The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 258, 28 October 1916, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. IMPERIAL POLITICS.

For the cause that teefct —tiatemm, For the wrong thmt need* rettjtama. For the future in the dittmmoe, Ami the food thmt we earn **.

Mr. Maesey and Sir Joseph Ward, as leaders of the New Zealand Government and official representatives of the Dominion, have been present at a meeting of the Imperial Cabinet; and this event is sufficiently significant and important to arrest attention even amid the turmoil of the great war. As our readers are aware, the incident is not wholly unprecedented. In 1912 the Prime Minister of Canada, while he was in England ta consult the Admiralty about naval affaire, was permitted to be present at a meeting of the Cabinet: and the extension of this privilege to our own Ministers would appear to indicate a growing desire on the part of the Imperial authorities to improve upon tie very limited opportunities now accorded the Dominione to become acquainted with the main features and tendencies of British foreign policy. It will also be remembered that in 1911 the members of the Imperial Conference were invited to attend a 6ession of the Imperial Defence Committee, end that on this occasion Sir Edward Grey, as Foreign Minister, gave the representatives of th« Dominions a clearer insight into international politics than had ever been permitted them beforp. The evident desire on the part of the British Government to enlarge the outlook of Britain's oversea dependencies is' naturally dictated by the hope that they will thus be helped to realise more clearly their responsibilities in regard to Imperial defence. But whatever be the precise motive or intention behind it, thie- change in tie attitude of the Imperial authorities toward the Dominions, in a sphere of action that Britain once reserved exclusively for herself, ie so noteworthy and suggestive as to deserve careful consideration, more especially on fehie side of the world.

It ninst be observed, however, th»t while this occaeional inclusion of Dominion Ministers in the British Cabinet marks a clear recognition of our growing weight and influence in Imperial councils, we must not conclude that the ImperiaJ authorities hare yet reached tl»e point of wiehing to conaett the Dominione through their representatives on questions of foreign poHcy. It is one thing to lay before the Dominions or their Ministers information about the leading features of Britieh foreign policy; but it is qnite another matter to ask the advice of the Dominions or their consent to any given course of diplomatic action or to the adoption of any special measures involving the intereete of the v. oie Empire in peace or war. Unfortunately many of those who «aye taken part in the controversy about Imperial Federation in recent years seem to hay« lost eight of thie important distinction; not in our opinion it needs to be kept continually in view. When, in 1911, the members of the Imperial Conference were invited to be present at a meeting of the Imperial Defence Committee, the Dominions seem momentarily to have loet sight of the fact that this committee is like the Cabinet, a eecret official conclave, of necessity dominated by the British Prime Minister and Foreign Minieter, that its diecuasione are conducted in private, and that it is impossible to define or to estimate the amount of influpnro th»t any member, representing the Dominions or not, can exercise upon its decisions. And the same general criticism applies to the occasional presence of Dominion representatives at Cabinet meetings. Wo must not forget that since 1911 Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey have always punctiliously explained that "information" has been given to Dominion representatives on foreign affairs; bnt though the Dominions have been consulted about the details of Imperial defence, there has been no official "■ consultation " or a discussion " about qnestione of foreign policy. It is only fair to add that the attitude taken up iby the Foreign Office and the British Cabinet on this question is entirely consistent with the .general principles laid down, .by successive Prime Ministers regarding the relations between the Dominions and Britain in respect to foreign affairs. In 1907 Sir Henry Csrmpbcll-Bxnnennan, in opening the Imperial Conference, stated clearly that "the cost of naval defence and the rasjjonjubility lac. ghe ecadnet of. foreign

policy 'hang together." Evidently this meant that in the opinion of the Imperial Government none of the Dominione were contributing to the expenses of Imperial Defence on a scale that would justify their claim to any voice in the direction of foreign policy. Again, in 1911, Mr. Asquith, in criticising Sir Joseph Ward's scheme of Imperial Federation, frankly declared that the control of foreign affairs could not be shared -with the Dominions. We need not enter at length here into a very complicated question, but it is evident that the Imperial Government ie not I prepared to consult the Dominions on matters of foreign policy, unless and until the Dominions agree to support what Britain regards as an adequate share of the burdens of Imperial defence. We do not say that thie view of the position is unreasonable, but we do say that in considering Imperial problems we must keep it steadily in view, and that we must never lose sight of ite logical implications ami consequences. .

Obviously the difficulty ie to devise a practicable scheme of Imperial co-part-nership in which the needs of the Dominions and the requirements and reservations insisted on by Britain, can be met and satisfied at one and the same time. The plan proposed by Sir Joseph Ward and Sir John Findlay in 1911 was devised specially to meet these difficulties; and the essential feature was that while a Federal Parliament, without independent power of taxation, should, through commissioners, aeseee the sums required from the Dominions for the purposes of Imperial defence, the duty of providing the money with the implied power of taxation should be left to the State Governments. It was objected naturally by Sir Wilfrid Laurier and others that "to separate the privilege of 6pending from the responsibility of finding the money would be an outrage on constitutional principles." So impressed was Sir Wilfrid Laurier with this difficulty that he declared, speaking for Canada, that the Dominions would be content to be consulted only on questions of foreign policy that directly concerned themselves. It is easy to make answer that the Dominions have a direct interest in the whole course of Britain's foreign policy and the administration of foreign affairs; and as our readers know, it ie from thie standpoint that Mr. L. Curtis and the " Bound Table" groups have worked up their scheme of Imperial Government in which the right of taxing the Dominione for Imperial defence would be delegated to a central representative body. We have already set forth at length our objections to this scheme, and it is not our present purpose to criticise it afre&n/"i6u'tlt seems desirable to remind our readers that this casual inclusion of our representatives in the British Cabinet does not mean that the Dominions are to be " consulted" about Britain's foreign policy, and that there is no likelihood of such a development unless and until the financial obligations of the Dominions in regard to Imperial defence are more clearly defined and more generally recognised.