The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1916. THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 97, 26 July 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1916. THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE.

At a great and imposing gathering held on May 20th at Bristol, the famous West of England shipping port and-commercial centre, the Right Hon. W. Morris Hughes, Premier of Australia, and the Right Hon. Sn! Thomas Mackenzie, New Zealand’s! High Commissioner, were presented with the honorary freedom of Bristol City, with appropriate ceremony and] many indications of -'welcome. Our I High Commissioner made an excel-' lent speech, in the course of which, alluding to the illustrious men who had been freemen of Bristol, the speaker said after one of them the capital ol New Zealand l ad bee i named, Wellington, while one of thenmost beautiful -province.! was called Nelson, and a city in that province also bore that title. He also said that tho colonies knew now that a fresh view prevailed regarding "overseas possessions; the day had passed when they wore regarded as encumbrances. The people of Australia and New Zealand were descended from the best strains in Britain; they maintained the best British traditions, and had sent of their best willingly and joyfully in Order that the old flag | should wave still over the Empire to j which they were attached; but they j , had not sent their sons to light and to lie mutilated in order that England should turn the other cheek to tlie foe. There were some people in! their midst who almost horrified one by the •manner in which they wished at once to renew trade relationships. Would they renew family intercourse with a burglar who entered thenhome and tried to rob them of all I that was best? He could not understand those who would suggest the renewal of such exchange. J he Western Daily Press, referring editorially] to tho occasion remarks: “Noj thoughtful person who listened to the speeches of Mr Hughes and Sir Thom-j j as Mackenzie, at the Bristol Council, House, on Saturday, when they were admitted to the honorary freedom of tho city, could help feeling that their, message’to the British people is some-| thing more important than even thej (words they uttered. That is, they| implied more than they said, and itj I i s the duty of the British people to 1 note the purport as well as the actual .words of our distinguished 'guests.' j What they said they said well. I hey 1 acknowledge the friendship and the gratitude which we at home feel lor the Dominions and their efforts m our 1 common cause. -More cleaih t ian some men in our midst, they recog-, uise the true meaning and the irai mouse seriousness of the groat wai ils a conflict between the principles I of tyranny and of liher.y, of mihtar- | ism 'and peace, of reaction and demoThe future of the Dominions ' depends upon the ability of the Allies (to break down the effort of Germany t 0 r ,de the world either by might oi , )Y terror.” The »me writer goes ■ ou to specially emphasise , that if the people of Britain <>esire, . s v Mioves they do, that uie Do- '' 'minions shall, in 'the future have a i share in the shaping ol Imperial

policy, it is for the people to say so, and to let Ministers know what they want. It was but a reasonable proposition that when a man is ready to die for an Empire he ought to be allotted to have a voice in its policy. Arid what is important is that the leading statesmen of the Dominions are claiming the right to be consulted. Dealing with the difficulties that beset the problem the'" Bristol paper concludes that the granting of a voice in the Empire’s Councils to the Overseas Dominions will, in some respects be a revolution, and it will involve 1 upon Englishmen the surrender •of valued rights, or at least the sharing of these rights with others. “But unless we are going to see the Ern- | pire fall to pieces, the problem, rdifg ficult and complicated though it may lie, will have to be faced, and what we are anxious for is the creation of, a public opinion that will let our, statesmen see that the people expect their statesmanship to be equal to the task, with the help of the clear-j sighted and vigorous representatives of the Dominions, of surmounting the difficulties in the way of the assured, and permanent union of the British Empire.”