The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16. A COMMON CAUSE.
The strength of political parties and the ultimate destiny of them is probably exercising the minds of citizens of the Empire at the moment to the exclusion of the questions of the strength of the Empire. The political belief of the majority of citizens of Britain, and the ultimate result which places any one section in the seats of the rulers, is not of paramount importance. In Imperial crises no section or party can be looked to for the salvation of the people, and it is "the history of nations that the occasion produces the man, who is not necessarily a fool because he is a Unionist, or a genius because he is a Radical. There is one subject on which every person, except those who are hopelessly opposed to the safety of the Empire, agree, and this is that no matter who sits in the seats of the Mighty at Westminster, the Empire must remain inviolable, safe from attack, too strong for dismemberment, and with the hearts of every citizen beating in unison in a determination to keep secure,the paramountcy of the British flag. At the forthcoming Imperial Conference, the leaders of his Majesty's "dominions at Home and beyond the seas will discuss what Sir Joseph Ward referred to as "momentous issues." The Premier mentioned that he hoped that the Conference would agree to the setting up of an Advisory Board of Empire, in order that the various elements making up the group should understand each other. Such an Advisory Board would have as its chief consideration the safety of the sister nations composing the Empire, and would work to ensure a combination to argue the question of supremacy. The British Empire is so vast that if it were developed to its full commercial capacity it would be unnecessary for the British nations to depend for anything on the outsider. While'the Empire is commercially undeveloped, a feature due to the sparseness of population in the oversea possessions, Britain proceeds to do a ..gigantic foreign trade which has no parallel among foreign nations. She is enabled to possess and retain this trade, which is at present her lifeblood, by the strength of her right arm and by the honesty of her dealings. Other nations quite naturally envy the extraordinary volume of commerce which flaws to and from the British Isles. Britain is a world-wide trader. Her ships lie at every wharf in the known lands of the earth, her flag flies on every ocean ! route and in uncharted seas. The huge Royal Navy is the necessary corollary to the huge fleets of merchant vessels, and ■o nation has the same excuse for a fleet of so large a size as that of Britain, go, logically, the race in the building of warships as far as the other nations is concerned does not mean that Germany or Austria needs the increase to protect its commerce, but to protect the problematical commerce they might obtain if the British Navy were defeated. The plain English of it is that the incredible strides being made in navy and army expansion by foreign Powers is not pacific, the ultimate aim necessarily being to obtain enough added commerce to justify .the expenditure on engines of destruction. "Disarmament" is the cry only of sections that do not or cannot control the people or the destinies of the Empire. The European Powers steadfastly refuse to listen to the cry. We have lately seen that Austria will build Dreadnoughts, and if the programme is as rapid and determined as that of the Germans, the combined fleets will be' a machine to reckon with. The combined armies of those two countries are supposed to be incomparable. At any rate, they are numerically terrific. One is led to believe on a study of German doings that, however sections may disagree, and whatever influence the German Socialists may wield, the great mass of the people will plump for German supremacy. There is nothing wonderful or unusual or without precedent in this. The point for the citizen of the Empire to consider is whether he is seised of the paramount importance of an Imperial idea, an Imperial sentiment, an Imperial cohesion, an Imperial goal. Whether he has the interest of his Motherland at heart to the same extent as the German has the interest of the Fatherland his ideal, it is impossible to judge in peace time, but it seems certain that the average Briton generally pooh-poohs the idea of a period when his flag shall not be '''dipped" to by every other flag under heaven. The idea is intolerable. The question for New Zealanders is, "Would you like to colonise under the military dominance of a foreign Power?" Of course not. Another question, "What are you doing personally to prevent such a contingency?" And so the Advisory Board will, should it ever become an accomplished fact, tell the great men of the Empire not what you will be willing to do when the necessity arises, but what you are doing now to make the contingency impossible. Foreign nations have .allies. Britain has a cordial understanding with France. Perhaps France does not fear the gigantic strength of the army of her near neighbor. Who knows? Where, then, does Britain turn for help in time of trouble, supposing that she ever meets trouble? To her own flesh and blood in Canada, in Australia, South Africa, India and New Zealand. That is why an Advisory Board is necessary—to show that the cause of one outpost of the Empire is common to every other outpost and the headquarters is difficult, and the Imperial idea is dim and visionary to most of us. Necessities may'develop it, but it would be much safer to have it fully fledged before the necessity arose.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 212, 16 December 1910, Page 4
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973The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16. A COMMON CAUSE. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 212, 16 December 1910, Page 4
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