THE PREMIER ON IMPERIAL QUESTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 202, 20 May 1908, Page 6

THE PREMIER ON IMPERIAL QUESTIONS.

At Kaikoura. on Saturday last, Sir Joseph Ward introduced a wclcomc variation into his monotonous ' melody of statistics and rejoicings over the unexampled brilliancy of his financial administration. For. the, most part, to bo sure, his speech proceeded on- the old familiar lines, b'.jt lie made room for some reference to t.be larger questions which, by tacit.■ c.ongint, are pjaced' outside party, differences and domestic quarrelling. A reference to, 'foreign trade; naturally led him 'into pointing out the dependence of that trade : for its safety ; upon the pfficiepcy of the British Navy, and he seized the .opportunity to" refer oncc more to the nieagrenegs of our contribu : tio'n to the maintenance of the .Empire's maritime forces. To emphasise the inadequacy of the subsidy paid, by this country, he declared that while Great Britain pays £l per head of her populatipn towards the upkeep of the Navy, the' contribution of New Zealand is only tejipengp per head. The comparison is not, perhaps, a fair one, but the Prime 'Minister is on very sound in advocating the payment of a larger subsidy. .It is" a pity . thati when he was. upon thig subject, he did. not ; make some reference to the proposed establishment of an "All Red" line of steamships. Almost a year has elapsed'since the committee set up by the British. Government commenced its deliberations upon the scheme, and nothing has yet beon heard of its decision. It is high time that the public of the Empire received some definite information on the matter. The New Zealand public in particular would be glad to iknow -whether the Minister is still' as enthusiastic for the scheme as he was at the Imperial' Conference, and whether this country is still committed to. a tremendous annual con 7 tribution shoiild the scheme take definite, shape. ,

Sir Joseph Ward referred, in his liaikoura speech,, to the question of cntial trade, and he appears not to have been so "correct" in his-discussion of the subject as,he usually is when he deals with Imperial affairs. New Zealand, he urged, wanted fresh and larger markets; the avenues of trade must be widcnod.

" All foreign countries,"-he went on, " had increased their tariffs, and there was no place out of England to send produce to. Each had high protection walls; Britain had free trade. But what did New Zealand get? Producers hero got practically the same conditions as the Danes, the Germans, the Japanese, the French, and others. They competed freely, and New' Zealand had 110 protection against them.. The Government urged that preference should be given to th.e colonies. Now Zealand could produco all that Australia produced, and if they supplied the British market and kept down the price to the workers in England, foreign nations would quickly agree to widen tho avenues of trade." . The Prime Minister then complained of the " adamantine " firmness with which his appeals for a removal of the Suez Canal "toll bar" had been dismissed, anclhe.expressed the opinion that' "New Zealand had a right to complain that Britain did not come down to a working standpoint, and knit the bonds of commerce closer." Surely, in thus so plainly objecting to the fiscal policy of Groat Britain, the Premier was adopting a tone that gives Mr. Khtr llardie some excusc for his contemptuous references to the quality of Australasian Imperialism. Some of us had hoped that the Imperial fiscal issue, so far as this country is concerned, had been'settled on the basis of our giving preference to British products, and leaving Great Britain free to do as she chosc, If the report from which

wo have quoted does the Prime Minister an injustice, wc shall be glad to stand corrected, for nothing is more likely to injure the cause of Imperialism than even the semblance of dictation to Great Britain. New Zealand insists on a free hand in the settlement of her tariff, and this country cannot with propriety dictate to or oven advise Great. Britain on tariff matters. In Groat' Britain the fiscal isstje is a domestic question and a party matter, and there is no more important .obligation upon New Zealand, or any other of the self-governing Dominions, than such careful abstention from interference, ip the domestic affairs of t,lie Jiother Country as will afford'no excuse for involving the overseas Empire in the party quarrels at Home.