facilities for travel. But the taxation necessitated by the cost of the war, and the increase in prices generally, gave a rude set- back in these directions. Conquests of the air may eventually help to solve the problems of time and space the Prime Minister at the Conference of 1921 decided upon an extension of wireless telegraphy and on the retention of existing material useful for the development of imperial air communications, but in 1921 the condition of things prevailing had been made less favourable to habits of intercourse between the members of the scattered Empire than it was at the beginning of 1914.
As regards the Crown colonies, the period, until the changes brought about by the war dealt with above, was one concerned with the development of the existing possessions rather than with the acquisition of new ones. Great attention was paid to the solution of the problems connected with the natives, with, on the whole, satisfactory results; e.g. the recognition by cotton experts that cotton-growing in the Empire can be more successfully carried on under a system of cultivation by small native pro- prietors than under the system of large plantations owned by Europeans, with its attendant moral dangers, has gone some way to remove the standing crux of colonial administration how to combine the due development of the material resources of these countries with the necessary safeguarding of the moral interests of the native populations. Similarly, the treatment of the land question has shown more and more respect for native customs and ideas. The amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914 enabled the development of the largest British Crown colony or protectorate to be carried on with greater speed and efficiency. In Northern Nigeria, as in the Federated Malay States, a system is at work which, when conditions are favour- able, gives admirable results. The native chiefs govern their subjects without the existence of direct communication between the British officials and the people. The difficulty in the way of the employment of this system more generally is that it requires both strong and upright native rulers and British residents of no little tact as well as ability. Whatever be the system of govern- ment, it is clear that the interests of a numerous native population must not be abandoned to the will of a small minority of educated and Europeanized natives, who are wholly akin to their country- men in aims and ideals, any more than they should be the victims of the needs of the few European settlers. The establishment in Nigeria, side by side with an extended executive council, of a new council, including amongst its members the leading official and unofficial representatives both of the European and of the native community, enables the Government to keep in touch with such public opinion as can find expression. A council of this kind may play a useful part, although it has no direct executive or legislative powers. During the war the striking loyalty of the Mohammedan states in Northern Nigeria and the attitude of the natives throughout the British colonies bore witness to the soundness of the principles upon which the British native policy has been built. There are, no doubt, serious difficulties in the way. The effects in the more civilized communities of a super- ficial and ill-assimilated education tend to increase indiscipline and vanity amongst the young; whilst the gradual weakening of the tribal system, and of the authority belonging to the chiefs, is fraught with danger. But the experience of British East Africa has shown that, in a country where the disintegrating forces are exceptionally strong, something may be done by skilful admin- istration to revive the tribal authority and to resuscitate the native tribunals. Everywhere it has been made clear that no form of compulsory labour on behalf of private employers can be tolerated. The question of taxation, with the view of develop- ing the natives' inclination to work, has given rise to difficulties. Attention may be called to the system prevailing in Papua, under the Australian Commonwealth Government, where the proceeds of such taxation are strictly earmarked for purposes connected with the interests of the aborigines.
A marked feature of the period has been the extension of railways which followed upon the financial success of the so-called Uganda railway. In East Africa there has been established a network of railways, steamers and roads, extending into the
heart of the Uganda protectorate, and tapping a vast area of country; whilst in West Africa the progress has been no less noticeable.
In the Far East the addition, in the beginning of 1914, of Johor to the number of the Federated Malay States was an event of importance, the undeveloped resources of the country being great. In no quarter of the world has the British system of government met with more success than in the Malay Peninsula. The wonderful wealth of the country has, no doubt, made things easier nowhere else could a first-rate railway system have been built entirely out of revenue; and the establishment of the plan- tation rubber industry upon a large scale, before its introduction into other countries, enabled the pioneers to reap the benefits of high prices. Nor was the British Government unmindful of the interests of the natives, special legislation being passed to pre- vent them from yielding to their natural inclination to alienate their ancestral holdings to European capitalists. The sponta- neous gift of the battleship " Malaya " to the British navy by the Federated Malay States in 1912 attested the popularity of the British rule; and even more striking were the expressions of loyalty from the Asiatic population at the outbreak of war, followed by a voluntary annual contribution towards its ex- penses which had the warm support of the unofficial members of the Council. An economic reaction inevitably occurred after the fictitious prosperity caused by the high prices that prevailed during the war, but such depression was in no way connected with the system of government.
In the West Indies the years 1910-21 saw few changes of importance. Criticism of existing political conditions had come more to the surface, and proposals were more often heard for the establishment of a federal system of government. In Jamaica the attempt is being made to interest the unofficial members of the Legislative Council more closely in the work of the Govern- ment. With regard to federation, the difficulties in its way, in the case of islands separated from each other by hundreds of miles of sea and possessing different forms of government and different ideals and prejudices, remain as great as ever; but the work of the imperial department of agriculture for the West Indies has tended to promote economic development gener- ally; and the agreement, setting on foot a system of reciprocal trade preference, made between Canada and the West Indies in 1917 should be of benefit to the latter.
Parliamentary papers, the Annual Reports from the Crown Colonies and Dominions, Hansards, together with A. B. Keith, Imperial Unity and the Dominions (1916), are the best authorities for the last 1 1 years of the British Empire. With regard to the future form of its constitution R. Jebb, The Britannic Question (1913), L. Curtis, The Problem of the Commonwealth (1917), and H. Duncan Hall, The British Commonwealth of Nations (1920) represent different points of view. (H. E. E.)
BROADBENT, SIR WILLIAM HENRY, 1ST BART. (1835-1907), English physician, was born at Lindley, Yorks., Jan. 23 1835,
the son of a woollen manufacturer. Educated at Huddersfield,
he afterwards studied medicine at Owens College and the
Royal School of Medicine, Manchester, and at Paris. From
1859 to 1896 he was physician to St. Mary's hospital, London,
and from 1860 to 1879 physician to the London Fever hospital. In 1893 he was created a baronet, and in 1898 became
physician extraordinary to Queen Victoria, an office in which
he was continued by King Edward VII. Broadbent was an
authority on heart affections, and also carried out much
research on tuberculosis. His chief works are The Pulse (1890),
and The Heart (1897). He died in London July 10 1907, and
was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son, now Sir John Broad-
bent, Bart. (b. 1865), also a distinguished physician.
BROADHURST, HENRY (1840-1911), English Labour leader and Liberal politician, was born at Littlemore, near Oxford, April 13 1840, the son of a stonemason. He was educated at the village school, and at the age of 13 was apprenticed to his father's trade. He worked at it for nearly twenty years, going to London finally in 1865, where he was employed in the erecting of the House of Commons. In 1872 he was elected chairman of the masons' committee during a strike, and from
