LETTER FROM MR CHAMBERLAIN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9538, 9 July 1909, Page 3

LETTER FROM MR CHAMBERLAIN.

THE DAY OF EMPIRES. On Empire -Lay the following letter was addressed by Mr J. Chamberlain to the editor to the "London Times" Sir,—l am glad that you propose to issue a special edition on the occasion of Empire Day on May 24th, and I hope you will allow me a small part in this new departure. The fact is that the'day itself and the Empire are new to the present generation. A few years ago the day was not honoured and the Empire was hardly known; indeed, our people had scarcely begun to estimate the importance to them of the Empire arid our Dependencies. Only very recently the solidarity of the Empire was hardly appreciated; now, and more especially since the war in South Africa, we feel that what concerns this country concerns also our children across the seas, and they have been the first to recognize the union, which we hope is only just beginning. This is the day of Empires. As formerly, Austria and Germany be{came Empires when the day of ' separate kingdoms beeran to wane, ■ so now it is becoming evident that our great aggregations of humanity J are seeking a new bond by which they may follow the same interests under the same flag. At present we ' have not proceeded further than j talk about defence, but we have only to compare the situation with that i which obtained twenty or thirty years ago to know what a large change has already been accomplish- | ed. The position of the nations ' across the seas is already recognized and all parties are at one in seeking j to unite them with tha Mother Country in a more practical union. This must of necessity commence with defence, but it need not rest there. I hold that defence and commercial union will probably precede political union, but Ido not ignore political union as desirable and probable, although it must necessarily come after the others. I think we have much to gain by such a union, and I do not means suppose that it will be one-sided, or that the Dominions across the seas have all to learn from us, and we have nothing to learn from them. On the contrary, we may be sure that as they progress in strength and importance, not a little of the advantage of the union will be what we have to learn as well as what we have to teach.

The recent offer of Mew Zealand, which in my opinion has been received somewhat ungraciously by the present Government, is a new feature with which in future we have to deal, Have we considered what it amounts to? The latest census shows the population of New Zealand to be little more than 1,000,000, and according to recent estimates a single Dreadnought costs two million sterling; so that New Zealand voluntarily offers to maintain the standard of the supremacy of the British race by a contribution of £2 a head, equal to some £80,000,000 if translated by the corresponding population of this county. „Such an offer is not only munificent in itsell, but it shows clearly the price that our Dominions place on the maintenance of the present standard of nival defence, and its importance tc them as well as to us. The total white population under the British flag across the seas is now Eome 11,000,000, and we may in future count upon these in reckoning our comparative position with regard to our competitors. In other words, we now have to deal with over 50,000,000 in comparison with much smaller numbers in former times. It is too much to expect, that in view of this our future calculations may be made on a different scale to any that we have taken into account the past? Are we not right in remembering that we now have an Empire to deal witn and not merely a kingdom? I look forward to this feature in our development as involving an entire change in our public life and objects. We have henceforth to consider the Empire, and not alone what is sometimes called "the parish pump." We may take into account the readiness of our distant supporters n«t merely to talk, but to act as one body having one interest and one object. Fifty million individuals are equally interested in maintaining our position as a great commercial nation, and they will insist that we take upon ourselves all that is necessary to preserve that position. I see in the attention that is now given'Jo all Imperial the commencement of the new era, and I ieel. that we have already learnt much "from the line taken up by these great Dominions across the seas. i I am, yours faithfully, [ J. CHAMBERLAIN. I Villa Beatrice, Cannee. May 10th,