The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1916. IMPERIAL UNITY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 18, 19 August 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1916. IMPERIAL UNITY.

The war is ■'bringing home to us, as nothing eke possibly could have done, the necessity for real Imperial unity as an actual and concrete fact in the life of our great Empire. The gathering together of the responsible administrative heads oh the various seligoverning parts of King George’s Dominions, which the Imperial Government has promised, for the pur-i pose of discussing plans for Empire j consolidation, may take p* ice before | very long now. When tne meeting j does take place, the recognised lact that Empire organisation must be undertaken will have to be faced from a practical standpoint. Mr Sidney Low tells us that at present the British. Empire is merely a loose, confederacy of self-governing states and dependencies, kept together by the personal nexus of the Crown, the bonds of sentiment and the theoreti- 1 •cal sovereignty of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This sovereignty, though complete in theory, is in practice largely in abeyance, and in the Dominions it can only be exer-' cised by the consent and at the desire; of these countries. There are Impel’-, ialists who insist that all these Eng-1 lish-speaking communities under the Crown constitute in reality not aiij -Empire but an alliance of sovereign' states, in permanent association with' one another for purposes ol defence and international policy. But if so,! it is an alliance in which a most disproportionate share of executive power and responsibility rests with the predominant partner. Mr Low says that the war has indeed demonstrated with radiant emphasis that the Dominion peoples are as much alive to their patriotic duties as those ol the British Isles. So far from endeavoring to escape the burden, they have shouldered"it to the fullest measure of their strength. But these sacrifices

and exertions involve* something nnm* than grateful acknowledgment. The war lias made it clear that the old loose constitution must be replaced hy some system more definite and intelligent, some scheme of government which defines with precision the relations of the constituent States and territories to one another, and to the dangerous world outside. The great lesson we should learn appears to hrthat no matter how great the resources, no Power can exert the full'moasnre of its capacity, whether in the military or the economic sphere, unless it is closely and scientifically organised. If we had but possessed a common plan of Imperial strategy which could have been ready lor ap-

plication at the very outbreak of hostilities, how different our position would have been, and if, in the fulness of time, we are again drawn into warfare, the Empire must not be found in the condition of unreadiness and incoherency in which the Germanic Powers found us in 1911. Mr Lionel, Curtis, editor of The Round Table, who is now on a visit to New Zealand, 1 recently gave an address in Christchurch on some of the Empire problems to be faced. His solution of one great difficulty would be to make tlm Ministers now responsible for Imperii ial affairs no less answerable to Newj Zealanders than to Englishmen. In order to do this ho said, the present Imperial Government must first he divested of all business solely relating, t.) the British Isles. Britain must have a Dominion Government of itSj own to look after its own affairs, just as Canada or South Africa had. TinImperial Cabinet and Parliament, could then be so reconstructed as to| make them representative of all the. Dominions, including Canada, Austra-j lia. New Zealand, and South Africa, a S well as Britain. The measure re-j quired to effect such a change could, only bo drafted by an Imperial Ccn-j vention representing the leaders oil all parties in ail the Dominions, Such I a measure when crafted would have to be ratified by the people in each of the countries concerned. And by no other means could the British Commonwealth continue to exist. Self government was the breath of its nostrils, the law of its being, and unless that principle were realised in its institutions the British Commonwealth would break up as it had once before in the 18th century. It was the Dominions rather than Britain which would be called upon to decide whether or no this change was to be made. The flower of their manhood were giving their lives for the British Commonwealth, but whether those lives were to be given in vain, whether the work they were doing was to be made or marred, would depend upon what those who outlived them did after the war. lu facing this problem the Dominions would decide not merely their own future and fate, hut that of the whole British. Commonwealth.