Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1921. THE DOMINIONS' STATUS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2294, 25 June 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1921. THE DOMINIONS' STATUS.

THE views expressed by General Smuts on the statu:- of llie Dominions are discussed in an article m the National Review by Dr IL Dean Ilamf'ord, .of Auehlaml. He findit “hard to believe that ;i mind so able, aided by aelual experienee in world polities, should be capable of such looseness and cloudiness of thought, not to eall it actual obliijuitv of mental vision." General Smuts asserts flail in foreign affairs the Dominions have now acquired a new international status, that nothin# but the form of dependence remains, and that the Empire, has developed into a commonwealth in which the members are all free and equal, joined together only by the constitutional bond of monarchy. “His statement is not one of the policy which should be pursued.' says Dr. Bamford. “it is meant to be a statement of the present position, and as such it is demonstrably false.” The article is an admirable exposition of the constitutional position, and the following sentences contain the nucleus of Dr. Bantford’s argument, which is fortified by a series of convincing illustrations: —‘‘Notwithstanding the increased stature and importance of the Overseas Dominions . . . .

their legal position is unchanged, and cannot be changed without a deliberate formal and positive act, dissolving the tic that still hinds utogethcr. That tie is a light one, hut it is a real one, and one of the consequences is that when flic King declares war, all his Dominions are at war, when he makes peace, we of the Dominions are at pence. The Empire speaks to the other Powers as one body, though many bodies may help in the shaping of the message. The King cannot say one thing as constitutional Sovereign of Great Britain and another as constitutional Sovereign of Canada or South Africa. Jt is idle for General Smuts or any one else to imagine that he can alter this by asserting that \Ve have mysteriously acquired a new status, and that if war is to effect us we must declare it. He cannot escape the fact that war declared by Great Britain alone does affect us. not merely in theory, but in fact.” Dr Bamford points out (hat ‘‘the mere assertion that the right exists” to remain neutral, and to exclude British warships from our territorial wafers “is not a mere preaching of secession; it.is a declaration that secession has been accomplished”—a declaration that is denied by the fact that “our rights as British subjects cannot be taken away by doubtful implication and without direct reference to the people.”