THE DOMINIONS AND THE PACIFIC

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 253, 13 July 1918, Page 7

THE DOMINIONS AND THE PACIFIC

DECLARATION OF VIEWS SPEECHES BY NEW ZEALAND MINISTERS London, July 11. , Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward were ! entertained at a luncheon at tho Austra- '. jiari and New Zealand Club. Sir Thomas Mackenzie (High Commissioner ' for New- Zealand) presided. J }Lr. Massey,-replying to tho toast of ' his health, characterised tho bombing of ( the Canadian hospital and the sinking of ' the Llaiidovery Castlo as the work of I murderers and iiends. New Zealand, J also, h?ad sn account to settle ivith the \ Germans over the recent sinking by a ' mine of a steamship off her coast. The f activity of the submarines, he declared, s was diminishing. He protested against \ Iho pacifist dictation of the terms of ] peace, and demanded a continuance- of ' tho war until permanent peace was as- c sured. Mr. Massey eulogised the work ' of the Imperial Cabinet and tho Imper- < ial Conference, and urged that British ' Ministers should visit the Dominions. ' In view of the fact that tho Dominions i vero now partners in the Empire, they ' should ■bo represented on the national flag together with the United Kingdom. He might take the opportunity of submitting this idea to the Imperial Conference. Sir Joseph Ward said that tho war was reconstituting the Empire constitutionally, industrially, economically, and socially. The old class conditions had been destroyed and foreign dumping in ! Britain and the Dominions was end- j ed. He urged an unwritten al- \ liance between Britain, the Do- ] minions, America, and Japan for } protection of the Pacific. If Germany ' were allowed to return to Samoa and ' New Guinea, she would inevitably dom- J mate the Pacific. Tho prolongation oi , the war for five or ten years would be justified if British domination of tho ' Pacific was preserved, because ho believed ! the Pacific would be tho greatest slrat- ' ejjic centre of the. world in the future. ' It did not matter what pressure was exerted, Australasia would protest against allowing Samoa and New Guinea to revert to Germany, because if that happened the future of every man, woman, and child in Australasia would be endangered. It was imperatively important that they should induce Imperial j statesmen to study the Pacific. Surely ' it was possible after the war that Em- ] pire statesmen could take a hand in adjusting any differences between.<tho units of the Empire, and thus remove friction and irritation amongst ourselves. i Sir v Joseph Ward's remarks are regarded in some quarters as referring to the settlement of the Irish A.U5.-N.Z. Cable Assu.