THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1924. IMPERIAL GROWTH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4775, 12 November 1924, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1924. IMPERIAL GROWTH.

« — On special occasion, such as the .anniversary of days made important by the sacrifice of the flower of our nation, it is well to remember and ponder over the part the British Empire has played in the civilisation of the world. Most people are Imperialists, but too few could give a reason for their faith. Although Britain is small from a territorial and a population point of view the part whica she has .played, and is still playing, in every activity of life cannot fail co impress even her enemies. To every country Great Britain Las given something. In enumerating possessions ihat are common to the United States, the Dominions, and .Britain we are prone sometimes to put language first, sayjs the London “Observer.” ‘But in everyday usage the leady intelligibility of the spoken and written word sometimes undoes its own work. It is not the common tongue which alone or principally determines community of outlook. That which, in main issues, holds the English-speak-ing communities together is the inhei’itiince of English law, which is the inheritance of a moral attitude predisposing thought and feeling even in our own despite. From it descend a method of thinking, a method of society, and a method of politics. The grain that grew in Westminster Hall is now - sown in five continents. It has flourished and become diversified in transplantation. But However the varying course of history may have differentiated the practice of the heritors, their unity in this respect, judged externally, is far more conspicuous and impressive than their diversity. There is the same belief in law itself. There is the same unshakable and instinctive conviction that le.ason and consent are the first and last safeguards of civilisation. There is the same determination to

spread peace and liberty through ths wider operation of law. This conception of law and its spread is the greatest gift which the English-speak-ing race can claim to have made to the world. There is no greater marvel in the atlas .than the extent of the territories over which the principle of order, founded through Law upon freedom, has alreauy teen given effective supremacy. The world will move on from chaos or back to chaos accordingly as that principle is given a wider and wider international acceptance, and physical foice is subordinated more and more strictly to the service of the law. This is the principle to which the English-speak-ing peoples have committed their whole future. Different parts of the great British Empire have varied opinions regarding details. That is only to be expected. In this Dominion we are still working out our National destiny. We are experimenting in vai tons walks of life, and the country that does not attempt something new will undoubtedly fall behind in the great race for prosperity.