IMPERIAL UNITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18, 23 January 1911, Page 6

IMPERIAL UNITY.

9 • The country is deeply indebted to Mr. A. S. Malcolm, M.P., for the persistence with which he endeavours to press the consideration of Imperial questions upon the politicians and the people. With the politicians- he has not been able to achieve much success. When he urged upon the Premier that, in view of the coming conference, the House should be given a chance of discussing the problem of Imperial unity, the Premier's reply was: "Should an opportunity occur, I shall be glad to enable the House to discuss the all-important question to be considered at the next Imperial Conference.'" What happened is still fresh in the public mind. The matter was postponed from week to v.eek, until, finally, the very last day of the session was fixed for it, and when that day arrived it was, of course, found that the condition of the business of Parliament and of the minds of members was such as to preclude the possibility of any discussion that was worth having. The contrast between the Premier's admission of the all-importance of the subject and the cavalier, not to say insulting, treatment with which it was nevertheless treated, reminds one of a very happy gibe in which Mr. Asquith recently satirised Mr. Balfour's lukewarm allegiance to the cause of Tariff Reform. In one of his election speeches Mr. Balfour was supposed, not for the first time, to have at last displayed a sufficient degree of fervour in his attitude to the awkward legacy which Mr. Chamberlain has left him; but, speaking a few days later, at Grimsby, Mr. Balfour forgot to refer to the subject at all in his principal speech, and sought to make the omission good by a reference to it in the speech in which he acknowledged the vote of thanks : " I said not one word about another matter very dear to our hearts— Tariff Reform. You know that it stands in the very forefront of our programme." After quoting this passage. Mr. Asquith said: "I am not quite sure that if I were devoted to a great cause, devoted to it not as an abstraction but a thing to be put in practical operation, I should desire that it should become very dear to Mr. Balfour's heart. It is very flattering to the cause, no doubt, but not, 1 think, very conducive to its success in life.'' The remarks which Mr. Asquith applied to Mr. Balfour and Tariff Rei'onn would be equally applicable to Sir Joseph Ward and " tho all-important question of Imperial unity 'i which the eomjj&U-

tion of so many trivial subjects prevented him from giving Parliament a chance to discuss. Sir Joseph Ward's belief in Imperial Unity is a far more genuine and active thing than Mr. Balfour's belief in Tariff Reform, yet tho practical result is much the same. Faith without works is of no value in politics. If there had been half-a-dozen other members as keenly interested in the question as Sir. Malcolm, it would hardly have been possible that it should have been thus burked in the session immediately preceding a meeting of the Imperial Conference ; and we are very pleased to see that Mr. Malcolm has j now taken a course which enables him 1 to get the public ear without waiting for the sanction of the men who control the order paper of the House of Representatives. Mr. Malcolm has taken the public directly into his confidence by addressing a public meeting on the subject of "Imperial Unity." Though the meeting was held in Balclutha, the principal town of his own constituency, the importance of the subject and the qualifications of the speaker were attested by the presence of a few of Dunedin's leading citizens, who had to travel a considerable distance for the purpose. The meeting is said to have been larga and enthusiastic, and it was so sympathetic with, the speaker, and so keenly alive to the importance of his subject, that it passed without dissent a resolution declaring "that the time has come for the federation of the British Empire under an Imperial Parliament." Such a resolution appears to us to be decidedly premature, but we are by no means sorry to see it passed. The resolution affirms an ideal rather than an immediately practicable policy, but, unless somebpdy is prepared to look ahead and raise a high standard, how are we ever to make any advance at all? The present policy of drift will not enable us to overcome the obstacles that lie in the path of a stable Imperial Onion. The obstacles must be carefully measured, the idea that considerable sacrifices will have to be made in order to overcome them must be steadily inculcated, and tho democracies that make up the Empire must be made to see that the alternatives are closer union or the shattering of the whole fabric. With the general drift of Mr. Malcolm's argument wo are in substantial agreement, but the details must be reserved for future treatment. We hope that he will act upon the suggestion that he should deliver his lecture in other parts of the country, and that' there may thus be instituted an educative process which the Government and Parliament have entirely neglected.