THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 75, 22 December 1919, Page 8

THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE

A CHEERFUL FORECAST . COLONEL AHERY'S VIEWS Lieutonanl-Colonel L. S. Amcry, UnderSecretary of State for tho Colonies, (liscussing with a "Horning Post" representative at the Colonial Office on November 12 tho cost-war outlook for tho Empiro and the outlines oi futuro Imperial policy, haa' not a moment of gloom or misgiving. There was, ho thought, such a development awaiting tho British Empire as would- make a new record in world greatness; all that was necessary was the, wisdom and tho courage to seizo the opportunity offering, and those, he was confiaent, would not bo lacking. As the Nineteenth Century was tho century of the United States, so- would the Twentieth Century prove to bo tho centurv of • tho British Empire. Ho foresaw at its end a British Empire with 200.000.000 wliito citizens living at a lovel of prosperity far higher than that of tho .United States to-day. So happy an optimism is refreshing in davs when ooubt .and depression afflict many, especially coming from ono of our •Tounser statesmen, who can speak with tho instructed knowledge of a wide e.xnerienco of tho, Empiro, and whoso record in political life is ono of courage without I'n.shiiess. ' ' Prefacing his statements that he wished to express a personal, rather than an official, view. Colonel Aniery said: "It wonki bo absurd to doubt the future of tho Empire, which lias been tried bo thoroughly in these past five years. What wo havo learned of the spirit and resources if the Empiro makes any attitude but that of. the aptimist unreasonable." Imperial Reconstruction. "Yon ask mo' what lines Imperial reconstruction should follow. Let mo define what I mean by Imperial Reconstruction. Ido not mean the mere making good of war waste and war damage ; going back to as you were. I mean setting np a new and higher standard, of establishing for a vastly greater white population than we havo at present conditions of livnig such ns will be better than ! any existing in tho world to-day; better housing, belter public health conditions, better education, better wages for i industry. I do not sco why wo should not havo within tho Empiro before the close of tho century 200,000,000 white citizens at a level of prosperity far above that of the mass of the population in tlio United States to-day. .And what of raising the level of our ■ white population by mutual co-operation in Imperial development, applies no less to raising tho standard of welfare of tho less advanced .peoples and races for whom wo aro responsible as trustees. Tho .means are at hand.. It is a matter of wisely using them. Wo are in every respect in a better position than was tho United States on tho evo of its great development, with far greater and more varied' resources, territoy, population, capital. A development of tho British "Empiro in proportion ns tho United States was developed would give all that I nave said and more."

"And tho method? What do yon tliint !s of the first import,nice?" "Taking material tilings fi©st, I attach the greatest importance at tlio outBet to the dovolopment of Imperial transport. Tho Empire must he developed throughout with shipping- lines and railways.

Imperial Shipping. "In tho past shipping has been considered, and rightly, as tho greatest of tho United Kingdom's industries. It was considered to bo worth fostering for the trade it brought and for tho addition it .made to' ow 'invisible exports/ 'Now, partlp as tho lesson of tho wa!h, we havo n new conception of shipping; wo can see it as part of the necessary framework of the Imperial structure. A courageous d£- , velopment of inter-Imperial transport is the first great material task of Imperial statesmanship to-day. Prom a- purely ITnited Kingdom point of view, the interest' in shipping used to be in the dividends it brought in, and it wjis not material whether British shipping was trading between, say, Chile and Argontina or between Canada and England. But United Kingdom'shipping as part of the Empire's shipping should have, in the first place, its duty as a means of Imperial development. Ido not mean that anything should be "dono to discourage British trade _ between foreign ports, but that ihe first task of British shipping should be to provide adequate and abundant transport between every point of the Empire. I regard that as an essential corollary and complement to the policy of Imperial Preference by means of duties;"which," I rejoice to think, has now at last been formally and finally recognised in our fiscal system.

Imperial Railways, "Imperial shipping should bo supplemented V Imperial railway development. Here; I think, the United Kingdom Government might take a lesson from the Dominion Governments!, and strive to apply their standard.® of railway development to those parts of the Empire which are still Crown Colonies or Protectorates. : The Dominions and 'Rhodesia had built, up to the outbreak of war, something like 100,003 miles of railways, while the- total of the railways in the Crown _ Colonic and Protestovates was only 3700 miles. AYhercas in the Dominions there was a mile of railway for every. 220 inhabitants, in the Crown colonies and protectorates, there was only -a-mile of railwav for every 7700 inhabitants. Making all' allowance® for the older settlement of the Dominions, nnd for. tho higher average of white population in the Dominions, I think that the disparity is. so great as to show that we have not bct;n opening up our Crown colonies and protectorates as we should have done, and that n bolder policy would justify itself. AYo have thought tf our duty in the Crown colonies and protectorates, it sowiw to me, Tsthor in the light of just keeping law nnd order, not in tho" light of active progressive development Tt is perhaps well to add, to avoid the chance of being misunderstood, that by developing I do not mean the exoloitation of toa.trve peonies; 1 mean development on lines which will insuro their prosperity first, but would inevitably also contribute to our prosperity.

"We—tho Empire." "I said 'our prnspority. When I ray 'we/ or T do not refer merely to the peoplo, of the United Kingdom". ] mean tho peoplo of the Empire—tho people of Canada, Australia, New Zen. land, South Africa, as well as of Great Britain. We, the Empire, should tnko in hand the development of the Crown colonies and tho protectorates. It is the business, the responsibility, tho interest of all of us. Equal participation in carrying out the development and governance of tho less advanced territories, under our flag seems to me of far more practical importance than the equality of status in international affairs, the full recognition of wlrch has como with, tho war. Equal status at (lie Peace Conference nnd in the leagno of Nations for tho nations cf (lie Empire is ti great thing, and a happy lecognition by the outsido world of the nnimie character of the British Empire; but" in practical everyday importance it is of less consequence to the Dominions than securing equal particination in the development of Imperial trade and territory. To have an equal say in tho destiny of tho African territories under the British flaj is of more moment than to have an coual say in tho fate of Fiume <r Clalicia. It should be tho aim of the Imperial nolicv of tho futuro to encourage all the Dominions to take an aetivo interest in tho Tropical Empire. It is theirs r..s mueli as ours. As their industrial powers develop nnd they cease to be producers of iaw material the Tropical Empiro will offer to them, us well as to tho people of the United Kingdom, markets for manufactured goods and areas for the growth of the primary products which those manufactures require. I would not hive this active interest limited by mere conditions of proximity. I would have Canada and Australia, for example, look to Tropical Africa as weil as to the West Indies or Pacific Islands."

Decentralise the !dos of Empire. "In this and in all other things future Imperial thought must learn to dccentraliso the conception of Empire. The idea of the Empire iw a possession of tho United Kingdom, or as something to bo governed exclusively by tho United King-

dom, is obsoloto. Tlio tirao l:as long gone by for the idea of tho Empiro as a solar system, with linghiud ns tlio sun anil tlio colonies as its satellites, and of closer union as tlio drawing of the satellites nearer to tho sun. Wo yinst coneeivo the Empiro as a chain of British nations girding tlio world, eaen nation equally important, eacli nation equally the centro of tho wholo chain, and promotion of Imperial unity as the drawing of each nation closer to all the otlior nationu. We should regard closer Imperial unity between Great Britain and Canada and between Canada and Australia as developments of equal importance. "It is that nttitudi of mind in which we must approach all tho problems of Empiro. Every part of tlio Empire must look upon it as theirs, just as much as England's, as an instrument fashioned to their hands by their history and by the law of their growth for vindicating their rights and liberties as nations, and for playing their part in settling tho destinies of tho world in peace or in war." The Value of a Word,

"Sido by sido with tho development of Imperial transport should go tins development of oversea settlement." "That is to say, a policy of Imperial emigration ?" "No; not emigration. I think that should bo a banned word with our new conception of Empire for use in refer-' enco to a citizen of the Empiro moving from one part of the Empire to another. Don't you agree with Socrates that to use words wrongly is 'not only an evil in itself but also corrupts the soul' ? Wo do not speak of a man emigrating from Yorkshire to Devonshire. 'We should not speak of a man emigrating from England to Australia or Canada. Let us keep 'emigration' as a word for the man or woman who goes away from the flag to settle in a foreign country: 'settlement' as a word'for movements within our Empire. To keep men «nit women of British blood under tlte flag In some parts of tho Empire must bis one great object of the Imperial policy. At present wo loso 601110 ot our people, often not through their fault but through Che Hailureofonr 'policy. I look fonrtird to the time when to emigrate unnecessarily, to go from under tho flag, will ho tho exception. Latoly, In details of administration, effect litis been given to the conception of tlio Empire as one entity. The cx-Servico man or woman ilro entitled to itccivo free passages to any part of the Empire providing always that they can afford evidence that they are going to assured' employment, and are wanted by the authorities of the particular part of tho Umpire to which thoy wish to go. Similarly, in regard to tho educational grants given to ex-ser-vice men, tho ex-Servico man w/io wishes to go through a University course may go to any University within tho Empire. A fair number from Great Britain aro going to Canada, a few to Australia'under this scheme."

The Empire and Forolnn Policy. With brief refcrcnco to somo other points, Colonel Amcry expressed tho opinion that nothing in tho terms of the Leaguo of Nations mandates would interfere with British Imperial policy. "No mandato is likely to impose any conditions which we would not impose 011 ourselves or which wc have not been in the habit of imposing upon ourselves wherever we have dealt with subject peoples. We have always in very largo measure treated native territories under our role as mandated to us in tho interests of the inhabitants and of the world at large, and we have justified our authority not merely J>y our own interest, but by the general consent of other nations with regard to our rule." On a point wherein, as lie said, "Imperial policy trenches upon foreign policy, and so is gather outside tliescopo of this talk,"' Colonel Amery referred to the immense importance to the younger nations of the Empire of the fact tlw.t half the population of, Asia was within the British Empire. There was thus neither to Australia nor to Canada th? possible menace of an organisation of Asia against their interests, since half of the 800,000,000 of Asia were partners with them in the Empire, and at permanent peace with them.

As to trade preference within tho Empire, Colonel Amery said his views wero so well known and Jhad been so frequently expressed that he would not repeat anything on that subject. "What is to lie stressed in lmperiil politics to-day," he conncluded, "is, first, in the realm of ideas a complete accept, ance of the Empire as an entity iu which every constituent nation has equal rights and an equal proprietorship. Secondly, in tho realm of practical measures, a progressive policy of Imperial development by trade preferences, by transport organisation, by providing capital and man-power for tho opening up of tho new lands."