The Press Monday June 15, 1925. The New Empire.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18408, 15 June 1925, Page 10

The Press Monday June 15, 1925. The New Empire.

The creation of a new Ministerial position in the British Government — that of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs —is a more important event than many people may imagine. It may be said that the innovation is nothing more than a formal and belated recognition of a well-established fact and does not in any important particular alter the relations between Britain and the Dominions. This is so true, as far as it goes, that one cannot help feeling a little surprise at some of the comment upon the new Secretaryship of State. To our own Prime Minister it appears as evidence of "an earnest desire on " the part of the British Government to " recognise the status and sentiment of "the oversea Dominions," and several of the English newspapers speak in the same strain. The "Morning Post" sees "an acknowledgment that the old "feeling of dependence, justly resetted by the Dominions, has now "no justification whatever," and the "Daily Herald" and "Daily Express" welcome the Government's decision as if it were a positive'act of emancipation. Of course it is nothing at all like that: the complete autonomy of the Dominions and their status as equal partners in the Empire Commonwealth have for years been recognised in theory and, as far as possible, in practice too. The emancipation of the Dominions has long been complete, and we are constantly meeting with the plainest', evidence of the fact. The real importance of the innovation is to he looked for in another direction, and it is this: that Imperial Affairs now rank equal with Fbreign Affairs in the business of the British Government. The relations of Britain and the Empire — commercial, political, and financial—with foreign States will never cease to be of the highest moment,'but in the years to come Imperial Affairs will become more important than Foreign Affairs, partly- through the increasing necessity for Imperial unity and partly through'the simple fact that in trade arid population the Dominions will ultimately outstrip some of the States which have hitherto been superior to them. The work of the new Department will at'first be largely concerned —perhaps most largely concerned—with the,economic aspects of Imperial relations, but the Department will be obliged also to occupy itself with the politics of Empire, and. as time passes it will become, if it functions effectively, the most important of all the Departments of State. In time, indeed, £he Foreign Office is likely to become something like a sub-department of the new Office. New Zealand would no doubt be quite content to regard the Department of Dominion Affairs as the head office of the Empire, but Australia, Canada, and South Africa, with their new sensitiveness —not to call it touchiness—concerning their new status, will probably regard the Department as Britain's merely, arid may feel that they must have corresponding Departments for themselves. In that case uniformity of practice would require the establishment of a Department of Imperial Affairs in New Zealand. Uniformity of practice is not, however, essential; the best plan for running the Empire is still what it has been in the past, namely, the plan, however illogical and informal, which gets the best results. But it may at least be said that the formal step now taken by the British Government should evoke from New Zealand and its Government a more active and lively and continuous interest in Imperial Affairs.