The Press MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1936. Imperial Relations

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21727, 9 March 1936, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1936. Imperial Relations

The Prime Minister’s admission that “ at the “ present time we do not know enough about “what Britain is doing and Britain does not “ know enough about what we are doing ” is the first realistic statement that a New Zealand Prime Minister has made about the technique of inter-imperial relations for a very long time. It has become almost a habit for members of the New Zealand Government to speak as if exchanges of views between Wellington and Whitehall were frequent and adequate; whereas the public has very good reason to suspect that, particularly in recent years, the system of communication between the governments of the Empife has not been satisfactory. Much of the wrangling which took place over the Ottawa agreements was the product of imperfect understanding; and at Geneva in the last few months there have been curious and unfortunate instances of Dominion governments finding themselves at variance with the policy of the British Government. Mr Savage suggests that the time has come for an Imperial Conference to discuss, among other things, defence and trade; and it is probable that such a conference will be held before another year has passed. But it is as well to recognise that, although periodic and frequent Imperial Conferences are necessary, they are not in themselves a sufficient means of keeping the governments of the Empire in touch with one another. The Ottawa agreements have added immensely to the complexity of Imperial economic relations and have required continuous modification and adjustment. Moreover, the growing need for co-ordination in Imperial defence has created a set of problems which cannot satisfactorily be dealt with finally and completely at a plenary conference in London. There is an obvious need for an improvement in the methods of day-to-day consultation between governments. To this end it seems necessary that the various High Commissioners offices should be stronger in personnel and. that in New Zealand, as in most of the other Dominions, there should be a British High Commissioner acting as the representative of the British Government. At present the GovernorGeneral of New Zealand still acts in the dual capacity of representative of the King and representative of his Majesty’s Government in Great Britain. The separation of these functions made possible by the Statute of Westminster has, mainly for sentimental reasons, not been enforced in New Zealand; but the increasing volume of business which passes between the two governments seems now to require a change. There is one other factor which makes it inadvisable to leave too much business to be transacted by Imperial Conferences. The last three conferences have shown themselves unwieldy in operation and reluctant to reach clear-cut decisions. The need for complete unanimity means, in effect, that the conference can move only as fast as the most independent Dominion allows it to move. It is certain that, in the future. Imperial Conferences, will become less and not more efficient at transacting business. Since the Great War the economic policies of the Dominions have been diverging with increasing rapidity, with the result that,general agreements are becoming increasingly difficult to conclude. It is becoming apparent that Imperial relations can be adjusted much more satisfactorily and smoothly by bilateral agreements which take full cognisance of the differing economic development and possibility of the various units.