IMPERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19985, 21 July 1930, Page 17

IMPERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE.

PRIME MINISTER'S WELCOME. NEWSPAPERS' EMPIRE OBLIGATIONS. (Thou oun ow» coßßitspoirozire.) LONDON, June 8. At the opening session of the Imperial Press Conference at Grosvenor House, on June 3rd, a cordial welcome was extended by the Prime Minister on behalf of the Government. Mr Mac Donald spoke of tho newspapers of tho Empire as constituting one of the most effective links binding its people in community together. Major J. J. Astor, M.P., was in the chair. The great problem of the Empire today, said the Prime Minister, was how to unite individuality with co-operation, how to combine national freedom with Commonwealth obligations. Tho contribution which the British Empire had so far made to the solution of that problem was very great. In this connexion tho responsibility of the Press, with its great power, was considerable, and he appealed to journalists and politicians to insist on the circulation of good, sound coinage in opinion, ideas and ideals.

"The Empire goes through phase after phase," said Mr Mac Donald. "It has its periods of great glory and others of loss. It has its periods of difficulties, but I think what you and I have to remember is that the mind showing alacrity to appreciate, and even to anticipate, the changes which aro accomplished is tho mind that is going to lead tho Empire into a permanent substance and a long-during life. "As long as we think of the past and the past, only, as long as we merely are persons of the present, thinking only of the present without any conception of the voluntary idea which is turning events and determining tho future, then we will not do our work well, whether wo are newspaper men or politicians. It is tho live mind, the mind that not only sees but foresees, thnt is the mind wo want for the Empire at the present time. And all our work depends upon what is our conception of Empire, what is our sense of Empire. Empire is a lovely word. In the construction of our towns we have certain central ideas. In accordance with the type of building that we select as the central embodiment of the spirit of our towns so our towns grow.

Central Idea of Empire. "Wo must have everything that is useful; the question is not elimination, but selection for the central building so that we may havo a central idea. There must be the trading spirit in the Empire, that must be the idea of production, of exchange, of consumption; there must be the idea of intereconomic helpfulness and usefulness, but that is not tho central idea, that is not the inspiring idea. Nor must the Empire in these days find an environment in one of those great massive buildings, embodying brutalities ar.d tho powers of modern art, constructed of reinforced concrete, standing large, challenging, and powerful to the eye of everybody who strays into its neighbourhood. That is good of itself, but that cannot bo the central idea of our British Empire, nor can it be some pretty, unstained creation of feminine purity in white marble. "Wo are human. Wo have made great achievements, and we havo made great mistakes. If we want to embody our Empire in an idea which is human, in a structure which embodies frailties as well as achievement, let ns think of one of those commanding Gothic structures where the rough and tho primitive are detailed, where passion and goodness mingle together, where we see the frailty of the human hand and act, but in the whole the illumination aspiration of the human mind. That worthily embodies the work we have done. It is an inheritance we share together, a building we have to guard and extend. To the eye that looks for permanent essentials, it is a great inspiration to our devoted service. A Mighty Business Organisation.

"What power does tho Press bring to that service! In my time the Press, as an organisation, has been completely revolutionised. I remember the old days when the Press was a personal possession held by individuals competing with each other, each organ showing the stamp of a strong and a special individuality, not a cog in a great centrally controlled machine, but each a being specially of * itself. In the march of progress, however sad it must be to lose many of those good qualities, we have to bow our heads and say that the new conditions must be made the boat of. "To-day the Press is a mighty business organisation, with enormous capital behind it, and tremendous fighting and crushing power. The more its power, the greater the mechanical and materialistic forces it can command, the heavier lies upon its back the responsibility of using that power for Imperial interests and the good of the Commonwealth to which we all belong. (Cheers.) There is no form of property that has more obligations placed upon it to serve than the Press of the Empire. We can easily engage in a reckless exploitation of public emotion and ignorance. The Gresham Law in economics teaches us that if you put a base coinage side by side with a good coinage the base will elbow out the good. There is a Gresham Law in politics. Let the politician and the Pressman, the statesman and the editor, enter into a holy conspiracy to defeat the Gresham Law by insisting on the j circulation of good, sound coinage in j opinion, ideas and ideals. (Cheers.) j Individuality with Co-operation. i

"The great problem of the Empire to-day is tho old problem of how to unite individuality with co-operation. We must get those two values into coordination,'the value of individuality, of uationhood, into combination with community, commonwealth, and unity. If civilisation is to be maintained, and the world's good pursued, those two conceptions must move together and combine. In our Empire the striving to be nations must not allow us to overlook the equally important striving to maintain ourselves as a community. (Cheers.) "The greatest contribution that has been made to active social thinking and acting has been the contribution that the British Empire has made up to now in the practical solution of that theoretical difficulty. "That' problem will underlie perhaps the greater part of the Conference work-r-the problem o$ how to combine national freedom with Commonwealth obligations, how to merge the Imperial spirit of - rule into the Commonwealth spirit of counsel, how to do things as a Commonwealth and Empire, and yel to hold out the hand of family helpfulness to the rest of the world. That is our problem. If we can succeed in helping our generation to solve that problom—we shall not solve it completely in our generation, if we can conspire together .to make a further fontribution to the solution of that

problem—we ean make that contribution if men of goodwill and innight are responsible—we shall have done something more to make the name and tho fame of our Commonwealth good in the eyes of the world." (Cheers.) State of England. Lord Riddell, in a vote of thanks to the Prime Minister, said that England was better ' to-day than it had ever been. "We have better factories, better housing, better food, better recreation, better clothes (though not so much of them) —(laughter)—better transport, generally better wages, far fewer alums, better health, longer lives, lower infant mortality, and, generally speaking, the good things of life are better and more evenly distributed. £f Mr Mac Donald had brought his speech into Fleet street he could have placed it easily, because there is real good stuff in it." The Hon. Esmond Harmsworth sugggsted it should be the of the Conference to prepare the different parts of the Empire for what the Imperial Conference was going to discuss, in September. Equal Status and Nationhood. Mr Wedgwood Benn, Secretary of State for India, referred to the campaign of civil disobedience decided upon. "It is clearly the "fluty of any Government in cliarge of the destinies of a country, and a _ country containing so many varied interests, classes, and creeds as India, to maintain public order," he said. "Whatever form of government we envisage as a result of the Conference and the deliberations of Parliament, it would be a crime to pass on to it a heritage, not only of chaos and disorder, but, what would be far worse, of disrespect for the law." There was in India a deep and ardent desire for equality of status, and that was the problem with "which the Government and any Government would be faced. It was eertainly the most difficult that had confronted the Commonwealth. Among its perplexities two or three points stood out clearly. The first was that force could not possibly provide a remedy. "The second point is that, just as the difficulties which meet us and are inherent in the problem are largely Indian, so a solution of those difficulties is ardently to be desired in the Imperial interest. It is no part of British policy to carry on the Government of. India on the principle of 'divide and rule.' It has been the earnest desire of this Government, no lest than of othors, to promote be-

twten the races a spirit of sympathy and understanding. If the present troubles quicken the conscience of both parties Some good may perhaps come of thom. The British people are not unresponsive to great ideals. (Cheers.) The Indian peoples have an ancient history and selfless and noble instincts. (Hear, hear.) Is it too much to hope that the bitternesses of tho present disagreement may give place to a rebirth of mutual understanding and respect?" Sir Stanley Reed, chairman of the Indian Delegation, thanking Mr Wedgwood Benn, said that the surge for equal status and nationhood was the greatest force in India to-day. Mr T. C. List (New Zealand) said that the Prime Minister's speech would dispel any idea that the Labour Party was ■ iconoclastic. Labour was as strong and loyal and patriotic as any other party. ' Mr T. W. Mackenzie (South Africa) said that there were many kinds of rope which might bo used to bind tho Empire together, but they must be very careful which they selected. He believed in the silken rope of friendship and trust and respect between the units of the Empire. General Botha and General Smuts were, examples of real patriotism.