EMPIRE UNITY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 13

EMPIRE UNITY.

NEW ZEALAND'S LEAD. APATHY OF DOMINION PEOPLE. (FROM OUR OWM COJIRESPOKDENT.) LONDON, February 24. The subject of Imperial Unity is discussed in the February number of "The National Review." Special stress is laid on-the initiative displayed by New. Zealand.

"Mr Gordon Coates, the worthy successor of Mr Massey in the Premiership of New Zealand," says the journal, "is 'doing liis bit' towards making Imperial consultation a and as his initiative is applauded in more backward Dominions it may be hoped that these will follow suit. He realises that occasional Conferences betweeh the overworked Governments of the Empire without any machinery to keep them en rapport is eminently unsatisfactory. He lias accordingly constituted a special branch of the, Prime Minister's department to deal excusively with Imperial and external affairs arising in the continuous process of communication, and consultation betweeniGreat Britain and the Dominion." "The New Zealanders are not so obsessed with the 'status' craze as ..the little groups of Highbrows who have worked this stunt as part of their propaganda for re-christening the British Empire 'the British Commonwealth of Nations,' a phrase that is never heard from one end of the Empire to the other outside Round Table circles. What New Zealanders are wisely concerned about is not their own 'status' within the Empire, which all sensible people are agreed in thinking, 'as free .as air,' so much ns the need, accentuated by wb-' happened at Locarno, of keeping continual contact with the British Go%--ernment so that New Zealand may play her pnrt as an Imperial factor, and that the Imperial poh'cy may be 'common' nnd not Separatist, as some Lesigne of Nations enthusiasts would prefer in their passion for'merging the British

league of Nationß in the polyglot Parliament of Geneva. "The present writer had the opportunity of discussing such problems with Mr Massey at tho time of the last Imperial Conference. The great New Zealand Prime Minister made.no concealment of his apprehensions concerning the mischief that might be wrought by the Intelligentsia, who regard the British Dominions as a promising field for their political empiricism. His successor has taken a sound step in creating this new department, all the sounder because he has appointed as the head of it Mr F. B. Thomson, who accompanied Mr Massey on five Conferences of Prime Ministers in London. We at, home are more than anxious that New Zealand, and the other Dominions shall pull their full weight in tho Imperial boat, for which purpose it is necessary for them tD know in which direction that craft is headintr. Mr Bruce, the Australian Prime Minister, has for some time had a special staff and an Australian liaison officer in London to keep him posted in external affairs. Thus two important Prime Ministers arc < thinking Imperially.' Overseas Opinions. , "But something more is needed before we may hope to have a common Imperial policy supported by public opinion overseas and at home, without which we are merely beating the air. At present there is no such opinion. This is a delicate topic fo>an outsider to touch on; and we should hesitate to do so had we not heard it keenly canvassed by Australians # and other distant fellow-citizens. They arc concerned at the almost ludicrous and perilous lack of interest taken in foreign affairs by the people of the various Dominions. Such questions are rarely mentioned in any overseas Parliament, nor d*o many politicians of any Party anywhere in the Empire so much as make a show .of studying tließo mighty problems on which peace or war depend for them as for us. The Press in many places does its best to fill the gap, and when some 'crisis' occurs the leading articles arc usually written by men who have closely and conscientiously followed events, which they discuss witih judgment and considerable knowledge of tho facts. But their task is no light one, because they arc appealing to readers who,

speaking generally, 'eare far afrit «f these thing*.' We a» fttfttUit trttti the average Colonial'■ aatttar tlliub criticism, and we retogaiw it* flfeif»ness, but it it neither Mtl«fyil|!Jd|r/ satisfactory to be told «we hate im e*» affairs to attend to, and eaa'e 'Hi. wstfc-* ered with these Old World aqtatytapL What is the use of aft Imperial OwHttttment, unless it can dispose of ill amefe matters on Imperial lines t» German Wtrimrtimt. ' "The war should have tavgat all tof us that this attitude won't 4ft. feefisacratic Governments have a weakness forpursuing the line of least Mlttofte*, and one outstanding cause of Ml4-1&IS was the steady blackmailing •£ Gfttt Britain by Germany, owing to Downing Street's regarding toek pay*t*fets (which Responsible Statesmen tsphemisticaliy describe aft 'graceful eoncessions') as the line of least' resistance. They lacked confidence in the British people, and' by conveying the impression that England would to too f proud to fight under any cireattattkaeea, they contributed to precipitate tlte war. Heaven knows we of the Mother Country have learnt little enough from that ordeal, but the Dominions teeta to haw learnt less, and manifest little or fto interest iu problems that are equally vital to the whole Empire. How this indifference is to be overcome' we eaa*t pretend to say, though we have bag taotgnt that the holding of an Imperial Coalerence overseas would do More tain anything else that can be suggested to awaken a sense of their imperial re* sponsibility and arouse popular interest in external affairs."