The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1905. OUR EAMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7821, 13 May 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1905. OUR EAMPIRE.

On those rare occasions which arise

when tho honour of our Empire is involved, there have been evoked from each of its integral parts such outbursts of genuine patriotism that other nations have marvelled, and envied. In tho ordioary course of events, however, the average Briton finds plenty of worß near at hand to engage his attention, and devotes but little time to the study of the Empire ae a whole. The events that happen in tho particular country in which he resides may interest him in a greater or less degree, and his knowledge of that portion of the globe in which he is located may be fairly comprehensive, but of the vast Empire of which he is one of the sons ha projbjafily knows lit|Ue>, (if anything, of a definite nature. It is well, now and again, that we as units should all realise the vastness of the Empire as a whole, not only its area, population, and trade, but also ita wealth and industries, and above all its uniqueness in being tie only federation in existence which is capable of. being made absolutely selfrsupporting, and perfectly independent of supplies from any foreign nation. To recognise this fact—in

which lies our greatest, but as yet latent, strength—should bo a sourcfc of inlinite gratification to every citizen of the Empire, inasmuch as it clearly denotes the futility of the assaults on our commercial position by foreign rivals so long as the British Navy sails supreme on every sea. How many of us, except the students of history, have anything But a faint conception of the laborious and costly process by which the possessions and prestige of the Empire, as we know it to-day, have boon built up 1 Tailing a rapid survey of events since the Norman Conquest in 1000, we And a long succession of naval wars culminating in the crushing defeat of France ' and

Spain by the heroic, Nelson. Never, since the history of Trafalgar, has any Power dared to openly contest with <!reat Britain for the supremacy

of the sea. Prior to that the naval power of Spain had been shattered that "of Portugal overwhelmed, .1

twenty-two years' struggle had taken place with the Dutch, and then from 1089 until 1800 there was an almost continuous conflict with France, which ended with the ever memorable victory of Trafalgar. The many military engagements which have taken place need not be referred to, as they havu but little bearing on the growth of the Empire. The generation of to-day accepts as a matter of course this supremacy of Britain, irnd looks on the means by which this predominance was oljtained as so many events In history. Lay before any citizen of the Empire a map of the world with British territory coloured red, and a feeliing of pride will be aroused by the fact that the T"nion Jack floats over about a quarter of the land surface of the globe, and more than a sixth of. its inhabited surface. Canada alone is nearly as large as Europe, while Australia and New Zealand together arc larger than Canada. Then as to population. The number of people in the King's dominions is three hundred and sixlj millions, six hundred and forty-six thousand, of whom less than fifty/ five millions are of European oxtraction. The irregularity in the distribution of this vast population is apparent in the 'uci that Engfand, which occupies only a seventy-seventh' of the area, lias a ninth of the total population. If ever tho time should come for Canada to be as tlileUl^ populated, as England, it woujd.

contailn a thousand million people J instead of its present five and a quarter millions. The life blood ol the Empire is its trade, amounting to an annual value of fifteen hundred millions sterling. It is the maintenance, development, and protection of this trade that must oc cupy the chief place in the aims ol Imperii'l statesmen. On it depends the wisilth and prosperity of the several units. As at present esti•'mated the united wealth of the Emipire is set down at the enormous sum of £22,250,000,000—an amount sufficient, if equally divided, to give I every family in the dominions £3OO, and yet leave a substantial surplus. Such a state of affairs is certainly pleasant to contemplate, hut it also conveys a lesson that all would do well to. take to heart—the need for unity of purpose in making the Kmpire more and more self-supporting, ana of showing to foreign rivals that in the bloodless war of competition we mean to head the list to-day, to-morrow, and for all time.