SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17981, 26 January 1924, Page 11

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

nffEKIAMSM AND the league of nations.

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_ tins- Sin Robert .Stout. ,Si P C- K.C.M-G., cbief

. ffiso at times for humanity to ! , 3 k«rd, and to consider iron, *" v has come, and aether * e iife is*rcollv an advance on, or T™, I'd.®- of. I;'" M mankind has passed. Ihe »*.- rs ' f a new year is fitting <U>;iDnll, it" for Mich a- retrospect. Have an '^ r social or political theor.es B ® e. development, or aro to "MUgItTeold songs" and "Dancing to the M tones" that our ancestors enjojed. ithe statements we sometimes hoar an onlooker might come to the Vision that we hud discovered some theories of life. We may menhon m 0 old theories— somo voices ol the S-th«t we seem to consider .nre There are some able who advocate Socialism m mam fa, forms, for Socialism _is not a L " , _,; tv There are Socialists and SS," StaU) Socialists, Christian SLids Communists, Anarchists, bynTfi etc.. etc. Socialists differ "I tUwlvcs, and have theories as Selv different as communistic lrom yiridnalistic. Plato, Thomas -More, Po „dhon and others were Socialists, «A they vel * many ' yCars bef ° r ? I *Arld was enlightened by Bernard Saair or Wells, Lenin or Trotsky. Jlanv of our present-time theories are, jj lisc a Scotch phrase, "Cauld kail liet Ksyn." ' ' , . T -i Wo hear much to-day about our Emand about Imperialism. Is that a Mif question? Nay! Did not our early New Zealand statesmen have a dear vision of the need of a Britishmaking Commonwealth ? This Will l>3 gen from the correspondence that took pbpe between the. Ministers of New Zealand and tho Home authorities in ISO It will ho remembered that lid Granville, who waft then the Secstary of State for tho Colonies, comaanicated to the Governor that all British soldiers in New Zealand »ne to tie removed. This took place it {he time of the To Kooti massacres, »il no donbt this decision was arrived it through want of information or tlroogh tho influence of somo unknown pities. There was a correspondence tetwecn tho Governor and the Colonial Secretary, and vaVious. memoranda were sent in by the Fox Ministry for deipatsh to the Home authoritiea. Ministen were of opinion—and in that cpiaioa it aeems that even the Governor and a /orinor Governor, Sir George Grey, concurred —that Lord Granville siitai New Zealand to cease to be a part of the Empire, and that the Colonies wore to cease their alliance with and subjection to Britain. Two ,cftk;B passages from Sir William hi'( memorandum may be cited. He is!!:-

"it has been the pride of' Colonists |i ! to'WMider themselves subjects of tost Britain, and to believe that they w raw# up .a homo for those of t&ir Mlow-subjccts who are crowded csi il tit Mother Country. It is a jtar to theni to know that in this wr Main' there is no pauperism, and llij tlw. benefits of education are exiaiM to tho whole population. It iffidto realise that the pounds, shil%V.aod 'pence question is so exigent llslfor the sake of some possiblo | ifwaiaiy liability it is thought necesj mi to alienate such a poople. There ! TO a time when Great Britain, alj ffitgh leas wealthy than at present, i tijagit less of the cost of her Colonies | isd when sho was proud to undertake 1 responsibility in connexion with : >tao. Then-they were far from her. •w steam and telegraphy have pracfMy brought them near to her. It ' .iietrango that tho necessity of dewlion should have grown up concuriratljr with all the conditions which BMSfI that desertion most opposed to id progress of science as it is to the : Willow and 'history of an Empire , ' " la 3 attained to greatness in a : . through the national enttvoioped S P'"' t ' ie " Colonies have t^wT a,i E0 doubt- about the posiS, at tho New Zealand Ministers They did not desire any S' 10a between New Zealand and dif the Empire had n . U P and cach of the it Bmfn c ° nal ' tute( l' a separate nation, T injttred tno Home Govif much a3 would havo U ttav til n S w> ni i tions 80 constituted. jL tZ_ 7 ? that the fact that ii? 8 ' world makes of the Em P iro dif ■ "Suoto ti, othor nation 3 of Silt,?" 6 a ?' in fact - the ! %rld v may , e termed only two 3 and* the } lost es ! } Britain had 'lsdia, eolonies and lost not have Placed *a ~t would have been the im P°tence as that States. P t European Continental What . took P la ™ can tell 'tK 1 # 6 v Slxties or even # "Wabout Ihlf bng3 of the old : "L was calle d tho ""WW ■warT^ on \ Whcn the New 7 ' an< * flews w Zealand . Who desired i*. dto hel P th ° Mother Coun-

one hand, of Colonists then, of tfca ih? r^o*^ en t^ie r °using in ioc.- ® lr Charles Bowen, E 3 oi IBGI F \ f !iShed amo "g st Wed; " A fow verses may " sA b£ To **,. . a «»f v* trntn P®t'a peal? of th# ° g . ™ le3 in tho | <all3 ttem the T. K CaiHn f on tha free - ta* Freed ° m I "° m 010 i B^I ies rida ' is *t v 't tida; <ik w V an - nons roar fa in chi'rfr. v™ Bss ot JTo v °<uw'e in "S? , as '° awav <] c Ur° blood y W i mg tUI deadly fight ' I °™' BEd the mothcr Xi ' Eatherin ß. £rom ****** the laland °f | th.' ' BaU!e ° f Free! " [ , 1&t be 'uceme^ d [ ne part of the | ea a Prophecy ?

"To Arms I To Arms! When the battle rage-s fierce, And the deadly volley 3 pierce

The small outnumbered army of the Island of the Free; When her dauntless hearts have chosen either death or victory; Where her warriors are fighting, as the bravest only dare, For the birth-places of freedom and the liberties of man; Then New Zealand ehall bo there, In the van.

New Zealand shall be there,— Her rifles from the mountain and her horse-

men from the plain, When the foeman's ranks are reeling o'er the slain. Few in number— stout of heart — They will come to take their part In the dangers and the glories of the "brave, To share in their triumph or their bloodstained grave. England, exult! For thy numberless eons are ooming o'er the sea, To rally round the banner of the Island of the Free. Oh, England! Bear thee proudly In the direst need of war; For thy sons—the sons cf Freedom, Arc sailing from afar. They are cominsr! They are Coming! To surround the banner of the Island of the Sea, And to fight in the Batt!e of the Free." When Russia threatened India in ISBS, the Government of New Zealand offered aid to the Home Government, and we know what took place in the Boer War, and again in the 4 ' Great War" between 1014 and 1919. New Zealand has therefore been Imperialistic during the whole of its career, and to-day the feeling for the maintenance of the Empire as a whole is equally strong. We may say what the Scottish Australian poet, Alexander Sutherland, said in reply to Tennyson's famous poem, "Hands All Round":

"Join our hands! Wo shall most gladly Where thou goest we shall go; Distant be the day when sadly Sinks our sun of empire low. Still in triumph or in sorrow All thy fortunes we shall share; From thine honoured name we borrow All the lustre that we bear, Hand in hand we'll trace the agea, Stalwart children, mother hale, Thou haist bred us, thou ha-st made us, Now our duty shall not fail. Hand in hand, we'll face together Blinding storms or sunny weather/'

The Voices of the Past arc still heard by the settlers in New Zealand. The greati influence that the opinions of the early framers of the Constitution of the United States have had in American politics is well known. It may be said to yet dominate both the parties in the great Eepublic. Wo s.eo continual references to speeches made by Washington, Jefferson, Maddison, Monroe, and others; and no doubt the strong views held by the earlier settlers of New Zealand of the need of maintaining our Empire have their influence at the present day amongst us.. The need of having one nation or commonwealth for the Empire of Britaiii does not, however, require to be- defended on the ground that it was the opinion of our pioneers. Prom whatever point of view tho subject ifiay be viewed it will bo found that it is not only to our interests as citizens of tho Empire, but to our interests as citizens of New Zealand, ,th'at the great union that now exists should continue. To allow the Empire to be broken up, and the different States severed would be an injury to the States themselves —in fact, a great calamity. HowNvould they in such an event bo protected? t The world is not yet civilised. It may take centuries before wo see anything like brotherhood 'amongst the people of the world. We cannot expect that wars will soon cease. There are civilisations in what may even bo termed uncivilised nations now in existence that are not prepared to live in brotherhood with all mankind. We see what is happening in Europe where nations are supposed to be civilised, but if wo cast our eyes abroad and consider the number of people in the world who have not the civilisation of Europeans we see a great danger of conflict. Eroin even a financial point of view it would be calamitous to us, and to our race, were the British Empire split up into sections with no union amongst them'.

What is the meaning of the discussion about a League of Nations? Is it not a search for a method to try to promote a union amongst the peopies? If, therefore, a union bo a proper and desirable thing, as those who advocate a League of Nations say, would it not" be sheer madness for us to destroy the existing union that, exists amongst the British peoples? What is needed in the world is not less union but more union; more friendship, more brotherly love, and the only hope of obtaining peace and friendship is by keeping the British Empire one and undivided. Our race needs preserving, and the progress of civilisation is slow, and is still backward. To create numerous small nations having no union amongst them yould invite wars and cause dire injury*to human kind. Perhaps those who .say that the struggle for "Nationalism" amongst the peoples forebodes war may be prophets! Will the League of Nations be sufficient to secure peace? The difi'.culty ahead of the League .of Nations is that it" has not what is termed a "sanction.'' It has no means of enforcing its decrees or resolutions. Behind our laws, as behind all the laws of civilised State's, there stands tha "policeman," as it has been said. If our laws are disobeyed the offenders will be punished. The League of Nation.-* has no power, and certainly no army to enforce its decisions. Can its resolutions or decisions be, then, of any valu'df They may be of great value. First, they may create a. public opinion that —to put it on the lowest ground—it will not pay any.member of the League to disregard; and, second, if the more important members of the League, if, for example, Britain and the United States were to agree on some policy, their influence would be of much moment. But if we had no 'British Empire what would be the value of the petty States into which it had been divided? Let us, then, in listening to tlifc vf ices of the past, remember the responsibilities of the future, so that New iJerilaud may remain what it has ever been —a defender of our Empire