BRITISH M.P.'S TOUR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 6

BRITISH M.P.'S TOUR.

LORD EMMOTT'S IMPRESSIONS. NEED FOR MORE FREQUENT VISITS. t The British .Parliamentary party which left England five months ago on a visit to Australia at tho imitation of the Commonwealth branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association, arrived back in London on November 18. During tho period of their absence the party visited Canada, Now Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, and with tlio exception of a few hours ashoro at Honolulu, on the way from Canada to New Zealand, the i whole of tho journeys by land and sea i wero made under tho British flag, j Somo accounts of the tour and tlie cspenonccs of the party from tho time 1 of their departure from England until s they loft Australia for South Africa 0 already appeared. Their experiences m South Africa, the "Morning lost states, were not less enjoyable ana informing than in Australia, but tho party ,m visiting South Africa sufieied to some extent from tlie hurried' nature of their travelling in that country, winch was merely taken on their way homo from Australia. Lord Shefheld publicly expressed the opinion thatot all the Dominions South Africa was' really the most interesting beef.use <.f the unique nature of its manv problems, and regretted that they hid so little time at their disposal to studv these problems. Lord Emmott stated'that in his opinion tho party Lad made a mistake :n not limiting their visit to Australia, at whoso invitation thov. had made tlie journey. Australia and New Zealand were tho most distant parts of the Dominions, and Lord Emmott thought they could have arranged to visit Canada or South Africa or any other of tlio nearer Dominions at some ether and more convenient season. This would have givoi them more time 10 devoto to Australia, which they had to scamper 'through in four weeks, during which time the.v did . over 7000 miles' journeying by land'alone. ■' . In South. Africa. rhe party arrived at Durban on October 19, and' loft Capo Town for Eng- : land.on November 1; so that their South African was even moro rusted than the Australian. Tho ariangements as far as Natal was concerned were somewhat upset as a consequence of tho delay in the arrival of the steamship by whicn tho party travelled from Austria. Slid arrived at Durban two days late, and the party's stay in that city was, therefore, limited to one day instead of three, as originally arranged. From Durban they proceeded by a series of special trains which' had been placed at their disposal by - tho Union Government of South Africa, to Maritzburg, Ladysmith, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein, Ifimberley, and Cape Town. The programme oi their tour included several banquets, the most important, of these being at Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Capo Town, nnd there were also two or threo public luncheons, but" tlio greater part of the timo was taken up in acquiring experience of a more practical character, such as journeying to two or three of tho most famous battlefields, descending somo of tho greatest mines, at Johannesburg, and visiting such places of interest as Kruger's Louse and Grooto Schuur. Throughout tho trip .thcro appears to Lave been only one incident of an unpleasant nature, and for that neither, ..tho, visitors .nor their hosts wero in any'way 'responsible'.' This was in connection with a public banquet given to the Parliamentary visitors at Johannesburg, to which tho representatives of all political parties and industrial factions were invited, but which tho Labour members and Trade Union officials declined to attend, in the first instance, (.11 the grounds that they could not "break bread" with the Gov-ernor-General, Lord Gladstone, and tho military commanders, who Lad been, in their opinion, responsible for tlio unfortunate events of the striko . riots of .Tilly 4 and 5. It, however, subsequently transpired that neither tho GovernorGeneral nor tho military officers, referred tii contemplated attending the banquet, and the proceedings passed off without any .unpleasant, demonstration. Nevertheless, tlio percaution Lad been taken of providing nil unusually strong forco of police in tho neighbourhood of the scene, of tho banquet. "Empire" or "Commonwealth." Mr. C res well, a member of the Union Parliament, represented tho Labour Party at this banquet, and was tlio proposer of tlio toast of "Tho Visitors," in commending which ho was responsible for an expression of opinion which was subsequently challenged by Lord Emmott. Mr. Croswoll suggested that ho would prefer to substitute "Commonwealth" for "Empire" ill speaking of Great Britain and her dependencies, his contention being that "Commonwealth" was "best suited to the ideas'and genius of our race." Lord Emmott, speaking at a later period of tho proceedings, , dissented from this view. "I do not 1 believe," he said, "that wo would , readiiv chance the name of tho Empiro . to that of Commonwealth for. this , simplo reason, that Commonwealth has , oilier meanings to wLich wo' liavo be- ; come accustomed." j

| Mr. Lough, too, seems to have found ground for protest in a remark attributed to tho Mayor" of Durban, to the effect that at least one part or the Dominions—presumably Natal—was _ not receiving all the svmpathy that it deserved from the British neoplo. Mr. Lough vigorously "repudiated" this view, and contended that all parties in the British Parliament were at all times desirous of helping the Dominions to become strong integral parts of the British Empire. Lord Emmott, as the Chairman of the Parliamentary party and tho representative of the British Government, was, of course, tho principal sneaker at all these ceremonies. Ho confessed towards the end of the tour in .South Africa that he had been impressed by the marvellous change that had taken place in the attitude of tho self-govern-ing Dominions towards tho political authorities of the Mother Country. "There was a time," lie said, "not so very lona ago either, when a member of the Home Parliament —when even an Under Secretary of State for tho 'Colonies —hardly daro show his nose in any one of tho Dominions. Lord Emmott asked himself wliat was tho reason of tho change, and suggested by war of replv that it was all duo to the gift of self-gov.ernmont and to tho scrupulous caro on tho part of the Home authorities to respect the. selfGoverning rights and privileges of the Dominions. . In this connection ho emphasised the changes that had taken place in tho attitude of South Africa towards Great Britain during tho past ten years, and particularly in tho relations of tho two white races in South Africa with each other. It was, lie said, left to tho people of South Africa to work out their own salvation, and ho believed that there, as elsewhere, local patriotism and tho larger patriotism of tho Emniro could go hand in hand. It was self-government in so many of the constituent parts of tho Empire that had brought about tho solidarity which existed throughout tho Empire to-dav. Ho went on to say that hq believed that tho effect of the operation of self-government in South Africa would bring about that, larger patriotism which ho and his fellow-members of tho Parliamentary party had found in vital forcj! in it? (the; Darts of the

Dominions through which. . ; -they ''had travelled. .\; j~ Smaller Parties and More Frequent Visits. Another point which was repei'tciiiy: emphasised by Lord Enmiott. was- thati tlO public men of both the - Mother Country and the .Dominions should seo' nioro of each other, know more ofoaeli? other, and visit each other ■ fre--quently than had been their habit -'ii : tl0 i 1) I*. •< insisted that Jiritisli should visit tlio Dominions more often,---."be-cause," as lie explained, "it is only l,v" learning something of your problems'oil! the spot that iv© are qualified to do'' really oficctivo work in corporation with you.". It may lx? remembered that betoro leaving Australia Lord Enimott' expressed tho opinion that- tho present x arliamcnta,ry ■ party was too largo for tho purpose of effective study of the conditions and problems of tho Dominions, and suggested that in future" tho visiting parties-should not only bo smaller, but that their visits should be more-frequent; A fact noted by Lord, Enimott in his - inquiries was ■ that "there was a marked difference in. the lines of party cleavage in tho Dominions compared with party lines in the Motherland,", and-ho deprecated tho usoof tho Dominion party divisions jit British party politics as misleading and undesirable.Mr. Donald Macmaster, M.P. for Chertsey, supported Lord . Ejnmott in ; his view that the purpose of tho Parliamentary visit was "to learn and not to meddle." Ho added: "We are children of .tho Empire going to school in the' Empire." Mr. Macmaster also /warmly-, advocated both in Australia and South Africa the creation of ail Imperial Law Court of Appeal, on which each-, of tho . Oversea Dominions would: be represented. vSome amusement was caused at the Johannesburg banquet by tho - statement by Lord Emmott that at a certain dinner table on one of the ocean liners by which they travelled.it was agreed that anyone mentioning tho name of Mr. Lloyd-George should bo fined half-a-crowu for. each'"offence" I