Nine years ago a problem was solved which had puzzled British statesmen for three hundred years The problem was this. Every previous Empire in history had been held together by the obedience of the "Colonies" to the rule of the Mother Country. But that would not do for the men of these islands who went overseas: they claimed a free- dom of their own and the right to manage their own affairs. Step by step a new plan has been worked out. Under this new plan, daughter nations overseas, upon reaching political maturity, are no longer subject to the mother nation.