IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 299, 22 June 1909, Page 2

IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Press Assn— By telegraph — Copyright. LONDON, yesterday. At a banquet held in 'connection ' with the Manchester Ship Canal, there was a iarge company present, which included the Lord Mayor and a large number of the leading business men and several of the delegates to the Imperial Press Conference. Mr Ward, of Sydney, said. that no ■ serious diminution of Australia's trade was likely in the near future. Eighty per cent, of the "Australians were native born, and they would never see England unless some extraordinary revolution in the methods of transit was brought about. I - The problem of the Australian v j>ress I was to show and make the . native | population understand Britain. The' delegates upon their return would strive to shape their papers with a view to doing this effectually. In the event of Britain losing command of the Atlantic, Canada might be able to secure safety by lifting a , finger to the United States and becoming merged therein, but Australia might fall into the hands of a power that would force the people to learn a new language and adopt other social habits. Hence an open ocean route was a matter of life and death to Australia. In time the United Kingdom's navy would become a united Empire Navy. One of the most distressful aspects of English life was th& living conditions. Some of the women and children in the English cities were such deplorable sights — a condition of affairs impossible in Australia. Could not England join with the colonies in bettering tflie lot of the . poor ? Mr Douglas, of Auckland, said th,at the press delegates would return with a. deeper conception of the greatness of the Motherland and a warmer af- . fection for her and her people. Mr Temperley, of New .South Wales, declared that on the question of Empire there was not a jarring note among the colonial press representatives. All agreed that the colonies must stand together for common defence when the hour of trouble : arrived.