BRITISH DOMINIONS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 85, 4 January 1930, Page 9

BRITISH DOMINIONS

LIBERTY OF NATIONHOOD ACHIEVED

SMUTS ON THE REMAINING TASK FORM AND SUBSTANCE TO UNITY OF GROUP / (Unite!) Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Rec. January 3, 10.45 p.m.) Ottawa, January 3. Speaking here on Thursday night General Sinutp said that liberty of nationhood had been achieved by the Dominions of the British Empire, but another task remained which must be undertaken. That task is to give form and substance to the unity of that great group which is the British Commonwealth of Nations. ‘.‘This great structure should become the most enduring of all time, whatever storms may blow, as they have blown in the past. Whatever vicissitudes are before us this ship should weather the storm. This great Commonwealth of ours should remain for all time an example of the embodiment of human liberty. Political genius was an instrument of happiness not only to us but to the other nations of the world.” General Smuts told the audience that dominion status had proved the solution of Empire problems which had seemed to be insoluble. LINK BINDING FREE PEOPLES GENERAL SMUTS ON BRITISH SYSTEM BELIEF IN FUTURE OF LEAGUE Montreal, January 2. Picturing the Empire as a Common-wealth-in which the smaller nationalities, such as the Dutch in South Africa and the French Canadians in Canada, had full sway towards development of their culture and national aspirations, General Smuts, in an address to the Canadian Club on Thursday, contrasted the British system with the United States’ “melting pot” system, where the ideal of Government’ institutions were to turn out Americans on the same standards, and with the French idea of colonial development, whereas in Africa the idea was to create French Moors, French negroes, and French Berbers. This development of free peoples with a common link binding, but not shackling them, meant that a fourth of the human race lived in harmony. He felt that this example was a sufficient reason to believe in the future of the League of Nations. If a fourth of the peoples of the world, different in culture, colour, and religion, inhabiting all the continents of the world, could live without armies and navies against each other, surely there was hope for the other three-quarters. The British peoples should see that In sentiment, loyalty, and all other ties, the peoples of the Empire were more closely bound together.