AFTER THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1396, 11 May 1915, Page 2

AFTER THE WAR.

Spkakinc; at Wellington on Friday night, the Hon. Mr Allan, Minister for Defence, after referring to Empire problem? asked •' What might happen after the war ? Who could say ? “I venture to predict,” said the Minister, ‘‘that the meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence will be more frequent than they have been, and I also venture to say that the Imperial Conference will be held once every two years, instead of every four years as formerly. The more frequently they are held the more we in New Zealand will realise what Empire means to us, and what steps we have to take to bring about consolidation of the Empire. I think we ought to look forward to an Empire that will be greater than the one that existed before the war. We shall have learned certain lessons which I daresay we needed to learn. It has been said by our enemies that the Empire was degenerating, that Britishers had lost their virility, that they were decadent, and so on. I don’t think we have degenerated. I think that possibly we were on the road to degeneration, and I am not at all sure that this'war is not a blessing in disguise. If it is going to save the Empire from going down, it is a blessing to us and to humanity generally. If we read the etory of the war aright, and I have no

doubt we do, we must realise that those opposed to us, saturated with militarism and placing all their thoughts into military life and military exigencies, have developed characteristics which cannot belong to a great nation. They have lost their idea of the value of life, they have lost their ideals of humanity. The war has proved, unquestionably, that we British people still retain our virility’-. We still maintain many of the virtues which have made Britain great, and we do still possess some of the virtues which are at the basis of great nationality. We are, I think, just as a nation, and I think we are righteous as a nation, and I believe we are humane.” (Applause).