Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 653, 3 May 1929, Page 8

Citizens Say —

WHOSE THE CREDIT? Sir.— Your correspondent “Uncle Jim” may be right in his claim that Colonel B. C. Freyberg-, V.C., should be classed ! -'= a New Zealander- for the reason that lie spent 22 years out of liis initial 44 m the Dominion. But Colonel Freyberg was born in England. Now, New Zealanders, and Aucklanders in particular, are proud of the fact that the distinguished novelist Hugh Walpole was born in this city. He left Ngxv Zealand at about the age of two —the same age, apparently, at which the young Freyberg left England for our shores. England therefore has the right to claim Walpole as an Englishman. It seems to me that an adjustment will have to be made. Either we take Freyberg, and England Walpole, or we take the author and England the soldier. DIGITALIS. RAILWAY AMENITIES Sir, — Regular train travellers will be disappointed at the news that the proposal for Government control of railway bookstalls is to be dropped. They have suffered manfully for many years and now it appears that the old order must continue. The pi'esent service is unsatisfactory—expensive and poorly stocked. It is almost—l say almost—as bad as the restaurant service which, day in and day out, wages an insidious battle against the good work of the railway publicity and tourist departments. The man who fixed the charge of 8d for a cup of watery tea and a crudely-hewn sandwich should be presented with a mask and a horse-pistol and re-christened Kelly. The book and magazine sellers are only a trifle better. They hold a monopoly and trade on it, offering steerage goods at saloon prices. They are not black-balled, because poor, weak human-beings would sooner be fleeced than condemned to watch hundreds of miles of cows and fences and things. We need a change. DOG BOX. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION Sir,— It is too late now to consider the question of proportional representation in relation to the municipal elections, but had that system been used, there would have been certain alteration in the personnel of the newly-elected City Council. So far as memory serves me, I think that Christchurch is the city which has been most kindly in its thoughts toward this friend of democracy. At two previous elections proportional representation has been tried, and now, for a third time, a big staff is engaged in working out the voting aggregates and declaring councillors

(To the Editor.)

elected as soon as the lucky candidates reach the necessary voting quota. there has been no great difficulty with the system in the past, and its fan-ness is undeniable. But for the use of the system there is little doubt that Labour could have given itself a majority on the Christchurch City Council, but these excellent administrators have placed democratic .ideals before party advantage. Perhaps the Auckland City Council, enlivened now by new blood, will feel inclined to give P.R. a trial at the next election. DEMOCRITUS. STATUS OF DOMINIONS Sir. — According to the declaration of the Imperial Conference of 1926, Great Britain and the Dominions are “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any respect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to tfie Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” This declaration, we are told by Professor J. H. Morgan, “was a political not a legal act." I rather think it was both Certainly it has both legal and political significance. Even Mr. Morgan allows “there is law” in that part owning allegiance to the Crown. He goes so far as to admit it may be a “convention.” As such it may be taken as a ground for law between the nations of the British Empire and also with other nations and the League of Nations. Britain and the Dominions have since acted upon it in various ways. Mr. Morgan says the force of such a convention "is exactly correlative with the extent to which it is (I would say: may be) observed.” If King George should happen to reside in Canada, it would be as competent for him there, advised by the Canadian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to declare whether a foreign State was recognised as .a sovereign State or not. as it is now competent for him to do in England, upon similar advice. If we. hold that “the King is everywhere present in his Dominions,” then in his representative, as well as in person, he must be present to perform all acts incumbent upon him and essential to the welfare of the Empire. “If we stop to consult the Dominions we may lose the war,” says the Englishman. In like manner a Dominion may lose the war if it stops to consult Downing Street. The ex-parte interpretation of the declaration of the Imperial Conference of 1926 by Mr. Morgan will certainly be repudiated by all the Dominions. All attempts to flx the status of the Dominions are doomed to failure, for that status is not fixed but in a state of transition, and is -far too subtle and elusive to admit of expression in legal terms. Like growing daughters, the Dominions are steadilv gaining upon the Mother Country, and some of them, like the United States, will one day surpass Britain. The

integrity of the Empire is to be maintained, not by coercion—legal or otherwise—but by the fullest freedom consistent with the common good. A wise orientation of policy will not exclude the United States, but make it both possible and desirable for all concerned to include Uncle Sam in the British family of nations. Life will ever transcend legal technicalities. What technicalities can alter the fact that British blood flows in my American children’s veins? On that account I sign myself— ANGLO-AMERICAN.