The Press Thursday, December 1, 1927. The Gospel of Empire.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19172, 1 December 1927, Page 8

The Press Thursday, December 1, 1927. The Gospel of Empire.

When he rose last night to make his final speech Mr Amery said that he hardly knew which address he was giving—he had spoken eight, or nine, or ten times, and was no longer quite sure where he was in the day's programme. The position is almost the same to-day !for those who look back over his speeches. He covered so much ground—everyone must have noted in how few words—raised and discussed so many problems, that it will be difficult for a clay or two to see them all in proper perspective. But it was his last speech- which rounded off the others, and gave them their full significance. It would be no use talking about markets, no use turning the soil or putting in the seed, if we were not assured at the same time of international security. But as a partner in the Empire we are pledged to peace, and always pursuing it. It is an anxious pursuit, and a costly one; though for the enormous size and complexity of our Empire—Mr Amery travelled 8000 miles in South Africa alone, and almost as many in Australia —we spend remarkably little on armaments. The Dominions have of course escaped the "intolerable burden of "military preparations" because they have been sheltered, "without thought " of reward or care," by the Homeland, whose sacrifices for this purpose Mr Amery was good enough to say they have now amply repaid. They certainly shared the sufferings and sacrifices of the Homeland during the war, and shared them freely, and with a high and terrible gladness, but they do not think that this ends their indebtedness. Though we are going to do more in New Zealand in future than we have ever done before to share the burden of naval defence, we know that we shall never fully clear this debt alone, and that there are others which we shall never even begin to pay. But the Empire is preserved not only by the Navy, but by the "peaceful work of "British statesmanship,"- and we shall understand better how to share that burden now that we have had it so quietly • and so earnestly explained. Economic co-operation will ease the burden, and tariff preference facilitate co-operation, but it will be shared only when the people and Governments of the Dominions understand, not merely that "the Empire stands for great " ideas," but that those great ideas must never in any circumstances be absent from their programmes and policies. We have done something in New Zealand to fulfil our obligations to the Maoris. We are making an honest attempt to help the Sampans. But we do not always, or often, remember that we have obligations and entanglements far beyond our own shores, and that it would actually now be possible for us to undo much of the Homeland's work for half a century. Mr Amefy's exposition of internationalism was a little vague, because the thing itself is vague. But it led to the fine and true remark that we have not a walled-in Empire, or an Empire seeking advantage for its own people alone, but'the first practical instalment of internationalism, in its .highest and best sense, that the world 'has so far seen. If. the Empire were weakened the whole world would immediately become less secure, and it is this conviction, far more than the idea of selfish gain, which governs even the discussions of the Marketing Board.