1476 IMPERIAL UNITY [PART VIII 
At present the resolutions of the Conferences were left to 
be carried out in such manner as the Governments concerned 
thought fit, and a permanent commission would serve a useful 
purpose in preparing matters for the Conference and examin- 
ing matters referred to it by the Conference. Moreover, such 
a permanent body would avoid the necessity of having 
Conferences ad hoc, which took a long time to bring together. 
It was, therefore, suggested for consideration that His 
Majesty should be advised to appoint a commission of a 
more permanent kind to discharge, in respect to matters of 
joint concern, the same functions as both in the United 
Kingdom and the Colonies were wont to be discharged by 
royal commissions or departmental committees. The com- 
mission would only act upon references made either by the 
Imperial Council at its meetings or at any time by His 
Majesty’s Government together with one or more of the 
Colonial Governments. Its functions would be of a purely 
consultative and advisory character, and would not, supersede 
but supplement those of the Colonial Office. The Commis- 
sion might be constituted at first for a term of years, and 
then, if it were found to be useful and successful, it could be 
renewed. The Commission would, it was proposed, consist 
of a permanent nucleus of members nominated, in a certain 
proportion, by His Majesty’s Government and the Colonial 
Governments, but there should be power to the Commission 
to obtain the appointment of additional members, when 
necessary, for the purpose of making special inquiries. The 
persons appointed by the several Governments to be per- 
manent members of the Commission would, no doubt, be 
men of business or of official experience, and their remunera- 
tion would rest with the Governments which they respectively 
represented. 
The Commission should have an office in London, as the 
most convenient centre, and an adequate secretarial staff, 
the cost of which His Majesty's Government would be 
willing to defray. It would probably be convenient that the 
Secretary of the Commission should also act as Secretary to 
the Imperial Council when it met, He would be responsible