“DISAPPOINTING RESULTS”

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22519, 29 September 1938, Page 17

“DISAPPOINTING RESULTS”

EMPIRE RELATIONS CONFERENCE OPINION OF MR FRANK MILNER CERTAIN PRINCIPLES ENDORSED [THE PRESS Special Service. I WELLINGTON. September 28. From his own point of view, he felt that the results of the British Commonwealth Relations Conference in Sydney recently were disappointing, said Mr Frank Milner, one of the New Zealand delegation, who returned by the Wanganella from Sydney to-day. Mr Milner emphasised that that was his own opinion. “I would venture to say that from the average New Zealand standpoint, the results of this second Empire Relations Conference, hold at Lapstone, Sydney, outside, of course, of the rich opportunity of liberalising contacts with delegates from every part of the Empire, were disappointingly meagre,” said Mr Milner. “Such a conference is certainly worth while as an assessment of Dominion political and economic trends, and of the resultant effect of these national urges on the Empire as a whole. Its personnel, however, should constitute a balanced and authoritative representation of informed public opinion in each constituent part of the Empire. Certainly the delegates, through their possession of copies of numerous data, papers, and books, prepared by experts in each delegation, and in a lesser degree through listen ing to the somewhat appalling volubility of the conference, are qualified to discharge a valuable interpretative function in their respective communities.

“It was frequently emphasised five years ago, at the inaugural conference at Toronto, that the Empire Relations Conference formed a common objective for Empire foreign policy in collective security, as embodied in the League of Nations. The collapse of that idealistic fabric imposed upon the present conference the necessity of devising a fresh comprehensive formula, broad enough to satisfy the divergent views of the Dominions; According to the official recorder’s report, such a lowest common denominator could not be found as the outcome of the discussions of the present conference in any affirmation of the intrinsic or inherent values and ideals of the Commonwealth as a political entity; but only in its moral function, implicit in the inter-relation of its parts, as the administration of the future world order. This pious postulation of a solely millennial justification for the Empire is altogether too evanescent and phantasmal to satisfy the viewpoint of the average New Zealander,

Empire Values “We find in th& Empire, as it exists to-day, even after the full implications of the Statute of Westminster have been worked out by Canada, Ireland, and South Africa, certain inherent values. These values Af gmy.T&e cpn--servation of world peace 'and the rule of law; <2) the voluntary association of free peoples in pursuit of a democratic way of life; (3) the fiduciary philosophy now being implemented in the administration of India and the dependent Empire, notably in Africa; (4) the countering of inter-racial strife by a synthesis of east and west, now being attempted in the Indian federation; (5) the vindication of the ideals of justice, liberty, and tolerance, now increasingly animating the Empire. “Although Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand unhesitatingly support the Motherland in affirming the . spiritual solidarity of the' Empire and its supreme justification as the protagonist in vindicating their ideals, this attitude is not- shared by Canada, South Africa, or India. Stronglydifferentiated geographical and population problems account for this disparity in outlook. Canada, as interpreted at the conference, viewed itself : primarily as a North American [ nation, eligible for membership of a Pan-American union, and only sec- : ondarily as a member of the British ■ confraternity of nations. Perhaps the . academic preponderance in the Cani adi'an personnel, accounted both for ■ this viewpoint and for their insistence upon the theoretical right of secession, and the consequent right of neutrality, even when the Motherland was at war 1 It must be remembered that, as opposed to our compact of British homogeneity, Canada’s population is now barely 50 per cent. British born. The impenitent nationalism, or rather the intransigent republicanism, of the French-speaking Canada accounts for this attitude. Their problem of racial dualism calls for wide charity of interpretation on our part “Fabric Stretched” “Again. Canada’s absolute geographical security, guaranteed by the United States, explains its assertion of unqualified national sovereignty, even to the point of rejecting consultation on a joint Empire foreign policy, and of providing its own diplomatic machinery. “In a laudable attempt to provide comprehensive coverage by a formula wide enough to embrace the conflicting viewpoints, the fabric of the Empire has now been stretched to an impalpable fineness. Certainly the average New Zealander could not breathe in much of the fine ether of doctrinaire discussion. He is habituated to a robuster atmosphere, with more body in it.’ As a realist, he fully recognises the absolute dependence of- this quantitatively insignificant and segregated country on the Royal Navy for its very life, and in the British market for its sustenance. Moreover, he is deeply conscious of his incommensurable obligation to Britain in the realms of mind and spirit. Besides these transcendent things, abstract quibbles over status and functions pall into insignificance. Australia adopts the same atttiude, and, if anthing. is now more staunchly Empire-minded than New Zealand. "India at the conference was stridently disgruntled, morbidly suspicious. and rhetorically clamorous South Africa was benevolently neutral to the Empire. Canada was primarily obsessed with the problem of its own national unity, and apathetic to the Empire. Ireland, fast burying the past, was wholeheartedly in support. What Emerges “Not to end on a pessimistic note, it is safe to say that certain basic principles or communal ideas emerge from the verbal welter with general endorsement. These may be summarised as follows; (1) The Empire is not static, but is motivated by a dynamic philosophy of trusteeship, devolution, and autonomy; (2) the unitary conception of the Empire is replaced bv a Britannic nationalism. A system of free co-operative States displaces the idea of a federal compact; (3) a new ideal is diversity within the free cooperation; (4) the ultimate justification

of the British Commonwealth of Nations is not from within, but from without, in its contribution to the system of world order.

“To the ringing challenge of the Irish leader for a practical alternative to the British Empire in its great task of world stabilisation op a broader basis of liberty, justice, and tolerance, no answer was given, or could be given. Such a challenge silences both the critic and the cynic. It should be added that the abiding impression of the .conference was the ability and broad liberalism of the well-balanced British delegation. Its leaders showed rare magnanimity and dignity in the face of not infrequent criticism, de-pro'd-nion, and wilful misinterpreta-

1 nnrs who attended the conference, and who also returned by the Wanganella. were Messrs E. P. Hay. A. W Free, S. R. Morrison, and d/ 6. Williams. The leader of the New Zealand delegation, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, is expected to return in another week.