UNITY OF EMPIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1922, Page 5

UNITY OF EMPIRE.

PART OF DOMINIONS. HELP DURING WAR. • DEVELOPMENT URGED. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received July 20, 10.45 p.m. London, July 19. The Empire Parliamentary Association entertained Sir George Foster (Canada) ana Sir Francis Bell (New Zealand) at the House of Commons. Colonel L. C. Amery, Sir James Allen, ,and other prominent men'were present. Mr. A. Bonar Law presided, and in proposing the toasts of the guests advocated frequent intercourse between members of the Parliaments of the Empire as the best way of getting fuller information about the Empire. He pointed out that the war could not have been won without the help of the selfgoverning Dominions. He mentioned that Canada’s casualties in the late war were greater than the whole of the British casualties during the Napoleonic wars from the Peninsular campaign to ■Waterloo, while New Zealand’s casualties were far greater than the total number of British soldiers who took part in the Battle of Waterloo.

Mr. Bonar Law said that if the colonies were necessary to Great Britain during the war they were specially necessary in peace. He urged the need for increased trade within the Empire. “Our first duty,” he said, “is to develop our heritage, and in that way will be found the way to safety and prosperity.” Mr. Bonar Uw eulogised the very useful part Sir Francis Bell played during the war as acting-Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Sir Francis Bell, replying, said he recognised the meeting as an expression of the desire of the British Parliament to recognise the status of the overseas Parliaments which’ it itself had created. Sir Francis Bell paid a tribute to the usefulness and value of the conference of Prime Ministers, and he said it would be absolutely futile to hold any conference other than of Prime Ministers. New Zealand had arrived at her determination to continue in the union of the Empire under the power of the Sovereign, and also to recognise the paramount authority of the British Parliament. Sir Francis Bell concluded by paying a tribute to the sympathy and patience which the British Government had shown the Dominions in the solution of Empire matters. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. VALUE OF IMMIGRANTS. INAUGURATING NEW POLICY. BIG STEP FORWARD. Received July 20. 10.45 p.m. London. July 19. Speaking at the Australian and New Zealand Chib luncheon. Lord Birkenhead paid a tribute to the emigration movement, which wa.s sending to the Dominions men qualified to help in the of what Sir Joseph Cook had described as . the great, fabric of eivilisgtion known as the British Empire. He congratulated Sir Joseph Cook upon having that day attended the Colonial Office and signed a document under which Britain and the Dominions were committed to an expenditure of £3,000.000 per annum upon emigration, of which Britain had undertaken the responsibility for half. This was a remai*<able '■ifl'stance of the strength of the new policy for the evolution of the Empire. For the first time Britain and the Dominions were joined in an organised endeavour to regulate migration as part of the process of correlating the industrial problems of the Empire. It marked a most representative development and a most significant step forward.: —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.