DOMINION POSSIBILITIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 18, 20 July 1907, Page 14

DOMINION POSSIBILITIES.

TO THE EDITOE. Sir, — No ono appears to havo confide* ed the posrible or probablo results following on the chango in tho nomenclature of these islands as now proposed. On the oue hand, these results may be just none at all; on the other, they may be ' of so grave and far-reaching a character as to necessitate a new mt# of Iho world (fay, by the close of tho year 1909) on which it would bo impossible to put one's finger on a single British self-governing colony. Ireland furnishes vi with a notable example of r> chango of name which resulted in nothing. Tho most classic, spacious., cmrl imposing of all the city public ways in Europe is in Dublin — as'everybody known — has boon called SackvilleEtreet for generations. Sackvillo may havo beon a considerable figure, even a. genius, in his day, but as he did not set tho River Liffey on fire, nobody in the?o later times cares to rcmonxbor who ho was or what he did. O'Connoll, however, with his burning and sincere patriotism set all Ireland ablaze, and tho Dublin Corporation many years ago, and long af(er the Liberator's death, passed a resolution .(most respectfully worded) consigning Saekville to oblivion, nnd directing that for the future the noble etreet known as Sackville-street should be called O'Connollstroet. Th-3 public did not really care a straw one way or another about Sackville. Neither, apparently, did they caro more for tho resolution of tho city fathers. And O'Connell? O'Connell was in heaven. Nobody need trouble about him. Pro* bably lie was trying as bard as ho could to get poor Sackiillo there too — a mighty hard job, no doubt, but O'Connell was always capable )of performing wonders! So mayor and councillors were quite unablo to abolish Saekville, and the famous street continues to bo called Sackvillo down to this day. ' • In this era- of big things wo invariably associate territorial dominions' with vastnoss. In long past times, however, this was not so ; and it is amusing to find that the grass of a dozen cows' was in some places a dominion. The little ielo of Mona or Man, with a then population of a, few hundred, was a dominion, with a dynasty of its own of Scandinavian kings, in the • fourteenth century. Later, the County of Kerry was a dominion and kingdom, under the sway of tho Desmonds. All of tha* county from Traleo southward was still • called a, dominion (or by an Irish word signifying dominion) when the present writer was in that, historic region. Tna reigning monarch at that time was not a Desmond — was not even an Irish cr English landlord. His name indeed was King Hunger — and! Cold ; his eubjecte werft many and famishing, with little to eat and nothing 'to do all day long except to wander down again and again to the seashore to listen to tho melancholy moaning of tha Atlantic breakers, and to strain their* eyes - over_ the boundless ocean, looking ■ and longing for just one glimpse of America! Yes, tho Irish people have had kings enough and dozens of dominions. Th* name "dominion" did not perhaps add to their misery ; certainly in no instance did it do them tho smallest good. All the above, however, goes to show that there is really nothing in a nanio, but there are still many people who think quite differently. They recognise Un the word dominion a talismanic power, ct nf erring undreamed-of advantages and privileges on the communities adopting it. If that be so, we will bo quite unablo to keep all these good things to ourselves. Wo havo no patent rights in tho name, to which self-governing colony without exception is as well entitled as we are. If there be anything in the word or if it can be reasonably supposed that there ia any benefit or gain or advantage in it* uso we will not be long allowed to keep it to ourselves. Thus wo may have, in due time, tho dominions of Newfoundland, tho Transvaal, the' Cape ; we may even have dominions within dominions and commonwealths. In this way it in quite possible that every eelf-governing colony will cease to be a British "colony." It is not easy to say what effect this chango mayhave upon tho loyalty of the colonists in the course of time. Hitherto they htva Erided themselves on tho fact that they elonged ,to the great jace of British i pioneers and settlers who, for 'hundreds of i years, have carried civilisation, progress, and liberty to the remotest regions of tha earth. The British race, in fact, has colo«- ' nised the world;' and tha'fctehioveiflont i»~ * the envy of tho cations and the prido ' of all Britishers. One must note in, conclusion the extra* ordinary and unaccountable fact that suoh a doubtful, fantastic, and high falulin' proposition should bo submitted to tho New Zealand people by Sir Joseph Ward — Sir Joseph, the common-sense man, tho business man, the practical man, the moderate anan of the present Parliament, and tha piesumably cautious and careful leader of the New Zealand people. Ono can. scarcely believe that originally it was his. It seems like something that may have been whispered lo him in a dream from the great dominion, solemn, silent, and unknown, on tho far side of the dark btyx river. — I am, etc., , RICHARDSON HAE. - Wellington 15th July, 1907.