THE IMPERIAL TIE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1916, 26 November 1913, Page 7

THE IMPERIAL TIE.

BRITAIN AND JIER. a NO AN" I'.ILLfCONCEIVED PROPOSAL^ By Tel(!Brapsi—Prc?.s Association—Copyright (lice. November 2C>, 11.25 p.m.} Cape Town, November '25. Speaking at tlio South African National Congress, General Botha, tlio Union Prime Minister, repudiated General Hertzog's allegations that ho (the speaker) had 1 favoured an Imporinl federal system under which nil tlio other oversea Parliaments would bo subordinated. This ill-conceived proposal, he said, had emanated from New /Zealand at the Inst. Imperial Conference, where he, in Company with the British, | Canadian, and Australian Premiers, had opposed' it. lie would he a traitor if he. ever tolerated anything affecting fcoiilh African autonomy. Ho pointed <iiit that the safeguarding of Smith Ajncjn rights was not incompatible with attachment to the Empire. General Botha wa 1 * referring to the nebulous proposal put forward bv Sir Jose]!/! Ward-then Prime Minister of -Now /calami—at the last Imperial Con-iei-ericc, for au "Imperial Council of ? .' P Parliament (which oi the'two he definitely meant was a problem which ffavo rise to some tlivcrtinyr crossexamination of the mover by several members of the Conference.)' General Botha, in his speech at the Cenfcri.'iiee, s6i<l that the greation of a centralised authority over the whale Empire would be a step "entirely antagonistic to the policy of Groat Britain, which has hecii. so successful in. the past, and which has made the^. ! Einpire what it is to-day. It is the policy of decentralisation--- the power granted to its variouspeoples to govern themselves, That is the strongest tic hetu-oeii the Mother Country and the. Dominions, and e.ny scheme which does not fully realise this could only bring disappointment and disillusionment. The premature creation of such an 'Imperial Parliament as is suggested would—rather than brine (ho different parts of the Bnipiro close together—tend to make tlio connection onerous and unpleasant to tlio Dominions." IMPERIAL UNION, , GROWTH, NOT MANUFACTURE. (Hoc. November 2(3, 0.30 a.m.)' London, November 25. Mr. Herbert. Samuel (PostmasterGonernl), in a specch at tlio National Liberal Club, said that tho best service- the Motherland could render the Dominions was to nsaiingo tho foreign relations of the Empire soberly and sincerely, to maintain peace, abstain from aggressiveness, and keep an adequate supply of armaments. He did not believe that- the present Constitution, or absence of Constitution, could be the final form of tire relations between the Motherland and tlio Dominions, hut there could be no greater folly than io press forward this question before it was ripe for solution. 'Iho Committee of Imperial Defence might ho tho beginning of an organisation common to the whole Empire. Any future Imperial Union must reconcile unity with loyal autonomy, and must come by growth, not manufacture. Lord Hskiano (British Lord' Chancellor), speaking at the Caxion Hall, said that it was Britain's duty to defend her fcmpiro, and to encourage tho .. distant parts to dolcm! themselves as well. "Tho t.jmo might come," ho said, "when Canada, Australia, and South Africa would not only do so. but might assist one another to take care of us,"

CLOSER TIBS DEPRECATED. Sydney, November 24. Speaking at the Australian Institute' of Journalists' complimentary dinner, Sir George Rcid (High Commissioner in London for tho Commonwealth)' dcprecutcd for tho present any closer Imperial union. Study had convinced him that Australia had no desire for a larger part and no axiet.v regarding any tie of an arbitrary, compulsory character between the Mother Country and the Dominions. DOMINIONS, LTD. • London, November 24. The Dominions Site, Ltd., has quired Earl Grey's option of a. site at Aldwvch for Dominions' offices. The County Council has agreed that a portion of the site may be utilised for business houses ancillary to tho promotion of inter-Imperial trade,