THE DOMINIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 April 1921, Page 5

THE DOMINIONS.

THEIR NEW STATUS. NOT READY TO ASSUME IT. QUESTION OF FOREIGN POLICY. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received April 26, 5.5 p.m. London, April 26. Professor Berridale Keith (formerly of the Colonial Office), writing on Imperial relations, states that the Peace Conference’s recognition of the international status of the Dominions and the formation of the League of Nations accelerated in an unprecedented manner the process of the development of Imperial relations, compelling the Dominions to assume a status for which they are not fully prepared. This, he adds, is most conclusively evinced by the unwillingness of any of the Dominions, even Australia, to face the burden of a just share in the cost of naval defence, and years must elapse before the United Kingdom can expect any serious aid in this direction, except, possibly, from Australia. The immediate problem before the coming Imperial Conference is to devise some reasonable and effective way of co-or-dinating the Imperial foreign policy. The Dominions’ statesmen must realise that their international status implies that foreign politics must now occupy their serious attention from a broader point of view than the mere Dominions' interest, but the process will be gradual, as it must be the outcome of a spontaneous evolution in the public feeling of the Dominions.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.