KADU & KANU                                           Tanzania                                               1957 Treaty of Rome
1962 Commonwealth Conference                 Rhodesia                                               Ian Smith
Federation of the West Indies                        Commonwealth Conferences               Malaya
Singapore                                                       Biafra                                                   Bangla Desh
Pierre Trudeau                                               Scottish National Party                        Plaid Cymru
'East of Suez'                                                Gigantic Farce                                      Kiribati and Tuvalu
The Commonwealth Secretariat                    New Hebrides                                       Powellism
Commonwealth Immigration Act                  "Laughing Sickness"
"Black Man will have the Whip Hand"


Commonwealth (Prime Ministers) Conferences: At the summit of the pyramid of inter-governmental Commonwealth meetings are those of Heads of Government, at which international developments, both political and economic, are reviewed and ways of developing co-operation among member countries are examined.  The meetings have no parallel; there is no other comparable forum in which Heads of Government of such a wide variety of countries can meet together periodically for an informal exchange of views.  The proceedings are private, and the exchanges, while friendly, are frank and uninhibited.
No precise rules of procedure govern Heads of Government meetings, which operate not by voting but by consensus.  The aim is to ensure that all Commonwealth governments have a common understanding of what may be at stake and appreciate the motives and purposes underlying the policies which each is separately pursuing.  In fact, a wide measure of agreement is normally attained, notably on practical ways of co-operating to improve the quality of life in member countries.
In their reviews of the international situation Heads of Government have at recent meetings considered such matters as East-West relations, Chinese representation in the United Nations, the conflict in Indo-China, the need for the abandonment of the nuclear arms race and for disarmament under effective international control, nuclear weapons testing and the dumping of chemical weapons in the south Pacific, the security of the Indian Ocean, the peaceful use of the sea-bed, developments in Southern Africa, the problem of Rhodesia, the implications of Britain's entry into the European Community, the international monetary situation, changing patterns of trade, development assistance, and the complementary role of regional associations and such trans-regional groupings as the Commonwealth.
Recent decisions of Heads of Government which have given an impetus to functional co-operation within the Commonwealth have concerned such new initiatives as the Commonwealth fund for Technical Cooperation, the Commonwealth youth programme, the Commonwealth Book Development Programme, and the Commonwealth Information Programme.
Meetings of heads of Government are held in various Commonwealth capitals approximately every two years, the latest being in London (1969), Singapore (1971), and Ottawa (1973).

The Commonwealth Secretariat:  The Commonwealth Secretary-General, who has access to heads of Government and is responsible for the organization of their meetings, maintains close contacts with member countries and is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat.  Mr. Arnold Smith, of Canada, became the first Secretary-General in 1965, when the Secretariat was established, and was re-appointed for a further five-year term in 1970.  The communication between them and provides the central organisation for joint consultation and co-operation in many fields.  It is staffed by officers from member countries and is financed by contributions from member governments on an agreed scale.  Its net budget for 1973-74 was L847,920.
The Secretariat organizes meetings and conferences and co-ordinates many Commonwealth activities.  Besides promoting consultation, it disseminates information covering the greater part of the wide spectrum of Commonwealth co-operation and ranging from factual papers on international affairs to weekly commodity reports.  It has seven divisions, dealing with administration, commodities, education, in formation, international affairs, legal matters, and trade and finance.  Scientific and health matters are dealt with through a Scientific Adviser and Medical Adviser.  The Secretariat also provides expert technical assistance for economic and social development through the miultilateral Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation.
The Secretariat maintains archives on international issues, and prepares papers which present a combination of Commonwealth knowledge and views and offer to member governments the advantage of the wide range of vision which the Commonwealth affords.  In 1970 it arranged a seminar in Singapore at which senior members of Commonwealth diplomatic services discussed the organisation and conduct of foreign policy, and in 1972 a conference on consular relations within the Commonwealth.  Because of its neutral position, the Secretariat has been able to make its good offices available in cases of dispute, and it has also carried out, on request, assignments requiring demonstrable impartiality.
The headquarters of the Secretariat are in London, at Marlborough House, which was made available as a Commonwealth Centre by the Queen.  In no other Commonwealth capital are so many Commonwealth members represented by full diplomatic missions with fast communications with home governments.

Powellism: By 1968 race had become a volatile matter in  Britain.  The issue in question was the size and character of colored immigration to Britain from Commonwealth lands.  It was an area which could hardly have been considered a problem ten years before, when the British took for granted harmonious relationships within the multiracial Commonwealth.  In 1951 the census showed the immigrant population (colored peoples born overseas) to be about 75,000.  Ten years later that census figure as 336,000.  And for an eighteen-month period in 1961-62, in the face of threatened limitations, the net arrivals in Britain from India, Pakistan, and the West Indies were 203,000, about as many as there had been between 1955 and 1960.  The Immigration Act of 1962 established limited controls.  The public was confused and so were the politicians--both caught between Commonwealth idealism and the potential problems to English society and economy from rising immigration.  By 1966 the colored population in England and Wales reached an estimated figure of 929,000, of which 213,000 had been born in Britain.  In 1966 legislation tightened restrictions, with permits of entry reduced from 20,000 a year to 8,500, with dependents admitted limited to wives and children.
As a political and social issue the matter leaped into prominence with the Commonwealth Immigration Act (March 1, 1968), which had been prompted by the action of the Kenya Government in refusing work permits to non-citizen Asian residents, who, possessing British passports, had then moved to Britain in large numbers.  The new legislation, which was bipartisan, limited Asian immigrants from Kenya to 1,500 a year (equivalent to 7,000, including dependents).  The debate during the legislative process was impassioned, and included an almost unprecedented nineteen-hour session in the Lords.  As the bill proceeded
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