EMPIRE TIES WELDED

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1918, Page 6

EMPIRE TIES WELDED

BY THE COMMON HAZARD.

i BITTER CHAGRIN OF THE FOE.

LONDON, June 23. Lord l'inlay presided over a brilliant assemblage in honour of the visiting Premiers in the Royal Galleries of the House of Lords last* night. Mr. Asquith, Kail Crewe, Karl Curzon, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Walter Long, Lord Milner, General Grouts, Lord Selborne, and many members of both Houses attended. Mr. Lloyd George proposed the toast of his colleagues in the War Cabinet from the Overseas Dominions, who represented the most democratic communities in the world. We knew the shrewdness, courage, and sagacity they brought to bear on the problems of the Empire. When men had borne the incessant strain for months and years it was a relief to have the support of other minds which were fresh and sincere. This woe supplied by the men from the Dominions. The names of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Massey were as well known in the United States as in their own lands. These representatives of the consciousness of the Empire represented a real help to our country in its real need. We knew their peole were fighting for the cause of freedom and right, and also knew how they came the more eagerly, the more readily, and the more rapidly because they knew that the Old Country championed their rights. The Old Country was grateful ami was proud of their kinsmen. These representatives came to participate i" the Council of the Empire, and to establish the best methods to obtain right and justice on earth. In this war Britain's Empire had disappointed her foes sadly, bitterly, and angrily. THE EMPIRE'S LEGIONS. Think what would have happened to the world if tin- British Empire had not been there. It held the seas for ourselves and our Allies. Nothing in the history of sea warfare could compare with the resource, skill, and daring with which the Navy and the merchant service conquered those sharks of the high seas. The work of the Navy was an old story, hut what the Empire had dune on' land was something new. There had never been tiling quite like it. In four years it had raised <i,OOO,(KH) men for service for sea and land. The nearest Dominion was a thousand miles away, yet the Dominions had sent a million men. Germany regarded these men as raw levies, easily to be swept away by her trained legions, yet for the last three months these men had held up Germany's masses. It was a great achievement. India, too, was guarding the approaches of the Eastern Empire, and would guard them to the end. Germany thought the ties which bound the Empire were paper ties, which would turn to black dust at the first Bcorch of the fires of war. The most potent ties which bound the Empire were those of sympathy, of comi mon ideas, and common aims. All that we held beet in the world was safer today by reason of the existence of the British Empire. The Cabinet Council, the outcome of previous conferences, accelerated into ■being by the war, would be the forerunner of a succession ot councils, which for generations to. come would weld the power of the greatest collection of nations the world had ever seen. , . FUTURE FOUNDATIONS. MY. W. F. Massey predicted that good results would follow the Imperial War Cabinet conferences, lie believed that when the restoration period was reached the Dominion representatives would be able to furnish suggestions which would not occur to the British Ministers whose experience was con-J fined to England. Notwithstanding many disappointments since the outbreak of war we were not downhearted, because we had confidence in each Other and in our Allies. We might presenty be faced with a war of attrition. If so the power of the Empire more than equalled that of the enemy. It was a million times better to carry on for a generation than to allow Germany to dominate the world. He thought the darkest hour had passed. There were indications of the glorious dawn. Mr. W. M. Hughes said that in the hour of trial the Empire had assumed a new and inspiring shape. What was dead became gloriously alive. The Dominions and India had played a part in the war of which they had every right to be proud. No man could say how or in what form the Empire would hold together. A clearer understanding of : | the problems confronting us would do much to make the future of the. .Empire certain. We from the Dominions realised during the Inst few years how little we understood Britain and even 11 more fully how little Britain underj stood us." This must pass away. We had realised how little we understood i and what little part we had played in the greater international policies which ' involved us in the war and threatened our existence. That day had gone. We had shared a common hazard, and must meet on equal terms to discuss measures necessary to our safety.— (A. and N.Z.)