Your Ministers are probably aware that the business of

the Colonial Office has been arranged up to the present time mainly on geographical lines, though there is a General Department, to which certain matters common to all the Colonies are referred. This General Department I propose in future to strengthen and enlarge, but otherwise to make the line of division in the office one of status rather than of geography, and to separate entirely the work of the self-governing Colonies from that of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates. The only exception will be in the case of those Crown Colonies and Protectorates in the Pacific and connected with South Africa whose interests are so closely related to those of the adjoining self-governing Colonies that the conduct of their business at this ofñce must necessarily be entrusted to the same hands. The Colonial Office will therefore in future be divided into three branches or departments, one dealing with the self-coverning Colonies, a second dealing with the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, and a third — the General Department, |

4. The first of these three departments will be known as the Dominions Department, the term being used to differentiate the status of the self-governing provinces of the Empire from that of the Crown Colonies. All the business of every kind connected with the self-governing communities will be included in its scope, though certain matters of

general routine must necessarily be shared with the General

Department ; and the staff of the Dominions Department will, with the exception mentioned above, be in no way concerned with Crown Colonies.

All questions of emigration will be referred to this Department, and it will keep in close touch with the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the Board of Trade.

5. The Secretariat of the Imperial Conference will be linkeb to this Department, without being entirely merged in it. The Secretary will be a member of the Department, but he will also have his own special and separate duties; and he will have, as occasion requires, direct access to the Secretary of State. I suggest, as a matter of convenience, and also in order to emphasize his position, that on all matters of routine arising out of and connected with the Imperial Conference, the Secretary and the Colonial Ministries shall correspond directly with each other,the correspondence in all cases passing under flying seal between the Secretary of State and the Governor-General or Governor. I shall also be glad to learn to what extent your Ministers may desire to suggestthat the High Commissioner or Agent-General in this country should act as an alternative channel of communication, as [ am anxious to establish close and harmonious relations between them and the Secretariat. The Secretariat, either directly or through the Dominions Department, wil be represented on, or closely allied to the Commercial Intelligence Committee.