The Daily News. MONDAY, JULY 4. KNOWING THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 72, 4 July 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JULY 4. KNOWING THE EMPIRE.

"What do they know of England, who England really know?" In other words, kow can man think imperially if he sees nothing of the Empire? One member of tie H#use of Commons the other day sajd the whole attitude of the Colonial Office had been to regard the United Kingdom as one body, and the dominions as semi-external appendages. If this is the attitude of the Colonial Office, which supposedly has the best knowledge of the "external appendages," how does the or- j dinary Britisher, who has lived all nis | life in one town in the Old Country, regard the colonies? In a vague way, the average Briton knows that the colonies "belong" to England; he is not quite sure how they came to belong to Britain, what the .people of the colonies are like, what color they are, or whether th«y could exist without relationship to Britain. It seems reasonable that the Colonial Office should know more of the colonies than the fact that they are big red smudges on the map of the world, and Ithat the average Briton should not view the red smudges as "foreign countries." The business of Britain is so magnificently organised that the majority of people are unenquiring, if they are able to buy the things they want at prices that suit their pockets. It is a fact that few Britons concern themselves with the outer posts of the Empire, until someone persuades them that lif# in tl* colonies is one vast romance. Then, perhaps, the particular portion of the Empire to which the immigrant decides to go, is studied. But there is a distinct change of late in the matter of official knowledge of the Empire, as distinct from Britain. The change does not come about by any office study of the Empire, but by the personal contact of Imperialists. The earnest student, for instance, learns more about Britain by travelling in it for three months than by forty years of outside study. Latterly it has been conceded by even the most conservative official class in England that the people of the colonies are entitled to have ideas on the subject of their own welfare and progress. The colonies are looked upon less as expensive appendages, the aspirations of colonials are conceded to be as worthy as the aspirations Britishers at Homeland there is ho doubt about the genuine brotherly warmth that greets the colonial at Home and the distinguished Britisher abroad. Although we in New Zealand are stranded on the uttermost outposts of the great Empire, the marvels of modern communication make the distance comparatively trifling. People nowadays think less of a steamer journey to Australia and New Zealand than 'our forefathers thought of a coach trip from London to York. It would be inconceivable in the old days of slow "windjammers," and before the coming of the electric cable, that organised parties of British business men should come to Australia and New Zealand, with the specific ■* intention of learning something about their brothers at this end of the earth. Nowadays (as was shown last year) business men of the Old Country are able to gather at first hand information that thoroughly enlightens them in regard to our methods and our aspirations. They find that the colonial does not differ in any real essential to his cousin in Britain, that his ideals are similar, that his future is wrapped up with that of the man in the Old Land, nnd that he is a member of the great Imperial family. The constant reiteration of the great truth that all parts of the Empire are interdependent, !has aroused the curiosity of enquirers into closer examination. We were visited by a distinguished servant of the Colonial Office (Sir Charles Lucas), whose impressions and knowledge must be of inestimable value to the Colonial Office. The idea that there could be any necessity for Imperial organised defence is quite new. Lord Kitchener's visit was a recognition of a new principle, and the result of a closer knowledge gained by contact. The mere fact that a distinguished stranger saw at once the great weakness of Australia—lack of continental railway communication —spurred the Commonwealth to an endeavor. The great trans-continental railway is assured. Knowledge of a country gained by actual contact frequently leads to great developments. Sir Ernest Shackleton, the explorer, proposes spending much time around the very little known coasts of the island continent. The idea would probably not have occurred to him if he had not already travelled in Australasia. The British Association for the Advancement of Science will send a batch of eminent men to the colonies. They have achieved great results from their meetings in Canada and South Africa, and because Australia is less known than either Canada or Africa, the knowledge these scientists will gather may be of tlie utmost importance to this end of the earth. The Commonwealth Government has promised a sum of ten thousand pounds towards the expenses of this expedition, and it is quite possible that New Zealand may be included in the itinerary, if our Government is as quick as was the Commonwealth Government to recognise the utility of attracting those scientists. The interchange of men .and ideas is verv valuable. Colonial 'people have hid little time to be anything but utilitarian, and therefore the attraction of specialists of any kind leavens the strictly utilitarian aspect and opens up avenues before unthought ■ of. Tn the process of time, the familiarity of all people under the British flag

with all parts of the Empire must etrengthen the whole, aud it is very necessary that there shall be the best physical and mental cohesion throughout the lands governed by George V.