EMPIRE DIFFICULTIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 793, 14 October 1929, Page 9

EMPIRE DIFFICULTIES

IRELAND RAISES TOUGH PROBLEMS IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION Australian and y.Z. Press Association LONDON, Sunday. There are hints that the representatives of the Irish Free State already have raised embarrassing problems at the Imperial Constitutional Conference, especially in relation to the Royal assent to Dominion Bills. Although this right is hardly likely to be exercised nowadays apparently there is a majority disinclined to remove the safeguard. It is understood that the discussion reached such a delicate stage that Mr. Patrick McGilligan, Irish Minister of External Affairs, returned to Dublin to consult his Cabinet. Also it is suggested that Ireland revived her 1926 claim for a separate mercantile marine flag. The “Morning Post" affirms that if the Empire is to pull its weight in the world its component States must agree to do things together. The newspaper instances the statement by Mr. W. L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, that Canada would not allow another accredited Soviet agent in that Dominion. Thus, it says, Canada takes one line and Great Britain another. Similarly it is hard to believe that Australia will endorse the British Government’s adherence to the Court of International Justice. The article concludes by expressing the opinion that agreement on such subjects should be reached before rather than after a decision by the Mother Country.