LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1137, 26 May 1911, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

IMPERIAL QUESTIONS. Sir.—Might I cravo space for a few words on tho Imperial question? ion have written in your editorials;on mi» engrossing mid vital question, belore which nlf other questions of tho present day fade into mere local significance. It embraces so much , that unless we stop lor n moment aud put our house in order, strengthen its walls, *o that they will Da capable of carrying the additional weight and ; the extra stones which we are constantly piling on them, we run ffreut risk of collapse. All your articles would lead ono to suppose, you have no hopo of this strengthening pro-, cess of "grouting" going on. In your later articie of yesterday you say: lherc is no more reason to expect that any greater change of a fundamental sort will come from this camo from the •conferenco of 1907. In this you are possibly right, for we cannot expect a change ot the Constitution ot Britain—for such it would entail—to take place without grave consideration, and; the conference having no legislative powers can only resolve, by resolution, that some form "of Imperial Council or Imperial Parliament Do constituted. When you say "tho great majority of those who really think about the problems of the Empire are- 'undesirous' of any fundamental /change in inter-Impenal Telations," a'nd the rest don't care,.l sincerely hope you are wrong. I am with you when you say that this question should have been fully discussed in the House and if possible in tho country. jSot, Ihope, for tho purpose of vetoing it, but to place the responsibility betoro the people of the Dominion, so that, when the time comes, they will be prepared to share the burdens of the defenco of the Empire, as they have cheerfully agreed to compulsory training for the sake of internal defence.

You are, of course, in a much better position to give an opinion as to the views of those who "think about the problems of tho Empire." Yet wo have seen that when Mr. Malcolm put his Imperialistic views betoro the people—for which I sincerely thank him—in an admirable address, at each' place a resolution was passed favouring the suggestions made, l'hei'c has been no counter-demonstration, and although I freely admit that the acceptance by a few meetings docs not mean much, at any rate it is in favour of Mr. Malcolm's views, which aro more or less those put forward by Sir Joseph Ward iu Sydney. What is the position at Homo at the present time? Briefly it is this: On all sides they have declared that there must be a change iu our Constitution. The Lords have unanimously declared—or perhaps it would bo fairer to say without division—that their Hou;c requires to be put in order. Tho present Government has declared that they intend to do this. Mr. Asquith, Lord ±Inldane, and Sir Edward Grey, the backbone of the present Ministry, havo one and all declared that the Homo Puile they have promised to Mr. Redmond is part of a larger, scheme for the whole of Great Britain. The Unionists have, however, declared against any form of Homo Rule, whether by devolution or separate Parliaments. It must be also remembered that until now Britain has practically had no written Constitution; tho Mother Parliament has given Constitutions to her offspring, but hers is mostly custom. The Veto Bill— if passed—will state clearly-tho position of tho two Houses. But there have been great changes in the Constitution' notwithstanding. Gradually—although occupying an equally important part in the welfare of the country—Royalty has, withdrawn from any part of active government. Tho power remains first with the House, and now it may Iμ said to rest with the Ministry. They have, as I said, declared in ordinary phrase for "Homo Kule all round." This means that the Constitution must now be a written one. Acts of Parliament must bo passed detailing the powers of all parties, to government. A Court must be sot up to decide on Constitutional truosfcions, just ns tho Supremo Court docs in the United States of America and in the Commonwealth, where a most intricate case is at tho present' moment being decided. The ancient and great . Constitution of Groat Britain, the fore-, runner of nearly all government of western nations, is to be simmering in the melting-pot..for the next.few yoars..-...W0 can only look on. Britain's destiny must be in her own hands, but we can hopo that the Mother Country will come out of tho ordeal happily. Surely we ought to toll her that we look forward to her children helping her in her mature years, that we aro prepared to join with her in defence of her Empire wherever situated. How,then, can this be told bettor, or with more force than by a conferenco composed of such men as are at present in London—the Premiers of all Britain's dependencies?

Suppose this conference were fo decide to ask Britain: (1) That the cost of the. naval defence of the Empire shall bo apportioned according to population of the various nations of the Empire. (2) That an Imperial Parliament he constituted so that the contributing nations may be represented which shall have power, etc. Could we, as a people, refuse to aprce? Would Parliament, when it came to have tho matter referred tn them, refuse to ratify the request? I cannot conceive that it would. Are you justified, therefore, in saying that those who think that these changes may be foreshadowed have "uninstructed minds"? At anyrato I hope you will continue to instruct them, and by and by come to look unon it, as I am convinced a great school of thought at the present moment does, as a "consummation devoutly to be wished for."—l am, ofc, JAMES G. WILSON.

TO HELP THE POOR. I Sir, —As English colonials we are justly proud of what wo have dono for the Motherland. In time of war wo send our soldiers (I was one); in time of peace wo build our Dreadnoughts; in time of pestilence or eartliquako we aro always ready to help. But one thing wo have forgotten to assist in lately, and that is England's starving poor. We send our money to the rich institutions and the missions to foreign lands, but almost forget our own lath and kin, our own flesh and blood, starving and dying daily. Wo all know that things are bad with London's "submerged tenth," but I personally had no idea of the flagrant and daylight exposure of misery everywhere in great wealthy London to-day. It was only a glance at the "Canterbury Times" of April 12 fhat told me of tho Herculean efforts that are being made to cope with this "gnawing want" by Eustace Miles, 'the great vegetarian athlete and proprietor of many "correct food" restaurants in London. Every day 1000 are fed with good rich soup and a roll of wholesome bread, and he is now appealing in the English papers for funds to carry on this noble work. In the colonies we know of poverty only slightly, and of starvation seldom, if ever; and 1 argue while wo enn afford tn send our crowds and our Ministers to tho Coronation to spend and to guzzle we, should try and remember the thousands of pe'oplo homeless, destitute, and dying for want of food. Lately in England I saw the most abject and pitiful cases of poverty, and I imagined such cases were singular; but I find that over a million in London alone aro in daily, hourly want. I write to ask your paper and your city to organise a fund to relieve this dire distress. Eustace Miles and his charming wife and co-partnor will gratefully acknowledge any funds from rich and prosperous New Zealanders who can only faintly imagine the fearful distress of these poor British outcasts, lining up in a "queue to wait for a morsel of food, men too young to be without work and yet, owing to freotratle and tho influx of foreign labour, unable to get it; men too old for work, and women, who ljen-iso (hey are women nf our own nationality, should not avo to "eg at Eustace Mile's big free kitchen on the Thames cmbankmeut.1 am, etc., pREDi ELTON( "Thunderbolt" Picture Co.