UNITY UNIMPAIRED

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12621, 4 December 1926, Page 5

UNITY UNIMPAIRED

NEW IMPERIAL RELATIONS “WE KNOW WHERE WE STAND”— MR BRUCE DIFFICULT PERIOD OVER By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian and -N.Z. Cable Association. (Received December 3, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, December 3. “Future generations may look back upon 19U6 as the year in which the Empire definitely emerged from a difficult stage of its growth, and finally accepted the new conception of itself as a free partnership of genuinely equal nations which came to birth in the storm and stress of war.” Mr Stanley Bruce, with these words, concludes an article in the “English Review” on the Imperial Conference and Dominion status. Mr Bruce argues that the period of uncertainty after the war might have been foreseen. It was implicit in the nature of the Empire from the moment when the Dominions were accorded self-government. The distinction between self-government in the domestic sphere and nursery government in the sphere of foreign politics was very well for a time, but it could not last. “It seems to me that the only real, substantial question which the Conference had to settle was whether the will to unity throughout the Empire had or had not been impaired by the events and experiences of the past twelve years. It may be said that the resolutions have merely clarified a

position which existed all along, hut there w r as no such general agreement about the political situation of tho Empire as it exists to-day now that the work of clarification has been done. We bad to establish clearly the fact of the Dominions’ full autonomy in respect of every issue raised, and to do it on the basis of leaving the essential unity of the British Commonwealth in every way unimpaired. “I think both these tasks were accomplished. The great watchwords, Liberty, Equality, Unity, have been freely ana unmistakably accepted. Their application in detail has gone quite as far as the needs of our time demand, without leading to that kind of over-rigid definiteness which may itself easily prove a stumbling-block. We have cleared up the political situation of the Empire, and we know where we stand as an Empire. Each part can rely upon everyone’s genuine

belief in Imperial union. Each part knows that this close union does not imply derogation from its sovereign status. We have now brought about a tightening of the bonds of common interest and sentiment, in order that they may withstand the unforeseen shocks of time and circumstances. In this way they may endure for centuries.”