THE SPIRIT OF EMPIRE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 61, 11 March 1916, Page 4

THE SPIRIT OF EMPIRE.

DAWNING OF NEW ERA. DOMINIONS AND MOTHERLAND MUST BE .ONE. _ ♦ LONDON, March 9. " The King gave an audience to the Hon. W. M. Hughes. • Subsequently Mr. Hughes attended a Cabinet meeting. 'Mr. Asquith introduced him to other Ministers. He afterwards attended a Parliamentary

luncheon given in his honour. ~ Mr. Bonar Law, in a speech welcoming Mr. Hughes, said Britain had many war surprises. The enemy's greatest surprise was the additional strength the Dominions' gave the Empire. Australasia and Canada were no more loyal to Britain than she was to them. The Dominions realised that the battle •was as much for them as for Britain, involving everything we hold dear, everything making life worth living. . Any Government which had not : brought victory was inevitably crlticis- ' ed. The people of Britain had the' power in their own hands, but the Dominions we're different. They had poured forth money and sacrificed' the laves of their best men.-yet they had neither say nor control in the way in which the money and lives' : were spent. : --Thei.r'.. criticism would-be" £>■ very -different and a more dangerous thing.isting state of things, whereby tJK j Dominions gav e so much and>had Mtj little control, could not 'be permanent. > Things after tire war could not remain the same. The war had shown that the- '

Empire had one spirit of action. Therefore means should be found to embody that spirit in the structure for all time. Personally he , believed the future would depend on the action of the Dominions. The Mother Country would ■welcome almost any scheme they approved. Probably she would find a big step as easy as a little one. Mr. Hughes, replying, reviewed the events of the war. The Germans saw prospects of rich loot, and were buoyed by the • l iope, net especially tlnv downfall of Britain, but of the commercial and industrial domination of; the -earth. Reviewing ' the hold the *

Germans had on the trade of the Empire, Mr. Hughes said we had lived in a fool's paradise. 'lt was futile to bewail our criminal felly and not learn wisdom therefrom. Regarding the relations of the Dominions and the Mother Country, he hoped to see a policy evolved to make the word "Em!pire" something more than in the past. If we could establish for ever a Federation of the Empire we ivouM ensure the peace of the world. tain had been expanding her commercial} and industrial position at the expense of national safety, imagining there was no relation between them. Britain's absolute dependence for her very existence turned upon the possession of raw material for munitions, yet she had bound herself body and soul to the German octopus controlling copper, zinc, and lead. We would be worse than fools if we did not learn the lesson of the manner in which we had been betrayed. Everything must be subordinated to the destruction of Germany's control of British trade and thereby strike a blow at Germany .more important than ' a decisive land battle. "When the war- decided, Germany's opportunities for world dominion must be gone for eveT. Mr. Bonar Law amiounced that during iis visit the Government would have no secrets from Mr. Hughes. This is regarded an indicating that will be invited to share in the highest councils whenever Dominion subjects are discussed.