The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1924. AN UNSOUND THEORY OF EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 96, 18 January 1924, Page 6

The Dominion FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1924. AN UNSOUND THEORY OF EMPIRE

i ' —.—<> . Some ill-advised attempts have lately' been Great Britain is under an implied Oh H o f Commons should of the Imperial Conference. resolutions. Little almost as a matter of co " m * u ig thc y ory carried to its logical consideration is needed to shot favour in the Dominions, conclusion, is not in the> least ikely to find obligation in If the British Par Lament we re SP^ IC p ar i iamen t s of regard to resolutions of the Impel under ’ a similar obligation, the several Dominions of necessi X . the convC rsion of the Nothing less in fact would be in I . su itative body into one exerImperial Conference from a P urec ° n This obviously would encising a measure of legislative { J’ of the Dominions and that' tail some interference with the autonomy of the Mother Country. . suc h developThe Dominions certainly minfa » pXve their of the late Imperial Conference should be consider . , M this question by the British Prime Master Baldwin) MR. Ramsay MacDonald, and Mr. Lloyd George show that t y essential agreement on the subject. In what cy c pnfitlpH the broad position there is nothing to which the Dominions aie entitled t 0 t Tliey X are Agreed in recognising that the British Parliament, like the Dominion Parliaments, has an open and unfettered discretion m dealing with resolutions of the Imperial Conference. Mr. Baldwin, however, raised a new issue by contending that if, as Prime Mwte , he submitted resolutions of the Imperial Conference to Pai Lament and these resolutions were refused ratification, he would be under an obhoatw ge ® m fhc least desirable that any such rule should be established either in Great Britain or in the Dominions. The effect probably would be to cramp the proceedings of the Imperial Confer6 If e each Prime Minister and his Government had to stand or fall by the resolutions of the Imperial Conference, the tendency no doubt would bo to confine these resolutions within rather narrow limits On the other hand, with the ultimate fate of the Conference resolutions dependent on free, non-party voting in the Empire Parliaments, the broadest possible scope and basis would be provided for inter-imperial co-operation. . , The British Parliament, of course, has the same right to accept or reject the provisional agreement with regard to the Singapore naval base as to deal in similar fashion with any other resolution of the Imperial Conference. The rejection o<f the Singapore scheme possibly would be a serious matter for the Empire. The question certainly has its serious aspects for the South Pacific Dominions. These things, however, cannot affect Britain’s complete freedom of action in dealing with the Singapore proposals. _ ... Even if he is supported by the weight of expert opinion in contending that a battleship base at Singapore is vitally important, the Commonwealth Prime Minister (Mr. Bruce) is not justified in suggesting that Britain alone is jeopardising the project. _ It has been made clear that Canada and South Africa are not meantime prepared to co-operate in providing a base for capital ships at Singapore. * More light presumably will be cast on the merits of the Singapore scheme when the Dominion Prime Ministers, particularly those of Australia and New Zealand, report on the subject to their Parliaments. It seems more than likely that if the scheme is abandoned, Australia and New Zealand may find it advisable to augment appreciably their measures of local defence. It is going rather far, however, to assume, as Mr. Bruce does, that in these circumstances the Empire countries will tend to drift apart. In any ease, it obviously affects the prospects of the Singapore scheme that it was not supported unitedly by the Dominions.