INSPIRATION FROM THE ANTIPODES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2723, 18 March 1916, Page 4

INSPIRATION FROM THE ANTIPODES

The interest excited in England and throughout the Empire by the speech of the Commonwealth Prime Minister, delivered at the' dinner given in his honour by the British Imperial Council of Commerce, may be traced very largely to the outspokenness of Mr. Hughes concerning the past failures of British statesmanship and his call for an economic revolution. It has not been the practice of overseas politicians to emphasise in the blunt and sweeping fashion adopted by Mk. Hughes the shortcomings of those at the head of the Empire's affairs; nor has it been customary for official visitors from overseas to stress with such patent disregard for the susceptibilities of Home politicians the manner in which the great Dominions must ere long outstrip the Motherland. But' it is very clear that the head of the Commonwealth Government, in making the departures noted, has choscn an opportune occasion, and it may be expected that his outspokennees will pave a wholesome elfoct. It is a time for plain speaking. To those of us who live overseas and whose ideas on government and the duties of the State are less fixed than those who are bumpered and fettered by tradition and' precedent, the views expressed by Mr. Hughes are- by no means startling. They, indeed, very fairly reflect -the commonlyheld opinions of those here who concern themselves at all [seriously with public affairs in the' broader sense, o'f the term. Who is there who has not been disappointed over the seeming lethargy of Home statesmen, even since the outbreak of war; the reluctance to depart from established habits and practices however unsuited they may have proved to meet the emergency conditions arising out of the war? Who has not been depressed at times by the accumulating mass of evidence in the earlier stages of the struggle of tnc state of utter unpreparcdness of Britain in important directions; the delays which occurred in remedying shortcomings duo in part to the cumbrous nature of the political machinery and the difficulty of getting out of established groovos? Most of the earlier weaknesses have been remedied, but they have not been forgotten, and Mb. Hughes could not ignore them when attempting to point the way to safeguarding the future.

There is nothing startling to us here in the suggestion that we must completely recast our ideas regarding the future commercial relations of the Empire—it has long appeared as inevitable. Organisation., has been the keynote of speoches from the public platform and of articles in the Press for months past. Mr, Hughes may call it an economic •revolution tnat he foreshadows, and it is, but it is not one that snould alarm anyone. It simply means that we must organise to protect ourselves—that the Stato must more actively bestir itself to organise the resources of the nation ana to strive for the ideal of a self-contained Empire, This must necessarily mean a revolutionary departure from jjicwar ideas and methods, and involves both material ' sacrifices and the abandoning of cherished convictions. But if the war has taught us anything at all, it should at least have demonstrated that' neither as an Empire noi as the separate parts of. that Empire could we hope to continue in our relations with the world at large or amongst ourselves along the lines which we were content to follow before the great explosion shattered our self-complac-ency and indifference and awakened us to. the dangers ahead. It is not necessary to agree with all that the Commonwealth Premier said, either an to the past or as to the future, in order to justify approval of his outspokenness. One London journal speaks of the speech as |an inspiration from the Antipodes for which the people of Britain have looked in vain from their own statesmen. This may overstate the case, but it is plain that such a speech from the representative of a great overseas Dominion at a tfnlc like the present must provide food for thought and subject for controversy. Such being the case it is certain to play not an unimportant part in R&aititing to Bhnpo the futuro policy, of the Empjwi