EMPIRE AFFAIRS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 September 1938, Page 6

EMPIRE AFFAIRS

RELATIONS OF DOMINIONS WITH BRITAIN NEW ZEALAND GROWING UP. THE QUESTION OF MANDATES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Copyright. (Recd This Day, 12.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. At the British Commonwealth Relations Conference the general opinion regarding New Guinea was that the question of handing back the mandate would depend largely on the action other mandatories would take in returning their mandates to appease Germany. Replies to questions about New Zealand's attitude towards her Samoan mandate indicated that New Zealand did not desire to hand back Samoa to Fascist Germany. Delegates made it clear, when speaking about New Zealand, that the traditional attitude in the Dominion towards Britain was undergoing a change. There was now a realisation that New Zealand’s interests were not always identical with those of Britain. This was no indication, however, that there was any desire on the part of the Dominion to weaken in any way its strong Empire ties. It rather indicated that New Zealand was growing up and had adopted the privilege of the grown-up of thinking more independently. Delegates from Britain and from other Dominions asked several questions about the status of the Maoris. It was made clear to them that there was no racial problem. The Maoris enjoyed a political and social status equal to that of Europeans.