Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, NOVEMB. 22, 1917. THE BRITISH NATIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1755, 22 November 1917, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, NOVEMB. 22, 1917. THE BRITISH NATIONS.

THE development- of nationalism within the British Empire was discussed by Mr Lloyd George in his Speech at the Welsh National Eist - eddfod, in Birkenhead, last’month. “The idea that you cannot have many nations in (he Empire is perishing of its own folly,” said Mr Lloyd George. “The British Empire is one commonwealth, but many nations. We , have old nations like burs, a nation old enough to have seen the fall of many Empires. We have new nations like Canada, and it is a fact full of significance for the builders of Empire that as the new nationhood of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa has become more conscious t and more claimant so has their attachment to the Empire become stronger, firmer, and more effective. New Zealand, with a population half the size of Wales, of its own free will, has sent to the aid of Britain in the hour of its deepest trial an army equal to the whole of her Expeditionary force at the beginning of the war. And yet Ho lo.cal patriotism is as intense as that of England, of Wales, of Scotland, or Ireland. Distinctive experience, environment, and character hoconjc more marked in a man’s features as the years go by. As with men, so it is with nations; and as generations go by the Canadians, the Australians, the New Zealanders, and the South Africans will become more easily recognised in the assembly of nations. But I predict that always the affection of these young nations for the Motherland, their pride in the imposing federation of free peoples of which they form a part, will become deeper and stronger, and more compelling as the years roll on.”