AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3643, 26 May 1927, Page 1

AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE

WORLD PROBLEMS. “AS ONE PEOPLE.” "LONDON, May 8. “Canberra is a symbol of the past and an augury for the future,” says The Times, in a leading article. “It will conspicuously represent the sense of unity that has animated Australians since the inauguration of the Federation. The generation that has now reached manhood has been rightly taught, and there have been few happier political achievements, despite the former feeling that the spheres of Federal and Imperial relations were of trifling account compared with the States’ internal policies. Unity has nowhere been better justified. The Commonwealth was a powerful factor in concentrating Australia’s war effort, enabling United Australia to help to preserve the larger unity of the Empire, and to emerge from the crisis greater in authority and prestige. CENTRAL INSTITUTION. “The Duke, whoso presence is chiefly intended to maintain Royalty’s close association with the earlier landmarks of Australian history, embodies the central institution of the Empire. Canberra is the central institution of Australian life. When the present King opened the first Commonwealth Parliament in 1901, there was every reason to rejoice that Australia had produced statesmen capable of realising the necessity for Federation. But Federation’s future was then uncertain. To-day, whatever the uncertainties, the future becomes yearly clearer, and Australians will meet them as one people, while their political life will centre increasingly in the Commonwealth Parliament.” UNFORGOTTEN DIGGERS. “All good wishes to the people of these islands which have served as a cradle for so many great States,” says the Daily Mail, “will be extended to the strong, new England of the Southern Pole. May she prosper hereafter, and bear such sons as she sent to the Great War, whoso memory is utifor-_ gettable. We hope that Canberra* eventually will rival Washington’s beauty. ' “Mr Bruce, the most outspoken roalist in Australian politics, speaks for all Australians when he regards the history of the United States as a hopeful augury for Australia. Although the analogies must not be over-stressed, it is naturally encouraging to Australians to remember that another people of six millions, newly united, built a capital which became in a few generations one of the chief cities of the world. “Their British -kinsfolk congra'-.late Australians upon their capital, and wish them the best of fortune in the great tasks awaiting them.” WHAT IT MEANS. Mr Bruce, in a message to tire Daily News, says: “Canberra means more than the foundation of a city, or the occupation of new Parliamentary buildings. It marks a further step to the realisation of our ideal of nationhood.” After paying warm tributes to the broadminded, courageous and unselfish endeavours of the men who first conceived the idea of Federation, Mr Bruce adds.: “Our national and civic institutions compare favourably with those in any part of the world. We have attained standards of social and economic life which are recognised as admirable. Australians can be proud of their record.” “Canberra to-day is the symbol of a forward-looking spirit,” says the Observer in a leading article, “and the same spirit is the foundation of Australian life. Australia looks forward with absolute faith in her capacity to organise and secure her future. “Her White Australia policy is another measure of Australian confidence. The critics of that policy may contrast her area with her population, hut we are certain to 6ee increasing migration. ‘Advance Australia’ is a proud motto —it is Britain’s wholehearted greeting to-day.” > The Star, in a leading article, says: “Canberra is the expression of an ideal embracing a new continent, a new nation, and a new civilisation. We envy Australians their opportunity, but wish them nothing but good in the venture that is setting the seal upon the arrival of manhood;”