The Daily News. WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 6, 1912. PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 145, 6 November 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 6, 1912. PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.

The man in the street knows little, and cares less, about Imperial conditions and Imperial difficulties. He is more interested in tilings that closely concern him—'in commercial or industrial interests, in the breeding of the New Zealand Cup winner, the latest drama at the picture theatre, the price of butter-fat,' or whether Sir Joseph Ward will undertake the leadership of the Old Guard again. He .has a hazy idea that there is a British Empire, that New Zealand forms part of it, and that the finest man the world has yet produced is the New Zealander. It is well that he should descend occasionally from his perch and view things in their true proportions. Recently, Sir Charles Bruce published two voluble books that enable one to obtain a clear view of the conditions to which the existing systems of administration are due and the chief difficulties which confront them. They are entitled, "The True Temper of Empire" and "An Analysis of the System of Government throughout the Empire." Prom these some important and interesting facts are to be gleaned. (For instance, we find that the British Empire of to-day consists of over 11,400,000 square miles of territory, inhabited by a population of more than 410 millions, and comprises a fifth of the surface of the globe. Its dominions and dependencies range through every degree of political development from the great federations of Canada, Australia and South Africa, which with a political organisation hardly less complex that Britain's, claim complete domestic self-go-vernment, and have even advanced pretensions to a position of international independence, to Tristan d'Acunha, where the descendants of three members of a British garrison, set there long ago to watch Napoleon at St. Helena, lead a patriarchal existence, under the nominal rule of the oldest inhabitant, practically cut off from communication with the rest of the world. The catalogue contains many curious anomalies. The three provinces of Rhodesia are still under the administration of the British South Africa Company; Ascension Island is technically a ship of war, and under the regulation of the Admiralty; Sarawak and North Borneo are subject to the nominally independent sway of Rajah Brooke; the new territories of Hongkong and Wei-hai-wei are held by lease from the Chinese Empire; while the Pitcairn Islands (inhabited by the descendants of the mutineers of the "Bounty"), though nominally . under the administration of the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, are, in fact, in much the same condition as Tiistan d'Acunha. Broadly speaking, howaver, the systems of the

Empire fall into three divisions—selfgoverning dominions, India, the Crown colonies and the protectorates —and these divisions are, in fact, largely de- ' termined by climatic differences. The area of self-government coincides (since the Union of South Africa Act, 1900) with the extent of Britain's possessions in the temperate zone, while it has hitherto been found impossible to fuse any of our dependencies in the tropical regions into a sufficient Hnity to justify the grant of political independence. Indeed, the circumstances which make these latter positions most valuable to Britain militate also against the grant of self-government. Practically all the industries of the tropical territories are concerned with the production of the vaw materials of manufacture; but the conditions of existence make it impossible that these supplies can be maintained without the use, and the Increasing use, of native labor. Thus we are bound to maintain a,large native, population and, in some cases, to increase it by the immigration of other, races more suited to local conditions than ourselves; and, the days of slavery being at an end, we must maintain it in a state of comparative independence, a necessity which is l the root of continual and most difficult problems. The government of the colonies follows a process of development from purely executive administration through various forms of administration by both executive and legislative councils, the Government majority in some cases being secured in both councils by a; nominated majority,, while in others there is a majority of elected members. Finally, there are a few colonies which have, in addition to legislative and executive councils, a purely representative assembly, and thus possess all the paraphernalia, if not all the reality, of responsible government. In all cases the Governor, controlled by the Secretary of State, holds the place occupied in the British Constitution by the Crown. Nominally the Royal function in both cases is the same. In fact, of course, the Governor's powers are susceptible of a far more extensive exercise than those of the Crown. The differences in adjustment between these various factors of government are, of course, conditioned by the varying circumstances of the different territories to which they are applied. In spite of the remarkable way in which the imposed constitutions have developed and adapted themselves to local requirements, in spite of the certainty with which the system of assimilation makes its way in the domains both of law and administration, it is impossible not to feel that a more true federation between the constituent parts of the Empire, a more real commerce of ideas, is most urgently desirable (remarks the Spectator, from which we have largely drawn upon for the above facts). There is a growing consciousness of the need for some sort of an Imperial Council, of some method by which the common necessities of the Empire may secure a more efficient field for publicity and discussion than the Imperial Conference affords them, and one feels that change of some kind is imminent. What form it will take when it does come must still be a matter of conjecture, but the work of such men as Sir Charles Bruce, with his wide experience in colonial government and the close and sympathetic study of Imperial problems which these essays clearly show, combined with such patient investigations as have gone to produce the most valuable analysis contained in his second volume, will do much to make the task possible when the pressure of circumstances at • last compels the Empire to undertake it.