THE YOUNGER NATION
IMPERIAL FEDERATION: A Study of New Zealand Policy and Opinion, 1880-1914, by Keith Sinclair. Introduction by Sir Keith Hancock. University of London, The AthJone Press for the Institute. of Commonwealth Studies of 1955, N.Z. price 6/-. TO logically-minded political theorists, the British idea of Commonwealth unity is a contradiction in terms. Yet, it is this very contradiction, this pragmatic solution to the problem of imperial relations created by colonial de-
mands for self-government which makes the Commonwealth ties "as strong as links of iron," though "lighter than air." Until recently, there was little faith in liberty and equality as the cement of empire. Many believed that self-govern-ment would dissolve imperial unity; a few, with "too much logick and too little sense," hoped that imperial federation would preserve it. One might have expected New Zealand statesmen, reared in a tradition of political opportunism and. distrust of theory, to have supported the sensible not the logical solution. Oddly enough, from 1883-1914, each Premier in succession and other eminent-citizens gave some support to imperial federation. Dr. Sinclair rejects the common explanation of this riddle. Their support for imperial federation, he shows, was historically connected not with a mother-country complex, but with an emergent nationalism, striving for a real influence in imperial affairs yet dependent on Britain for external security. What Professor Wood broadly discerned in New Zealand in the World he confirms and elaborates. Historians will value his monograph, for it draws upon new primary source material, and it bears the mark of a well-trained and experienced craftsman, even if it does not quite achieve the span and incisiveness of the master. For the general reader there is a new picture of men like Seddon and Ward behaving as teenagers in the family circle, rebelling against paternal authority, touchy over their status, insecure in the big, bad world. How they enjoyed showing off in the ancestral home, clamouring for something impractical, defying the wisdom of their elders! Today their lost cause still stands as a lesson in experience for those trying to cement a multi-racial Commonwealth.
Mary
Boyd
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560727.2.20.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 886, 27 July 1956, Page 14
Word count
Tapeke kupu
348THE YOUNGER NATION New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 886, 27 July 1956, Page 14
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in