STATUS OF DOMINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 78, 3 April 1926, Page 15

STATUS OF DOMINIONS.

POSITION OF ULSTER. BRITAIN V. FREE STATE. HIGH COMMISSIONERS' STATUS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 16. 'Two points are raised in the English Press to-day with regard to the Dominions and their status. We have the reports of to-day's debate in the Dail, when the agreement—felicitously labelled by Mr. Stephen Gwynn the "Irish Locarno" —was discussed in committee. Professor Magennis, whose dramatic resignation from the Boundary Commission led to the crisis out of which came the new agreement, moved an amendment to*, make it clear under the hill that the Free State was not to be taken as entering into treaty relations with the Six County Government. He went on to say: "It might appear from the terms of the Agreement that the Sis County Government, to some extent, had become a party to the treaty. It should bo clearly set out in the bill that the high contracting parties to treaty number two were the same high contracting parties as in treaty number one. The fact that the Northern Government had signed thj second document should in no wav be taken as indicating that they were to be taken as parties to the treaty. What he dreaded was that the Six County Government, through certain developments, might be declared a Dominion, which status was deliberately withheld under the treaty." President Cosgrave said this was a treaty between Great Britain and the Free State. There was an excellent reason also for having it signed by Northern Ireland. So far as the Dominion question was concerned, it was expressly provided by the treaty of 1921 that the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act would continue to apply to Northern Ireland. These provisions had not been altered except in relation to the Council of Ireland. It was quite clear that Northern Ireland was not a Dominion. Dominions did not send representatives to the British Parliament; Northern Ireland did. Mr. Johnson, speaking for Labour, said he could not understand why there' should be three sets of signatures to the Agreement. There was a danger that the matter might be misinterpreted in the future. Sir James Craig, in a recent reference to the Agreement, said that they were co-equal. Ministers had not seriously considered the constitutional position. Commissioners' Dual Roles. South Africa, it would appear, is now, after comparative lukewarmness, concerning itself actively with the question of the status and duties of its High Commissioner in London, and we are bound to say that the views held by Mr. Patrick Duncan, who was secretary for Home Affairs in the late Government under General Smuts' Premiership, are not aj; variance with a view which leading New Zealanders in London have expressed to us, viz., that some steps should be taken to separate out the dual roles which the High Commissioners have to at present fill. Mr. Duncan, it will be recalled, was one of Milners "kindergarten." He threw in his lot with the. South African Union, in the formation of which he' played no small part. Mr. Duncan's suggestion, as described in the "Rand Daily Mail," is that the High Commissioner of each Dominion should have the status and functions of an Ambassador, instead of being, as he is at present, "a combination of a glorified commercial traveller and a more or less affable handshaker, who is supposed to ask visitors from his own Dominion how they like London, and whether they are comfortable in their hotel or boarding-house, as the case may be." Men of Intellect Required. The "Rand Daily Mail," which shares this opinion, points out that it would mean that in future the post of High Commissioner would have to be bestowed with more regard to the intellectual capacity of its occupant than to his faithful party service, and that would be a distinct departure from tradition. But there would still'be at least one other fairly good post to bestow, for most of the present functions of the High Commissioner would remain to be carried out, as Mr. Duncan observes, by an official of a lower status and salary. "If things are allowed to drift as the" v are now," says Mr. Duncan. "w c shail assuredly see the British Commonwealth of Nations—by which is meant the Association or League of Great Britain and the self-governing Dominions—reduced to a nullity." The "Rand Daily Mail" considers the matter one for common action on the part of the various Dominions, and expressess the hope that the Imperial Conference next year may arrive at complete _ agreement with regard to the necessity for such a change. It thinks there is virtue also in Mr. Duncan's suggestion for the formation of a Department of External Affairs in South Africa. At present, Mr. Duncan points out, external affairs are nobody's business, except, adds the journal named, at election times, "when it seems to be the fashion to scoff at the idea that -he Union has anything to do with the affairs of the world outside its own borders. But nobody really believes that, and. as Mr. Duncan says, if we do not grow out of the habit of pretending otherwise it will eventually cost us dear."