BULWARK OF PEACE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 June 1939, Page 5

BULWARK OF PEACE

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER ON EMPIRE AIMS UNITY IN FREEDOM STRENGTHENED BY ROYAL TOUR. DOMINIONS SISTER NATIONS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 24. Speaking in Cardiff ibis ovening the Prime Minister, Mr Chamberlain, referred to the Royal tour as strengthening the ties of Empire at a time when the need for Imperial unity was great in the face of the grave international situation. It was, of coure, true that the British flag flew over portions of the earth’s surface “disproportionate to the size of the British Isles.” Yet no historian who took a full and impartial account of the facts would say we had treated outcolonial possessions as a field to be exploited and plundered in the interests of the Mother Country. On the contrary we had gradually evolved the principle that "We act as trustees for the countries we administer with the intention of helping the more backward races to improve their own conditions and take an increasing part in the work of government till ultimately they can stand on their own feet and govern themselves without our help. “It is in this spirit that we administer the mandates that have been entrusted us. and the colonies for which we are responsible, and though no doubt we made mistakes, we endeavour to learn from our own errors and apply our experience for the benefit of the native peoples. It is in this spirit that we framed and passed the Government of India Act, and it is again in this spirit that we developed the final conception of Dominion status within the Empire. “Today the great Dominions are no 'longer subject in any way to the Mother Country. They are sister nations free to pursue their own paths and solve their own problems in their own way. But they are still united to us by allegiance to the King, and by that sympathy which arises from common standards of right and wrong and common ideals of freedom and independence. “And this unity of thought and sentiment makes the British Empire today one of the great bulwarks of peace, since all the world knows that it is t<? the establishment and maintenance of peace that our united efforts will always be devoted.”