FATHER AND SONS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 72, 22 September 1930, Page 9

FATHER AND SONS

THE BRITISH PEOPLES

HINDRANCE OF PARTIES

BROADER VIEWPOINT

(From "Tho Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 31st July.

There was a largo attendance of members of both Houses of Parliament at the annual meeting in Westminster Hall, on 29th July, of the United Kingdom branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association.

The Speaker of the House of Commons (Captain tho Eight Hon. E. A. Pitzroy, M.P.) presiding, mentioned that the'activities of the committee and the members who had boon received within the period covered by the repo-'t—more than tin actual year — had been greater than before. The past policy of the committee had been rather in tho nature of holding more meetings for the interchange of views between the different branches throughout the Empire rather than social functions. The association supplied a great deal of information to members of Parliament, and ho expressed gratitude on behalf of them all for the admirable •way in which the association performed the important function of supplying them with the information of Dominion and colonial affairs. The Prime Minister, moving the adoption of the report, said: "1930 is going to be one of the great and deeply marked years in the history of tho British Empife. "We have had already one of tho most important Imperial Press Conferences that have ever assembled here. The subjects discussed there, the tone of the discussions, and, above all, the spirit of the gathering wero admirable. In the autumn we expect to. have a still more important conference —the Imperial Conference— which has to face constitutional problems and economic problems the like of which we have never had to face boforc. HOW TO CONBUCT LIFE. "We havo to make np our minds that there is life and chango in Empires as in individuals. We cannot live in the past, and we must not be too swift to imagine that we are living in the future. The great art of conducting life is the art of combining the two, and whoever has responsibilities connocted with the coming Imperial Conference will succeed only in so far as they can practice and apply that art with success. "What one feels here, with the Speaker in the chair and with a gathering in front of me of men who sit by me and who sit opposite me in the House of Commons is this: Surely tho time hag come when, without putting any false values upon party, and without talking, as some people, I think, talk quite erroneously, about 'non-party this' and 'non-party that,' we might think and act a little more as 'all parties.' •"The Government of this country has been built np upon party divisions, upon Governments and Oppositions, and however inconvenient it may be, and however often it may try the temper and patience of Governments, I do not believe we shall ever get away from that. But what we can keep away from is the conception that when one party is in power no other party exists so far as it is concerned.

"Large Imperial mattors afford a most admirable chance, and an attempt should be made to get all our Imperial questions, constitutional and economic, considered first of all, at any rate, by all parties, remembering that the nation and the Commonwealth are very much greater than party. This organisation enables us^to do that." x A LITTLE IRRITATION. The Prime Minister hoped it would bo possible that next year, 1931, would see assembled in London representatives from the Dominions for the Parliamentary Conference of all branches of the association. It' was proposed that the visit of the Dominions branches should take place on the 20th anniversary of the association. "Everyone who has visited our Dominions," continued Mr. MaeDonald, "must know the tremendous value of such visits. It is not only that we are exceedingly well received, but we discover ourselves in other people, and we discover in an exceedingly enlightening way how we ourselves change under changed circumstances. It is a great revelation of self-development, and if we benefit that way from visiting the Dominions we may say with great humility that our other selves might also benefit by seeing us—their original likenesses—at Home. When one goes to the Dominions one is sometimes irritated by the frequent references made to our lack of knowledge of them. There is a great deal in it, but I very often have been emboldened, in the most polite way, to suggest that tho lack of knowledge is mutual. There is nothing that will remove that mutual lack of knowledge more than that when they como here and we go there, they and we should address bodies of members of the various Parliaments so that yr& may not only understand one another personally, but that each should be able to understand the problems and outlook of the others, and consider tho ;ways of handling each." The Empires Parliamentary Association was not spending* mere yawning existence, but it had life and soul palpitating through .overy part of its being. FATHER AND SONS. As seconder of the motion, Mr. Stanley Baldwin referred to the eloquence ?h J X £ m? Mi. nister- He suggested that, the 21st anniversary of the association—l932—might be a better date for •tha Imperial Parliamentary Conference. It would take some little time to bring into being the constitutional cnanges in India which were bound to como, and he attached the greatest importance to the presence of an Indian Parliamentary delegation among the visitors when they came to attend the meeting in London. "What strikes me about tho spiritual relations between the Mother Country and the Dominions is this," Mr. Baldwin went on. "Every man hero who is a father and has grown-up sons knows that the most difficult time in the relationship is when the son is gotting loose and going out into the world. I rememher very well my own case. I never lad that intimate relationship with my father which proceeded to the end of lis life until I was 30 years of age. "We have to remember that in our relations •with the Dominions, and sympathy on our part is the one thing we should always have in mind. These visits exchanged between the members of the various Governments do help to cement that relationship more than anything else." He spoke-of the admirable Study Committees. >

Sir Herhert Samuel supported the motion, and mentioned the useful meetings, lectures, and^discussions that were held in the rooms of the E.P.A.—exceedingly helpful to them all. One's exports should .be balanced by imports, and the E.P.A. helped to supply that need. WHY NO WOMEN? The Duchess of Atholl proposed tho election of the exeeutivo committee and officers for- 1930-31. Mr. E. F. Wise! ■wan seconder. Miss Ellen Wilkinson, M.P. quickly

intervened, with the suggestion that women should be on the committee. The British Empire was not solely a male Empire, she said. The great pioneer days of tho Empire had been days when the women trekked with their men and did extraordinarily good work in opening up in the various countries. She suggested there should be three women on the committeo, two of them perhaps to be the senior women in Parliament, and tho third perhaps a, Liberal.

The chairman pointed out that the executive committee had powers to coopt members, and no doubt tho suggestion would bo taken into consideration.

A vote of thanks to the chairman was moved by the Eight Hon. J. H. Thomas, who was in humorous vein. He remarked that while it might bo difficult to get Free Trade within the Empire they were making considerable progress fio far as free chairs were concerned. (Laughter.) (This in reference to the chair presented by the Government of West Australia to the United Kingdom branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association.) What Mr. Baldwin had said regarding his difficulty with his son, he himself, being the father of a number of grown,-up sons, was experiencing the same difficulty. If the Dominions and tho Old Country could be compared uo sons and their father, then, after all, the old man ought to be considered sometimes. He was beginning to feel very seriously that tho British Commonwealth ought not to be lost sight of —in fact, one of these days he will be tempted to ask when the Old Country is going to get Dominion status. (Kenewed laughter.) Mr. Amery seconded the vote, and the. Speaker briefly responded. Each speaker referred with great appreciation to the work which Sir Howard d'Egville (Secretary) is doing. SUMMARY OF ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report for 1929-30, which is a lengthy and useful compilation, states that in future all expenses of delegations will bo met by the country visited. One reads: "In order to ensure the freest and widest choico of delegates to serve upon these delegations, the principle has now been dofinitely established that the inviting country, by a vote of Parliament, bears the whole of the expenses not only of hospitality in the country but also of the cost of transport, outgoing and return, of each delegate from each Parliament. In this way every delegate is placed on a complete and absolute equality, irrespective of his means." The report gives a comprehensive list of the meetings for study or mutual acquaintance which tho association has arranged in the last year, and announces that it is now limiting the number of general social functions, at which only generalities can bo 'expressed, and concentrating on private meetings which make possible heart-to-heart talks between visiting Parliamentarians and those in this country.

The only example of a home member being asked to address a Study Committee dealing with Dominions affairs was in the case of Lord Melchett, who lately returned from South Africa, where he had addressed and conferred with members of the branch of the association in the Union Parliament of South Africa.

One of the visiting members who has spoken at a Study Committee was Mr. David Jones, M.P. (chairman of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board), whose subject was "Empire Marketing, with special reference to the work of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board." Mr. W. Lunn (Under-Seeretary of State for Dominion j Affairs) presided. It is mentioned that the Hon. W. H. Triggs, M.L.C., attended the Berlin Conference in 1929, and that the Hon. T. .■ Shailer Weston, M.L.C., attended the Conference of the Inter-Parliamen-tary Union in London at the beginning of this month. In pursuance of the arrangement made as the result of a conference in New Zealand between Sir Howard d'JEgville and members of the Parliament of that Dominion, the valuable publications of the Empire Marketing Board have been dispatched, with the Journal of the Parliaments of the Empire, to all members of the association in the Parliaments of the Dominions and the Legislatures of India, Ceylon, and Bermuda. Many appreciative references to this arrangement have been made by oversea branches. The work of the board has also been frequently brought before visiting members and has been discussed at meetings of the Study Committees of the association.