FEDERATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 275, 9 August 1918, Page 8

FEDERATION

AN IMPERIAL PROBLEM (Contributed.) Tho question of a Federal Parliament for the .Empire is fast entering the region of praolicul politics. TLe growth ot public 6cnlim.!iit in favour »,f -iedcyation lor the United Kingdoui-i-ays the June number of "Tbo Hound Table" in a l arciclo on tbo Irish crisis—as a measure dosirablo apart altogether from its eifect on the Irish question, is one of tho most remarkabio tacts of tlio past few weeks. It may be—says the writerthat the Irish question will .ft swallowed up in tbo larger issue of the. federation ot tlio United Kingdom. There is urgent need for the devolution of many of tiie responsibilities now lesting on tho overburdened shoulders of the Imperial Parliament on to tho subordinate legislatures of tho United Kingdom. That provincial devolution is necessary both as a solvent of tho Irish problem and as the only means of lelieving tho growing congestion at Westminster, was emphasised by Mr. Barnes, the Labour merabsr of the War Cabinet, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain. The former, when introducing delegates from American trade unions to a mass meeting at Kenniugton, aid: "Labour was convinced that tho United KiiWom Parliament was up against a difficulty that demanded the easement of its burdens and the handing over of much of its work .o subordinate Parlia-. ments. , , "The work of social reconstruction was tremendous. Difficulties, great in the past, would I>3 immeasurably greater in the future. To soivo them we must have not only a United Kingdom Parliament, but a 'Parlidtnent in oloser connection with industrial problems than an Imperial Paxlinment could be. The problems of Ireland and of social and industrial reconstruction were allied. Ireland must have its Parliament. m> must. Scotland. Wales, and Unaland. Ireland demanded its Parliament to satisfy a feeling of nationality. Labour demanded its Parliament to get a fuller nnd freer life. Ireland would havo to be dealt with as part of a federal scheme of devolution, much on the lines of the American States." Mr. Austen Chamberlnin, addressing the Women's Unionist and Tariff Keform Association nsked:—

,"Do you think it possible. . . . confronted by an overwhelming rush of problems ... for one Parliament to deal with all these questions for the whole of the United Kingdom, or even for Great Britain without Ireland, and nt the same time to dischnrge its functions as the mother of nil the Parliaments throughout tho British Empire— the one real Imperial authority in the whole of this vast collection of states and dependencies ? I am convinced that 6ucn a task is too great for any Parliament, and that unless we can find means, not merely to gratify the desiro for Ireland for some kind of Legislature for itself, but to evolve Legislatures for other .parts of the United Kingdom to undertake large portions of those duties and functions which have hitherto- been discharged by the Parliament at Westminster, the whole machine will break down from overwork. The work which it is necessary for us to do will not be done; questions in which large sections of our countrymen are interested will not be considered, and the whole Parliamentary system will be in danger'of falling into contempt and being superseded by some revolutionary form of activity such as we have seen in other countries where Parliaments did not existi or did not possess the confidence of their countries. This in no longer an Irish problem only. Though it 18 first and foremost an Irish problem; it is an English, Welsh, and Scottish problem." "And an Imperial problem," Mr. Chamberlain might have added, for if—under n scheme of devolution—each part of the United Kingdom has its own State Parliament, and there emerges in some form or another a Parliament charged with Imperial matters only, "tho one real Imperial authority in tho whole of this vast collection "of States and dependencies," the great self-governing Dominions are not likely to remain long unrepresented upon it. On tho question of provincial devolution, says "The Pound Table," there is a curious absence of public opinion, the average Englishman being slow to make up his mind -whether a proposal is feasible or necessary until it is reduced to a scheme, and the details are before him for discussion. It suggests that if the Ministry of Reconstruction has no report on the subect and no scheme ready for the public, to consider, u Royal Commission should at once be appointed lo prepare one. Before the Cabinet comi niits itself lo tho outlines of any seheme, the public should have before them some definite and authoritative proposals. On the question of the closer union of the Empire, there is the same absence of public opinion, mid in our own Parliament the matter, on the rare occasions when it is mentioned, receives only the most cursory attention. If we are to have a League of Nations, we must first be effectively united and organised ourselves, so that each part of the Commonwealth bears its fair share of the burden of the protection and administration, and receives its fair share in the government of the whole. "We stand," says "The Round Table,' "as a community in the presence of one of those great moments of history which puts the character of all such human organisms to the proof and determine what part they are fitted to play in the world." , . Is it not time that our leaders on their return from tho Imperial Conference, aWo prepared a report on the subject, and submitted it to the people of Aew Zealand for consideration?