The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1916. ANTI-COMPULSION AND IMPERIAL RELATIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2918, 2 November 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1916. ANTI-COMPULSION AND IMPERIAL RELATIONS

The heavy anti-compulsion vote in Australia has been chiefly considered up to the present in its immediate import as an indication that a largo • proportion of the Commonwealth population is prepared to slacken its efforts in th,e war and to 1 deny its soldiers already oil the field ; of battle that full support they ex--1 pect and need. This aspect is indeed absorbing, and everything elso pales into comparative insignificance until it is definitely determined what Australia intends to do to honour its war responsibilities. We may hope meantime that Australia is not as seriously crippled in the prosecution of the war as sho would be if tho more extreme auti-compul-sionists obtained command, of the situation. In a Sydney cablegram published- yesterday it was stated that the leaders on both sides are agreed that, whatever the result of the referendum, the recruiting campaign must bo. vigorously continued. This is a statement of tho position which will bo wolcomed, but which nevertheless tends to gloss over some unpleasant facts. Under voluntary recruiting the Commonwealth has of late failed to obtain half the men needed for service abroad, and unless compulsion scores an eleventhhour victory it is not easy to seo what measures will enable it to keep its reinforcements up to strength. But even if this is done, under compulsion or otherwise, tho referendum vote may be regarded fas carrying a significance which does not relato only to Australia's present .obligations or to tho prosecution of the war. Apart from these immediate and all-important aspects the referendum vote is liable to create uneasiness as to its bearing upon the future of the Empire. Practically from the outset' of the war there' has been a marked movement throughout tho Empire towards closcr and more intimate relations— a movoment based on tho recognition of common interests and common sacrifices. It has been one of tho most striking and most welcomc evidences of the spread and growth of that Imperial spirit on which the future growth and stability of the Empire must _ rest. Recent utterances of public men representing both tho Mother Country and the Dominions'have shown that they perceive and welcome the existence and operation of impelling forces making for the stiffening of tho Imperial organisation, not necessarily on the basis of a hard aikl fast Imperial constitution, but on lines calculated to secure all the benefits that could possibly attend such a constitution. Only the other day Mn. Massey in London affirmed the right of the. Dominions—based on the sacrifices they were making in a common cause—to an effective voice in questions of defence and foreign policy, and his utterance is lepresentatiye of much that has b«<in 1 said-.by Empiro statesmen and of Ihe ruling tendency in current thought i throughout tho Empire. The' Australian anti-compulsion vote is a jarring noto in this Imperial chorus, and much will depend on the effort tho Commonwealth now puts forth to remove! the unpleasant impression created.

This aspect of tho matter closely concerns New Zealand both as a unit in the Empire and as the near neighbour of Australia. For Australia and New Zealand, as for the Empire at large, the lino of wisdom

is t-liafc wo should stand, or fall togother. The significance of the anticompulsion vote as it bears upon future inter-Imperial relations was by no means overlooked in the campaign that preceded the vote. It can hardly be said, perhaps, that it received the degree of attention its importance warrants, but it was not ignored. Amongst others Me. Jensen (Minister for the Na,vy), in declaring -his support of conscription, gave full prominence to the Imperial aspects of the referendum. We make one or two extracts from a statement u>hafc deserves to be read and remembered :

The , greatest adventure, the greatest risks in the history of any people (said Air, Jensen) have been ours in Austrai * i i a IQere .handful of people we have taken possession of a vast continent. In the event of defeat of the Empire we are iu the most precarious position pi any people on this earth. . . . ■Has it passed from our memory that up to the outbreak of war Gerniany was dotting the Pacific with bases, threatening to encircle us, and to 6ever us I'rom iurope? The possession, of these same islands of the Pacific by Germany is practically of do importance to any part of . the British .Empire but Australia. If Australia were to "go slow" at this juncture, what would her claim be to consideration in the matter of tho disposal of these islands and bases after the'war? . . . But the limit of our adventure is not yet reached. With densely populated countries immediately to the north of us we aspire to retain this comparatively empty oontinent exclusively for our own people. In this we have hitherto been supported by the power of Great Britain, our mother-country. Must not such exacting demands 011 our part be backed up by everything we can possibly do to give effect to them?

These are words of grave import, graver now than before the referendum vote was taken, and we in New Zealand aro as far as possible from being able to take a comfortable and detached view of what Australia may do in strengthening or weakening the Imperial tie. It is rather soon to say that Australia has halted on the path that loads to Imperial strength and security, but the anticompulsion vote cannot be ignored as a disappointing feature in what has been in nearly all other respects a most gratifying development of the Empire movement.