FOUR BRITISH EMPIRES

books is .the most creative trade in the Commonwealth, and noth-
ing ought to be allowed to hamper its freedom. The existence of
Dominion branches of the leading British publishing houses, and
mutual-aid arrangements between university presses in the United
Kingdom and the Dominions, are other important lines of con-
nection. Professors and lecturers in all branches of studies are freely
interchanged among universities of the Commonwealth. In earlier
times this was mostly a one-way traffic, the Dominions borrowing
(and often keeping) scholars from the United Kingdom. Lately so
many Dominion scholars and scientists have been taken for United
Kingdom posts1 that the balance on the exchange may now be in
the opposite direction.

Closely associated with this interchange of personnel in higher
teaching is the acceptance of professional qualifications gained in
some other part of the Commonwealth, and the existence either of
all-Commonwealth professional associations or of close affiliation
between the national professional associations of different mem-
bers. Among the professions concerned are medicine (including
dental and veterinary), the Bar, solicitors, architects, engineers,
accountants, statisticians, etc. To be ranked with these are the
various learned societies with their Commonwealth affiliations. A
good example is Chatham House—the Royal Institute of Inter-
national Affairs—which fostered Institutes of International Affairs
in all the oversea Dominions and in India, and has branches in
Newfoundland and among British subjects in the Middle East.
Every few years these Institutes organize a conference on British
Commonwealth Affairs, with unofficial representatives from their
several countries. One such ccnference, held in Australia in 1938,
took Mr. Ernest Bevin to the oversea Dominions for the first time
and made a critical contribution to his education as a world
statesman. A constant exchange of literature—periodicals, pam-
phlets, books, including documents circulated for such conferences
—helps to keep these institutes and branches in close touch with
expert thought on matters of common interest throughout the
Empire.

Other learned societies (for example, the Royal Economic

1 Sir Howard Florey, Sir Hugh Cairns, Professor Hancock, Professor Frankel,
Professor Eric Walker are a few examples.

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