IMPERIAL UNITY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21464, 4 May 1935, Page 9 (Supplement)

IMPERIAL UNITY

Contact with Mother Country NEW MACHINERY NEEDED Changed Constitutional Position r in 1887, when the representatives of the British Colonies which now form the Dominions gathered together at the Colonial Conference summoned in honour of Queen Victoria's jubilee, their government was on a very different basis from what it is to-day, states a writer in the "Imperial Review." At that time the constitutional position of the self-governing Colonies was founded on the scheme laid down in Lord Durham's famous report. That is to say, the Colonies exercised autonomy in regard to local affairs, while they were subordinate to the British Government In all external Issues.

• Less than half a century has elapsed since that date, yet the conatitutional position has completely changed. By a series of steps in the interval the British Dominions have attained to complete autonomy, alike in external as well as in internal affairs. Their new relationship to the Mother Country was laid down by the Imperial Conference in 1920, when it was declared that "they are autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations." Since the passing of the Statute of Westminster the constitutional relations of the British Commonwealth, to quote Professor Berriedale Keith, "appear to be those of a loose confederation whose members are bound by ill-defined and elastic conventional understandings based on a common allegiance."

Sew Constitutional Methods

Tt ii only natural that many imperialists are becoming uneasy in their minds as to the future unity of the Empire unless some new constitutional machinery can be devised whereby the Governments of the Commonwealth can consult one another more expeditiously and work together more continuously in the solution of problems, and in the shaping of policies which affect their common interests. The history of British Imperial consultation and cooperation is riot a long one. No gathering of the governments of the Empire took place prior to 1887, and it was not until 1911 that the first Imperial Conference, constituted on present lines, met in London. Short, however, as has been its history, the Imperial Conference has long since proved its worth essential factor in maintaining Empire unity, and in the transaction of the business of general interest and importance to the whole Commonwealth. No competent person will deny that the Imperial Conference has done excellent work, and it will no doubt continue to do so in the future. But in the new constitutional circumstances, it is much more vital than it used to be that there should be continuous consultation and cooperation between the various Empire Governments. Conditions change rapidly in the complex v/orld of today, and policies, however adequate and useful they may be when formulated, tend, in. some important respects at any rate, to become very quickly obsolete. A Permanent Commission The Imperial Conference, for obvious reasons, can only meet at comparatively long intervals, and the pressing need for some better means of inter-imperial communication between conferences has been frequently pointed out and stressed by statesmen and writers on imperial questions. As long ago as 1905, Mr Alfred Lyttelton, then Secretary of .State for the Colonies, addressed a dispatch to the Empire governments in which he put forward proposals for an "Imperial Council and for a permanent Commission" with a secretariat. Unfortunately, this fine idea v/as too much in advance of its time and met with opposition, principally from Canada. The proposal was finally dropped two years later. The plan of a permanent Imperial Secretariat as well as one for a standing committee of the Imperial Conference have often been discussed since 1911 as a means of bridging the gulf between sittings of the full Imperial Conference. But, up to date, these and other proposals with a similar object have failed to secure general support among the Dominions, apparently mainly because of a fear in certain quarters that such bodies might tend to grow in power and interfere with the responsibility of Ministers to their respective parliaments. There have also been suggestions that, as these bodies would presumably have their headquarters in London, they would tend to become

imbued with the United Kingdom point of view, which might bring them into conflict with Empire opinion overseas. Effect of Great War Under the stress of the Great "War, the British Commonwealth came very near to achieving the basis of a permanent Empire Council in the shape of the Imperial War Cabinet. That body grew not by design, but by the necessities of the war. The essence of it was that the responsible heads of the governments of the Empire, with those Ministers who were specially entrusted with the conduct of imperial policy, should meet together at regular intervals to discuss foreign policy and other matters, and come to decisions for submission to thci) own parliaments for ratification.

The significance of the work of the Imperial War Cabinet has been testified to by Mr Lloyd George, Sir Robert Borden and others, and for a time there seemed solid grounds for discerning therein, in the words of Sir Robert Borden, "the birth of a new and greater Imperial Commonwealth." But, unfortunately, with the return of peace, the old opposition to such a body as a permanent institution revived, and amid the welter of other post-war questions which have occupied the minds of statesmen, parliaments, and electors in the various parts of the Empire, there has been a tendency to shelve the matter and, between Imperial Conference sessions, to make the best of the admittedly unsatisfactory

process of direct communications between Prime Ministers or between the Government Departments at Home and in the Dominions more immediately concerned with the matter in hand. Both these methods lack that element of personal contact which is so desirable in consultations on delicate and difficult questions. It is true that, thanks to the League Assembly at Geneva, British Ministers have more opportunities for consultation with Dominion Ministers than was formerly the case, but these ooportunities are limited by the fact that the time at Geneva 13 generally very fully occupied by discussions, of matters not purely of imperial concern. Need for Co-operation The answer to those who suggest that this matter of better machinery for Empire consultation and cooperation is merely one of academic interest is the fact that several dis-

tinguished overseas -statesmen, | especially in Australia and New Zea-, land, have from their practical experience advocated for years that some new machinery is urgently required. Moreover, in 1924, during the tenure of office of the first Labour Government in Great Britain, Mr Mac Donald, the Prime Minister, sent a communication to the Governments of the Dominions pointing out that the present system in practice had two main deficiencies. First of all it rendered immediate action extremely difficult, more especially between conferences, on occasions when such action was imperatively needed, particularly in the sphere of foreign policy. Second, when matters under discussion were subjects of political controversy, economic or otherwise, conclusions reached at or between Imperial Conferences were liable to be reversed through change of Government. "Such a state of affairs," Mr Mac Donald added, "inevitably leads to ineffectiveness; it also causes disappointment, and doubts are thrown on the utility of the whole Imoerial Conference system." Mr Mac Donald also put forward certain suggested remedies and invited the Dominions to express their views. The Labour Government's resignation shortly afterwards put an end to further examination of the matter fo. the time, and, although a review of the situation was actually undertaken by the Imperial Conference in 1926, matters drifted again until the Ottawa Conference in 1932, when the question of a Commonwealth Secretariat was once more raised by a deputation from the Council of the Trades Union Congress which waited on Mr J. H. Thomas. At the Conference itself, the existing inter-imperial bodies were reviewed and a committee was appointed to give further consideration to the question. This committee sat in London at the beginning of 1933. A Vital Problem It will be seen, therefore, that so far from being a question of merely academic or theoretical interest, it is one which has seriously exercised the minds of imperial statesmen within the last year or two. There seems a very large amount of agreement throughout the Empire that the present system is inadequate to meet present-day needs. The day is surely past when it can be seriously argued that such machinery as a permanent Imperial Secretariat, or Council, would be likely to threaten the autonomy of Dominion governments and parliaments any more than the Committee -of Imperial Defence does now. The autonomy of the Dominions is now unquestioned, and any permanent consultative body for the Empire which could conceivably be set up would only be to some extent advisory. The final word would still lie with the respective governments and praliaments. There is little doubt, however, that if only agreement could be obtained to try the experiment on modest lines as a beginning its value would soon be apparent, and in accordance with British traditions the plan could be gradually developed in the light of experience gained in actual working. This would be far more likely to allay suspicions and secure permanent support throughout the Dominions than any attempt to launch an ambitious scheme. The presence of Dominion Ministers in London during the coming summer will afford a most favourable opportunity for another examination of this important imperial question in all its aspects, and it may be hoped that at last some practical scheme may be produced that will secure general acceptance.

NOT "IDLE RICH" | PRINCES ARE BUSY MEN The Royal Family are not keen card players. The Duke of Gloucester says he is keeping them for his old age. The four brothers share, according to their time and opportunity, in the social and public work of the Royal Family. Their manifold activities recall a story of the Prince of Wales and a labourer of socialistic tendencies. The man was standing in a lane aS the Prince rode by to a meet. ~, „ , „ "There goes one of the idle rich," he said sulkily. The Prince turned. "Rich, maybe," he said, "but, hang it all, not idle." Any member of the Royal Family might well have made the same reply, for idleness is a luxury not permitted to a British Prince.