EMPIRE AIMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 22, 26 January 1935, Page 11

EMPIRE AIMS.

IMPORTANCE OF COLONIES. ROYAL SOCIETY WORK. / The importance of the colonies in the work of the Royal Empire Society was stressed by Commander R. M. Reynolds, travelling; commissioner of the society, at a luncheon held in Milne'and Choyce's reception hall. He traced the history of the society, known until 1028 as the Royal Colonial Inst'tute, showing how it has helped to change the attitude towa-ds the colonies, and emphasised the importance of the movement in the ideal to-day, the British Commonwealth of Nations. The luncheon was attended by members of various organisations interested in Empire welfare and was presided over by Mr. H. J. Wernham. "It may be too much to say that the. Royal Empire Society saved us our colonies, but it is not too much to say that the men who founded it played a very large part in the formation of that public opinion which led to the realisation of "the value they were to the Empire," said the commander. The old. idea of Empire—lands heM together by military power on the one side, and fear on the other —had now gone and had been replaced by the idea of the British Commonwealth of Nations. "If this is looked upon as the last barrier between Communifim and Western civilisation, then we must hang together," said the commander. "If we do not we shall inevitably sink separately into oblivion, repeating the history of the past—the triumphal rise to fame and then the ultimate downfall."

Plans for the formation of a branch of the society were explained by Commander Reynolds.