"INTO A CYCLONE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1059, 23 February 1911, Page 6

"INTO A CYCLONE."

——r • ' THE IMPERIAL CONFEDERATION; ' .SPEECH BY MR. TREGEAR. . ' ' WAR INEVITABLE. . -At tho social tendered him-list evening by tho Seamen's Union, Mr. Edward ■ Tregear, lato. Secretary, for Labour, referred to tho suggestion to create an Im- ■ ' jit-rial Parliament and , generally to tho relations of Great Britain with her oversea Dominions. \ - •. I'tYouwill havo noticed," said Mr. Tregear, "that all-over tho world there is a great deal'of industrial unrest, ■ and ■ tho sailors (I' am speaking to ajl the sailors-in New Zealand) aro feeling tho unrest * iu tho saino way as other workers." Tho curious part of ; tho unrest, is that it is not justified so far as wo can : teo the causes altogether. There are un- : known - factors at work. Ko' doubt sail- ■ ors will understand me when I say that there'is a 'pre at storm approaching ana that tho sea, is breaking heavily on tho ," reef before tho gale comos up. 1 want to try to point out to you to-night tome ot the reasons why the.storm is coming up aiid why tho waves aro breaking, l think i . that one of theso waves ii sounding something liko > coloured - labour' 1 on board, , ships. Jdon't intend to go into, the local controversy about Asiatic sailors on our fchips, but I want to point to an enormous ' controversy that is rising. Sir JosepU "Ward and Dr. Findlay are going Home fcooni tho Premier to attend the Im* imtuil Confercnco; and Dr, Findlay, no doubt, to act as his adviser. I wish to say about that that I belicr© we could * hnrdly get two mow acuto. brains in the 5 wholo .of thisi Dominion; nnd I. believe that'at tho. conference;.'the); will deal . • with aJI subjects in tho best interests of this' Dominion so far as the conference "• gets;.- '• "What i Do-.You Think; About It?" "But you must remember that, the 'conference can ohly make suggestions to ' the-British Government, which it may adopt-'or reject- as it sees fit. I am not breaking original ground when I fay, . that there area great many-persons who, - ■•'-do'not 1 bolievo.;in that .conference., .be- . - cause it.■ lianlly seems ■to > carry enough weight It.is believed. both by persons ■t, in Britain ! nnd ! iii this Dominion'that there should-be in-an ■ : ' Imperial Parliament for . the, great telfgoverning colonics. That, as you_know, ■ is? not. original.' What. I am; going to say to.you that is original;is: 'Workers,' what do you think about it?' It seems ■ to mc that, the'wo'rkerp-cither havo not beon asked abdut it or havo not got an ■ opinion Ito give. (A .voice; We have!) ■ 11. you have not got an opinion,;,you, who, through taxation, furnish tho greater > part of money) arid,' in case .of war,' ■ -will furnish tho greater part of the rictims,. it . is time that you have an V opinion, on'tho subject, of the Imperial Parliament. ,:I would liko to ask you ... one question: 'How.does your opinion of Asiatic,-immigration ■ square with' your - opinion of representation on an Imperial .: Parliament?' To answer that, I would ■ Tefcr to a need. I would ask, not what . is.Britain's need, but what is our own . need? / Tako the question of India. What is our trade: with India? Noth-

ing! What is India to lis? A land of paupers, whero • there are 232 million ■ ' human' beings and 230' millions of these - havo not the sum of JGI a year each. Is it;any,';wonder that wo look with fear ; towards India, lest tho floodgates should be opened, arid that wo should he deluged with i our coloured.fellow, citizens of the Empire.' I don't-', think there is any , doubt about that. If thero is an Imperial . Parliament, do you'think that the princes , and royalties of India will ever consent , jo bo legislated for by, Australia and New 'Zealand, their representatives sitting - fJ',. w 'th - contemptuous ; faces when •India, is- mentioned. ■ and without' any recognition of India at all, .except i- that hej;,'peoplo must-be kept'out of these countries, hy force'.if-necessary? India wouty not^wnsent'tQ. any such thing, and; if 3*oil think, that the Imperial Conference * is-, not strong 'enough,, nnd that there ought to be an, Imperial Parliament, you must/, try- to reconcile the government of India withy the exclusion of the Indians ind the Asiatics from these-Dominions.. ' I.i '.Dreadnought!. ,V ~ 'Tutting aside the question, of Parliament, you are now called upon to provide a heavy naval 'subsidy and millions for . Dreadnoughts. You'are called to pay taxation without having representation. You may- bo dragged into war and ; Jarge expense. You have, in fact, tho tho taxation without representation that J cost' Britain tho American'colonies. As I havo'said, you'havo no interest in India. On'tho.other hand, Britain has • a.great interest.in us. Sho has at any ; rato the interest on ' about i 60,000,000, ; ■ which money would certainly bo forfeited if a foreign'flag wore-Hying over Wei- -: linjfton. . And. wo have this interest in ■ !l that'it is only Britain's warships that keen us from being annexed by the . warships of any Power that liked to come along. Therefore, we havo at nresent a . common interest, and I cannot* see that , there should be any division between us in regard to our present interests, But that is not tho opinion, apparently, that obtains in all oversea Dominions. The latest news from' Canada,' tho greatest of -them.all, seems to.say that,she is .at : least coquetting with another countrv. One of her foremost statesmen has' raid that n-Britain goes to war,!it does not follow that .Canada goes to war. A largo .party in Canada hold that the Dominion . would be better oft; attached to a Federa--non of American States than as a member ■ of an Imperial Leaguo that may at any tune be embroiled iii' war. ■ That : war. may como 'in five years, I do not, think. it can be so long, it may. come in fivo ,months or in fivo weeks. Some question like tho fortification of Belgium or Holland may bring an •actual war at any moment. . it is übsolutely certnin by every law 'of economics jhat there must be. n fight between Eng- - «ad and Germany soon. Ausnuntino the Scrap-Heaps. "Supposing thero is'not going to be 'war, are you willing to go on paying milnons for Dreadnoughts 111 times' of peace? Dreadnoughts aro followed by supcr.Dreadnoughts, the ten-inch gun has been ■followed by tho eleven-inch, and tho four-teen-inch gun. Bcforo .the guns aro - mounted, and almost before the ships are launched, .they nro obsolete, and almost ready for the scrap-heap. Are.you willing to keep on contributing millions to tho scrap-heap? Tho position is one that : «vo are bouud to sny something about bo- , fore very much longer." Concluding, Mr. Tregear said ho was addressing: sailors, men who-went all over "ithe world with open eyes. "If,", ho said, | ".voir guides can never seo past the pariish pump, and move backwards, even a j&imple man liko myself can get up and Uay. 'Where are wo • steering to ?' and /Why, does tho ship carry n cloud .of can- • . viis when wo • are' steering into a cyelonef" Remarks by Mr, Carey.

The president of tho Trades Council Mfr. E. Ji Carey), tho only speaker to follow Mr. Tregcar, said that so fnr as Tia knew; the mind of Labour, it wanted no representation in tho Imperial Parliament. Labour people wanted, in these colonics, to work out their own destiny, nhd would not be clogged by backward countries like India, or hindered in, a progressive policy by . tho Tory landlords in the English l'arliamont. Simultaneously with, .or. just after,' tbo Imperial Conference,. thcro was (o be an Imperial Labour Conference; which tho speaker considered much more imnortant. No ihinbt, Sir Jo.oeph Ward and Dr. Findlay. at the Imperial. Conference, would l°°k after commercial interests. Re ftlie speaker) was not so sure they would look after the interests of tho worker. As to war. Mr. Carey declared it ,liis belief that war was much less probable now than it hn<l ever , been. International conference!" of working men exerted an enormous influenco making for neaoe. no matter how much ft flection of the pcoplo might prnfo about war and talk about the Empire.