Wealth of Colonies

Abstract

THESE LECTURES are printed as they were delivered except that some figures have been brought up to date. The title also has been changed; but even so, it does not completely fit the subject matter, which includes some discussion of President Truman's Fourth Point and the problems of 'under-developed countries' in general. Not all these countries are 'colonial' in the political sense. Some of the poorest of them possess the trappings of sovereignty: conversely, some non-sovereign territories have developed their resources with great rapidity. The experience of the British Commonwealth suggests that economic and political dependence are matters of degree and that advancement or stagnation is to be explained by the interaction of economic, social and political influences. The first lecture attempts to bring this complicated process into focus. The second lecture reviews current problems of development and welfare within the British Commonwealth.