In conformity with its policy of presenting contemporary international problems in a perspective and form to be of service to the public, The Royal Institute of International Affairs has issued a report to a Study Group of its members on the Colonial problem. The members of the Group included such distinguished public servants as Mr, Harold Nicolson, who is Chairman, Sir John Hope Simpson, Mr. G. E, Hubbard, Major G, St. J. Orde Brown, Mr. F. W. Paish, Sir Richard Winstedt with Miss Margaret Bryant as Group Secretary. The book thus produced should, in the ordinary course, have been reviewed on the book page of this journal but for the moment owing to the present circumstances that is not possible, and consequently an early opportunity is taken here to draw public attention to a document of much importance. The international aspect of the Colonial problem has over-emphasized purely territorial questions. The relations between the governing and the governed and other intricate and diverse issues arising out of the Colonial problem have thus been obscured. The Study Group responsible for the report (The Colonial Problem, Oxford University Press 21s) endeavoured to correct this error in proportion and to show that the Colonial problem cannot be reduced to some simplified conflict between the "Haves" and "Have-nots" that is concerned with the process of dynamic development and not so much with the collection of territorial economic facts, but naturally the inquiry produces most valuable data on the political, military and economic aspects of Colonial empires, and the authors are careful to point out that the value of colonies is relative rather than absolute; that no general principle can be applied to a re-distribution of colonial possessions because of the marked variety of the different types of colonial administration. The problem therefore is not uniform. Moreover, there has been a change in the view which the government is taking towards their subject peoples. Changes have occurred in the point of view of the colonized "African communities are hi more aware of the benefits to be derived from their metropolitan Powers in such directions as education, sanitation, and transport. Recently the Abyssinian episode has also afforded con~ vineing proof of the need of some external protection. Even the Filipinos, now that ins dependence {s within their grasp, are beginning ote valuable' than. the "scourily" provided by more Vi ihe protection of the United States The semi-feudal idea of colonies as dependent territories and their inhabitants as instruments of exploitation of their resources has to be abandoned. They must be dealt with in terms of human communities with their own social systems and aspirations and possibilities of development. It is a natural drawback of the Study Group method that the breadth of vision and wealth of information which it produces should be in excess of its ability to crystallize conclusions. In its present form the controversy over colonial possessions has dominantly psy= chological significance and in the last resort that probably will have a far more decisive influence on ultimate solutions than the logical and economic factors so well martialled in this book. It is, however, difficult to imagine anybody attempting to deal with this problem on serious lines without having the Study Group's able survey at. his elbow,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.