have in the 

 building what has been called an Im- 

 perial Covent Garden. Here will be dis- 

 played the produce of each Dominion, 

 so that any person requiring Colonial 

 fruits, etc., will only have to visit the 

 Dominion House in order to make his 

 selection and find out where he can 

 btairi what he desires. This scheme, 

 resides enabling those who know and 

 appreciate the colonial products to 

 obtain what they want, will enab.e 

 everyone to learn what are the products 

 of each Dominion. It gives the oversea 

 producers themselves the best possible 

 opportunity of putting their wares be- 

 fore the British public, and when once 

 the British public realises where and 

 how to obtain colonial goods the de- 

 mand for them will increase enor- 

 mously. 



FOR THE ENGLISH MANTJ1 5 .ER. 



The third part of the scheme is de- 

 signed to benefit the English manufac- 



turer and to enable him to increase his 

 Empire trade. In England at pre- 

 sent there is no means of obtain- 

 ing information concerning the needs 

 of the Dominion, so it is pro- 

 posed that in the basement of the 

 building there shall be exhibited the 

 tvpe of machinery and manufactures 

 which are in use in the different parts 

 of the Empire. At the present moment 

 a great deal of confusion is experienced 

 owing to the fact that the English 

 manufacturers, quite unintentionally, 

 send out goods which are useless to the 

 Dominions, partly through ignorance of 

 the conditions under which they are 

 used, and partly because the English 

 manufacturer finds it difficult to obtain 

 the necessary information upon all mat- 

 ters of tariff, transportation and trade 

 facts. Each self-governing State will 

 provide experts to give the manufac- 

 turer all the necessary information 

 This part of the scheme will be open to- 

 British manufacturers only. In organ- 

 ising the export manufacturing trade in 

 this way the Dominions will only be 

 following the example of German}-, and 

 placing the home manufacturers in a. 

 position to take advantage of oppor- 

 tunities which, for want of proper 

 knowledge and organisation, are now 

 secured by the manufacturers of other- 

 countries. 



A CENTRAL MEETING-PLACE. 



For the colonial visitor to London 

 this Dominion House would be a great 

 boon. He too often finds that no one 

 in London takes any notice of him, and 

 he feels his reception to be rather chill- 

 ing. But if he has a central place tc 

 which he can go and meet members of 

 his own State and of other parts of 

 the Empire, he will not feel so much 

 that he is a stranger in a strange land, 

 but will find someone to welcome him 

 in the heart of the Empire of which he- 

 is a member. 



This is Lord Grey's scheme. It is, of 

 course, for the Dominions themselves, 

 to decide whether they will carry it into' 

 operation. There is no doubt that the 

 advantages it offers are immense. 



