Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8827, 31 May 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

THERE appears to be an impression in the colonies that the British nation, or at any rate the British Government was very lukewarm in its reception of the proposals of the visiting Premiers at the Conference, aud that the people at Home entirely fail to look at things from any but their own standpoint. We think that this view has partly arisen from the fact that wo have had such very one-sided reports of the proceedings at the Conference, aud partly to the fact that Mr Deakiu devoted so much of his energy to an attack on the frectrado policy of the present British Ministry. The English papers which are now coming to baud convey a totally different idea of the spirit abroad just before the Conference. Wo quote below an extract from an article in the Times which sots forth with great clearness the position of the colonies and their needs aud aspirations.

CONSTITUTIONALLY tho conduct of foreign affairs and the administration of the Empire are in the hands of the United Kingdom alone, and of departments responsible only to the Parliament of tho United Kingdom. Tho merest farm labourer in England has a direct constitutional voice in deciding questions vitally affecting Canada and the Empire which is denied to tho Prime Minister of the great Dominion. The absurditv of the situation was most forcibly put by a Canadian member of Parliament, Mr Chisholm, in the recent debate on Colonel Hughes’ j resolution in favour of “Full I Partnership Union. “When a voter from Great Britain comes to reside in Canada ho finds at once that he is deprived of a groat part of the rights and privileges which he formerly enjoyed as a British citizen. While ho remained in the old laud lie had by his vote and through his representative a voice in the most vital and important affairs of tho British Empire. In the same way lie had a voice in the making of,war and the declaration of peace. But when he comes to reside in Canada ho has no voice in the making of war or the declaration of peace. Ho has no voice through Jiia representative in the management of Imperial affairs. He finds that lie possesses only a mangled and emasculated Britisli citizenship, that his political influence is hounded by a colonial horizon. ’ The Constitutional method by which a nation like the Australian can even express its views on a question of foreign policy directly affecting its interests is the method which sufficed for the infant settlement of 70 years ago. The representatives of the “settlors” communicate, through their Governor, with the Colonial Office, which communicates with the Foreign Office. Tho Foreign Office settles tho matter and then informs tho Colonial Office, which, through tho Governor, informs the Colonial Government of what lias been done. No amount of tact, no amount of disinterested zeal in championing the colonial point of view, can got over the inherent viciousness of such a situation. Tiie really governing forces must, in tho long run, prevail; and those governing forces are, to a large extent, the interests and prejudices of the voters of the United Kingdom. They are the forces which mould the foreign policy of the Empire ; they are tho factors that are kept constantly in view, tho ends for which policy is shaped. Colonial interests and colonial ambitions are mere disturbing incidents, which arc dealt with from a souse of duty, but which arc not an integral part of tho texture of our diplomacy. They are apt to be sacrificed, not because the Foreign Office does not do its best during the negotiations, but because success in such matters can be attained only by years of watchful propartiou. But only .constant effective pressure from the interests affected can secure such preparation, and such pressure the colonies are not in a position to apply, except very indirectly. Tho settlement of particular questions must always depend upon the general lines of foreign policy. But tho colonies do not attempt to influence tho course of foreign policy in general, nor does the Foreign Office oven pretend to consult them. In regard to the internal administration of tho Empire, tho influence of the colonies is, if possible, even less. From India downwards the dependencies are governed by Englishmen, in accordance with English' ideas, and, in so far as external interests affect their administration at all, in tho real or supposed interests of tho United Kingdom. They might almost bo"the possessions of a foreign Power for all the direct benefit that the colonies derive from them

BUT the situation is equally unsatisfactory from the point of view of the United Kingdom. Practically the whole burden of Imperial defence rests on the shoulders of the British taxpayer. The burden, it is true, is often greatly exaggerated. The gross expenditure on our armaments is not net loss. Again, it is by no moans certain that the burden would he materially diminished if the colonies did not exist, or c id not form part of our Empire. But the fact remains that the burden is heavy, that it is likely to become heavier in time, as the armaments of our rivals increase, and that the defence of colonial interests does undoubtedly and in an ever-increas-ing degree add to the sources of friction and to the danger of war. The United Kingdom has to bear the whole responsibility, moral and material, of tho conduct of affairs in many of which it has no direct interest, and upon which, consequently, it is often ill-informed. It gets little credit for the unselfishness it not infrequently displays; it gets all the blame for every failure to satisfy oven the oxtremest demands of irresponsible colonial opinion. The whole position is an impossible one, and cannot last. Some solution of the difficulty must be found; and it can apparently be found in two directions only. Tho one is separation, the other is Imperial partnership. The colonies must cither become absolutely independent States, conducting the whole of their external affairs without interference, and without help, or else ' they must become equal partners in a united Empire based upon tho principle of mutual support and joint responsibility. There can be no final ■ solution which stops short of these two alternative conclusions. There can be no temporary solution

which willuot incline the course of development towards _the one conclusion or the other, and in all probability, incline it' irrevocably