PLEA FOR EMPIRE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1944, Page 2

PLEA FOR EMPIRE

HOUSE ASTONISHED

TORIES CHEER LABOUR M.P.

LONDON. Britain must strengthen her ties with the Empire if she is to survive as a great nation in the P° st ™ world. That pronouncement by Mr. Shinwell, Labour M.P. for Seaham, was cheered by an astonished House of Commons. He stood forth as an Imperialist— on Labour lines-with the idea o making the Empire a pohtical and economic bloc which could face tne Soviet Union and America. There were dangers, he warned, in attaching ourselves too closely to the United States, fndcnicmlcnce he declared, was essential to Bntamb future. In the past, said Mr. Shinwellwe had been a great market capable absorbing the countries. It was not certain ther we should be in that position af We t couid a attach ourselves to the United States in an economic sense, in which case "we should bt dangled at the end of an economic string. War Danger How could independence be achieved, he asked. Aware that Tories (who kept cheering him saw his drift, he remarked. I am not speaking as a first-class Imperialist. "But in my view the strength of Great Britain in the future vis-a-vis Soviet Russia and the United States lies in an even better economic understanding with the countries of the British Commonwealth. Britain's proper alignment was to effect some kind of co-operation immediately with Western European nations— Norway, Denmark Belgium and France—if we played oui La in. S the most dramatic declaration of all, Mr. Shinwell asserted: We are not looking forward to a European situation where Soviet Russia, in spite of its great advantages, in spite of its ideology, which many people accept, is the dominant foice. "Indeed, it may be disastrous, because it may antagonise the United States and produce war. We have got to be very careful. "Therefore let us seek a proper political alignment, Great Britain with a Western European federation and the nations of the British Commonwealth." What Does "Imminent" Mean? Mr. Shinwell's speech followed a statement by Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, Minister of Production, on post-war problems. , ~ Speaking with all the authority of a member of the War Cabinet, the Minister declared that over Germany is "imminent." The House cheered when it heard the word, but Mr. Lyttelton went on with Ministerial caution. "It would be idle, and indeed unseemly, to prophesy w;hat we mean by 'imminent,' " he said. "When is it coming? That we do not know. One or two years in the life of a nation is a small thing. "What we do know is that the Nazi structure is being shaken to its foundations. We can see the cracks in that crazy edifice, and it will surely come down in ruins and in ashes before long."