COLONIES AND EMPIRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 191, 7 May 1908, Page 6

COLONIES AND EMPIRE.

• : The speeches at the dinner tendered by the Royal Colonial Institute to Mr. Price emphasised anew the difficulty of discussing so intangible a thing as the . Imperial ideal ( in language, that will appeal to practical men in a prac-

tical age, For the most part, the cabled summary sent to us consists of the phrases which have become so familiar as to have lost their little original virtue, and it is noteworthy that the one passage from the Prince's speech, which has been sent verbatim, is of infinitely less value for educative purposes than some of the less impos-iug-looking sentiments published yesterday. There is no nutriment in the oft-repeated advice to foster the noble heritage of Imperial ■ Anglo-Saxondom " by methods of education and unity of action in everything ' leading towards the greatest ideals of civilisation." It reads, indeed, dangerously like the good-humoured parodies which frolicsome Imperialist journalists have felt driven to write now and then. Of far more value, as it far more nearly meets the practical man's hunger for graspable realities, was the Prince's reference to the vastness, the resources, and the latent strength of the Empire. "'England'," he said, "now meant England spread all over the world." That is an idea easy to understand, and it has a ring distinguishing it at once from the fl..t chink of the outworn platitudes that too often mean nothing more than that their author lias had to say something without feeling it. Yet these occasions are always valuable, as they always inspire Imperialist journals to further attempts to improve and perfect their presentation of Imperialism to the practical man as a great doctrine that will have enormous practical results in the unseen future. ' ■ . •

The dinner was notable also as giving- to tlie new Secretary of State for the Colonies occasion for a pronouncement upon the Colonial Office policy. Earl Crewe, we are told, "created a favourable impression. 1 ' The excellence of his sentiments is beyond reproach, but it is impossible here to grow enthusiastic over them, inasmuch as they seem merely to be an expression of the good intentions which every Colonial Secretary entertains as a matter of course. "Whatever Imperial Government was in power," he said, " and whoever the Colonial Minister miTht' be, : there would be no undue meddling." Of mucli greater, significance is his expression of .the desire that "those qualified l to speak for the colonies" should "carefully consider 'the problems before attempting to raise an advisory voice." There is no mistaking in this polite and delicate observation a note of retort to recent Australasian strictures upon Colonial Office indifference to colonial aspirations. The Secretary could hardly have said more plainly that the colonies are grown a little haughty and overbearing. This imputation may be open to dispute, but it must be admitted that colonial publicists should consider' that the Dominions may err as well as the Colonial' Office. The past few .years have been full of occasions for friction, but ■ we believe that the Imperial family has, on the whole, come through a most trying time extremely ■ well. Dn Parkin's hope that thp..Colonial Office will be placed with, the Foreign Office outside party/has a really good prospect of early fulfilment. . A little more, generosity from British statesmen, a little more forbearance from the colonial Governments, and "Empire policy',' will quickly become as sacred from party,, and will., be considered as vital, as "foreign policy." ,