The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1920. VITAL TO EMPIRE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3620, 5 November 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1920. VITAL TO EMPIRE.

With which is incorporated "The Taihape Post and Waimarino News,"

The need for closer relationship of the overseas Dominions with the heart of the British Empire has been a burning subject with several public writers for upwards of a quarter of a century. In the early Seddonian time a few writers pointed out with considerable forcefulness the wishy washy, transitory nature of what are termed Imperial Conferences. Men knowing Britain and British Statesmen of that day were confident that Imperial Conferences could do nothing but what contributed to the interests and desires of the British statesmen, first and last, and no advance in Imperial politics was made of any consequence until 1907, when the German menace began to loom up rather ominously. Sir James Allen has again raised the question, and Sir Joseph Ward has created a sensation in the midst of the hide-bound pachyderms of British statesmanship. No ■words or sentiment ever fitted an occasion better than those uttered on this subject by Sir James Allen., and no scathing criticism on any subject was more deserving and opportune than that administered by Sir Joseph Ward. • Sir James stated a wholesome Imperial truth plainly and fearlessly, and Sir Joseph Ward thrust the point deeper into British understanding. An Imperial relationship which would permit a continuance of the mandate over territories taken from Germany is of the weakest, and as Sir James stated, it is ephemeral —relationship of a day and isolation for four or five years. No one will deny that the "proposal for an Imperial Parliament is practicable, with units of Empire so widely distributed, and Imperial conferences once in four years of a onesided nature can j be but little more than worthless while being the cause for'much irritation and dissatisfaction. Before coming to the kernel of Sir James Allen's contentions, stated in a paper read at the Colonial Institute, it may be questioned: What have the Imperial Conferences so far achieved? They have failed to sensibly weld or knit British sentiment throughout the Empire in closer bonds of. common interest. If anything, they have rather tended to drive some scions of Empire from the parent tree. The very nature of the resolution providing for an Imperial Conference every four years lacked that enthusiasm that could only infer want of steadfast intention, and conviction that it was at all necessary for British statesmen to confer with overseas Dominions statesmen upon any subject, except such as might improve the trade of British manufacturers. Deliberations at the Conference were too largely tinctured with considerations of a huckstering character, and, of course, Colonial statesmen/including New Zealand's representatives, were too deadly in earnest to put up with the attitude of a parent over a child, which was altogether too obvious, and now SirJoseph Ward has had the courage to tell British statesmen the whole truth. In 1907 it was decided that an Imperial Conference be held every four years, at which qusstions of common interest "might" be discussed. Why "might"? Why not "shall"? Of course, it was never intended that representatives should have any potent part in Imperial deliberations; the Conference was to an extent a mere semblance of a sop to overseas colonies; they were ephemeral, lasting but for a day. The first and second conferences were largely concerned with the subject of preferential trade, mere j huckstering trivialities, while great ; questions of State and Empire Avcre ' held back because British representatives feared to trust, or were disinclined to be influenced by the opinions of Dominion representatives. It is true that after the 1902 Conference the pace and magnitude of German military and naval growth began to force itself upon British minds, and at the 1907 Conference principles embodied in a statement by the then Secretary for War were approved, and the Conference the need of developing, for the service of the Empire, a general staff, selected from the Empire as a whole, whose chief duty was to study military science, and prepare schemes of defence on a common principle. These were j indeed very far away and indistinct echoes of the great war down in the distant future; yet they led up to an arganising, training and educating of military forces in every part of the Empire. Other indeterminate discussions favoured the establishment ofN an Imperial Court of Appeal; that it was desirable to e'ncourage British emigrants to settle in British colonies rather than in foreign countries; the nnnr.inlo r>£ trade was reiffirmed; it was also resolved that Bri : tish shipping should be supported as

far as practicable. What an achievement for an Imperial Conference of statesmen from every self-governing Dominion of the great Brtiish Empire. Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Ward have now told the British Government that the Dominion of New Zealand, at least, is indisposed to continue trifling with the most vital and farreaching" of Empire questions. They virtually refuse to be enmeshed in League «©f Nations entanglements, and Sir James Allen indicated in no uncertain words that Samoa must cither come under British or New Zealand control, with no obligations whatever to a League of Nations which would hand back partial control to the Germans from whom Samoa was taken. The League of Nations had not the prescience to see that mandatories of the kind were going to be a very costly stumbling block to' the Dominions holding them, while final control was retained by a body of representatives of every civilised country, erstwhile enemies and otherwise. It is too apparent that under such conditions difficulties would arise of great seriousness, and in incalculable number. There aro divergent views as to the source of authority from whence the Dominions received mandates; whether they should legislate in tneir own Parliament, or whether it was not more in accordance with Imperial ideals to utilise the legislation already provided by the' Imperial Parliament, and these differences showed the need for a speedy definition of the position. Such are briefly the contentions of Sir Jaines Allen to-day, and like Mr. Sedclon and the Hon. J. G. Ward, who expressed almost precisely similar opinions upon Imperial relationship a quarter of a .century ago, he condemns the Imperial Conference idea; he is of opinion that an Imperial Parliament is not practicable, and the only effective way to commence cementing the straggling Empire into one great whole is to establish a Councli of Empire. At the last two Imperial Conferences discussions of little more than an academic character dealt with preparations to meet a foreign enemy; whatever form future meetings of Empire statesmen (take, they will not only have the enemy from without to provide against, but also .a treasonable, unpatriotic, revolutionary enemy from within. Parseeing people have full realisation "of the menace to. the British Empire, with all its grand and noble traditions, and they will cordially welcome the Imperial Council ball that has been set rolling so forcefully and pointedly by Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Ward.