The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1947. The P’s And Q’s Of Empire

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25365, 12 December 1947, Page 6

The Press FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1947. The P’s And Q’s Of Empire

Now that New Zealand’s unrestricted constitutional rights as an autonomous nation under the British Crown have been formally declared in the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act, which has passed the House of Commons as easily as the House of Lords, the moment is perhaps a convenient one to note the latest ruling on the proper terminology of Empire. The occasion for this ruling (and for a statement which interpretatively extended it) was an odd one: the House of Lords debate on the Medical Practitioners apd Pharmacists Bill, last month. It appears that, since an enactment of 1886, all British doctors outside the United Kingdom have been legally described as “ colonial practitioners Already an anachronism in 1886 and statutorily preserved for 60 years, the phrase was transferred, for another lease of life, to the new bill. This is not so very astonishing. After all, when the Legislature of Kansas sent a message of congratulation to Queen Victoria on her Diamond Jubilee, the Colonial Office replied on her behalf, thanking her “loyal sub- “ jects ” and their dutiful representatives. But Lord Altrincham rose to suggest that the Government might think of a phrase that would fit constitutional facts better than “ colonial practitioners ”, and the Government at once agreed that the Commonwealth Relations (once Dominions) and Colonial Offices should be consulted. Their opinion was that “ the word ‘ Commonwealth’

“ alone can properly be given the ‘"wider meaning of all territories “within the Empire, including the “ Dominions ”. Accepted by Lord Altrincham—who had merely wanted to distinguish correctly between practitioners in the colonies and practitioners in the Dominions—as well as by the Government, this ruling, it was agreed, should regulate an amendment of the bill; but it will, of course, have a general as well as the specific effect. It means that it is no longer possible to use the term Commonwealth to cover the United Kingdom and the Dominions, and add colonies to Commonwealth to make the Empire, Lord Henderson, for the Government, indicated that its view was that “the Commonwealth of Na- “ tions ” must now be the collective name for those member nations of fully responsible status. “ Colonies ”, of course, will survive as the proper term for members of “ the Common- “ wealth ” at all stages of their way to this status—at least, will survive until some reformer decides to change the name of the Colonial Office. “It may be hoped”, said “The Times”, from which these facts are borrowed, all but one, “that the historic word ‘Empire’, “which to ancient Rome as well as “to modern Britain could stand for “ a supra-national union fostering a “ progressive diffusion of liberty, “will continue to be held in hon“our”. Colonel McCormick, however, will have a word or two to say about that.