The Resolution on the subject which was adopted at

the late Conference was as follows: —

« That it is desirable to establish a system by which the several governments represented shall be kept informed during the periods between the Conferences in regard to matters which have been or may be subjects for discussion, by means of a permanent secretarial staff, charged, under the direction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, with the duty of obtaining information for the use of the Conference, of attending to its resolutions, and of conducting correspondence on mat-

ters relating {o its affairs, »

I indicated my views on the subject in the following

terms : —

«Iam prepared to say that we will endeavour, I think we shall succeed, to so separate the department of this office that you will have in the office.

a distinct division dealing with the affairs of the responsibly governed colonies »; and again

« What we have in our minds to carry out, and hope to be able to carry out in the future, is that we should appoint a genleman on our staff to be the Secretary for the Conference, not for one Conference only,but to continue the business as a member of the staff of the office and in a division of the office,as 1 said before, but that being his specific duty, thereby focussing all the

business in the way which I think the members of the

Conference in their various resolutions expressed the

desire 1t should be. »