The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1915. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 281, 6 May 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1915. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMPIRE.

Few people; give oven a passing thought to the significance of Empire. They talk of the unity of Empire, its honor, its interests, and its expansion, but in vague general terms that carry no hint of the mighty underlying" principles upon which the Empire is based. The Eng-lish-speaking race always speaks of "the'' Empire as if there were none other than that to which they belong. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that there are other empires—the German, for instance, and it is only by comparing the origin and growth of these other empires with that of our own that the true significance of empire is discovered. Take the case of Germany. It was evolved out of the bloolshed of the Franco-German war; it lias been nourished on militarism, and today it has brought about the most terrible and sanguinary war that the world iias ever seen—a mighty struggle for • dominance conducted with the utmost barbarity and brutality. What of the British Empire? It is, as Lord Esher has so aptly stated in his new book, ''The Influence of King Edward," ''a. great flagship." For ages hits the ocean battered in vain her enduring sides; she was there when the world was vaster and darker, when the sea was great and mysterious and- ready to surrender the prize of fame to audacious men. A ship mother of fleets and nations! The great flagship of the race; stronger than the storms, and anchored in the open sea. Before we can realise the significance of empire we have to catcli the spirit of the empire-makers who built greater than they know and achieved a greater purpose than they set out to do. While in Germany's case emphe implies military domination, despotic rule, aggression on liberties, with Britain it stands for liberty and government of the people by the people; for the people, as all New fccalanders know full well. The very origin of the word empire in England was in connection Willi independence—a spiritual and temporal independence thai has grown and thriven until it has attained such proportions that it may be said to girdle the earth, for the sun never sets on the wide-world Empire of Britain. Our empire grew. It was not made for the purpose of establishing a military dominance, though it has entailed the building up of tile largest and most effective navy in the world. It has grown with the growth of a particular nice—a race that has shown its power to subdue the eari.li, not by the sword, but by making the mountains, the forests, the waters, and the si.il contribute their riches for the benefit of its manifold inhabitants. Above all must be taken into account the capacity for administration exhibited l>\all those grand pioneers who have made the empire what it is—an empire of peace, prosperity, and progress. It cannot be denied that in this groat process

of building the empire there have be2ii ( those who have been self-seekers mrl. actuated by sordid motives, but in the main there has been a natural, national .growth, necessary to England for tii; defence of England, congenial to Englishmen as the kind of work for which their character and training, have adapted them. As a consequence we see today a united empire animated by one groat purpose, and -drawn together in a time of peril by a bond that can never break. Truly,' the empire is Lie great flagship of our race, and ti> it we may safely trust the destinies of every unit without a fear of the consequence