The Daily News. MONDAY APRIL 7, 1919. THE STRATEGICAL SECURITY OF THE EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 April 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY APRIL 7, 1919. THE STRATEGICAL SECURITY OF THE EMPIRE.

When President Wilson gave utterance to that apt phrase "The British Empire is an island empire," he stated a truism with which we are all familiar, but the full import of which, as regards security, is adequately realised by only the few. The ideal of a great empire is that it shall be prosperous and safe, and the attainment of this ideal means not only complete organisation for the utmost development of resources, but a linked up effort on the part of the units to make those resources yield their maximum returns, the aim being to ensure that as far as possible the Empire shall l:e self-contained and self-sufficient as a whole and in the case of each unit. It is obvious that an island J Empire must owe its prosperity to freedom from interruption of its sea communications, so that the latter must be safeguarded fully l and completely. The centre of our; island Empire is England, which is not only the seat of Govern-' ment, but contains two-thirds of the white population of the whole Empire. In & very interesting

paper read recently at the Eoyai Colonial Institute by Dr. Vaughan Cornish on "The geographical safeguards of the British Empire," Dr. Cornish alluded- to the fact that close to the great deposits of coal and iron ore are unsurpassed harbors, and the situation of the country is more central than that of any other island of equal size for access to the world's coasts, so that the geographical conditions are singularly favorable to the accumulation of mercantile tonnage, thus the island of Great Britain, the geographical origin of the Empire, is its main shipyard and base. There is no other couutry in the world that is so dependent on naval power as a means of defence and security as are Britain and the Empire, and that is the moral justification for British naval supremacy. "When considering the claims of the Irish Nationalists to cut adrift from Britain and become a separate State, it is necessary to bear in mind the geographical aspect as concerning Britain and Ireland. Dr. Cornish argues that just as the Low Countries provide the best position from which to invade Britain, so Ireland provides the best position from which to cut off her food supply, for Ireland flanks all the routes between Britain and the Dominions, so that any surrender of Admiralty control over Irish harbors and coasts would render the trade routes of the Empire liable to interruption and would imperil the supplies of a population nine times as great as that of Ireland. That is a very potent reason for the maintenance of the political union between Britain and Ireland, emphasised by the experience of the war, particularly in relation to submarine activities and German plots. From the viewpoint of security the Empire has certainly gained, as the result of the war, by depriving Germany of her colonies and by the break up of the Austro-Hun-garian Empire, for the German colonies in Africa and the Pacific lay on the flank of our Imperial routes, while Austro-Hungary and German endangered our communications through the Mediterranean. _ The security of India is also a vital necessity. At one time Russia was the disturbing factor as regards India, but, except as to Bolshevik propaganda, there is no reason to expect any danger from that quarter now. At the same time, in the new organisation of the world, which is now being elaborated, it would seem advisable, as far as possible, to isolate India from any great military European Power, and to that end, in view _of the altered conditions in Russia, there seems to be an urgent need to reassert the complete independence and integrity of Persia, so as to secure another buffer-State between India and possible European invaders. The problem of land communications with India does not affect India alone, for if tbe land route from England to India is assured, it can be utilised to increase the speed of intercommunication between England and Australia by means of the air service. That is"another reason why the Germans must not regain possession of their colonies. Thus the war has enormously add ed to the strategical security of the British Empire, while opening up possibilities of the more rapid linking together of its different elements. ' Dr. Cornish suggests the desirability of deliberately dir ccting our Imperial industrial development in the direction of making the different units of the Empire more approximately selfsufficient. There is no question that such a development is desirable, but it would not be wise to sacrifice present economic advantages for the sake of future security, as the immediate ecouomic loss might be so serious as to outweigh the possible future gain in security. Now that the principle has been_ established of making the Dominions real partners in the Empire by giving them a voice in its administration as a whole, there would seem to be a far greater incentive than previously for the units to work together and with the Motherland in a conjoint effort to ensure not only the absolute security of the Empire, but to enlarge its prosperity and civilising influence.