Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1911. IMPERIAL UNITY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 20, 25 January 1911, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1911. IMPERIAL UNITY.

It is a remarkable thing that despite all the lip-service which is paid to the Empire on ceremonial occasions from time to time and the soundness, of tho popular neai't on the subject, the essentials of Imperial organisation are so habitually ignored that the addresß which Mr. A. S. Malcolm, M.P., delivered on the question of "Imperial Unity" is quite a distinguished political event. Even with an Imperial Conference just ahead, Parliament sat for fivomonths without finding time to touch the fringe of the subject. The pessimist might naturally say that a surer proof that the issue has no life in it could not be desired, yet when Mr. Malcolm, who is not a Minister nor a leader nor an orator, discourses to a meeting in his own constituency on " Imperial Unity," it is felt, as we say, lo be an event of genuine interest and importance. The reception given to Mr. Malcolm's address, both by his immediate audience and by the far wider circle j which he is able to reach through the press, is a clear proof that the pessimist is wrong. The issue is not dead. The public heart is sound, and the public mind is quite ready to respond to a good lead on the subject if those who should be leading will give it the : chance. Is it to be the fate of Imperialism to remain indefinitely in the | academic or post-prandial stage, as a vague aspiration, quickened now and then by some dramatic emergency into j an intense but evanescent activity and mildly fluttered at more regular intervals j by an Imperial Conference which talks copiously but does very little? If so, it will be a bad look-out for the Empire wnen the day of Armageddon comes. Against; that clay the only safe preparation is to realise that the question is practical and urgent, that it demands the most careful and consecutive attention that can be given to it, and that drifting can take us nowhere except to disaster. Mr. Malcolm's supreme merit is that { he sees the dangers of drifting, and is not content to let words stand for things

certed action that can alone make their realisation possible. With the general drift of his argument we are in entire concurrence. The colonies have grown to wealth and strength under the protection of the British flag without any---of the responsibilities in regard to ¦foreign policy and^defenee which would have been thrust upon them from the first if their position had been one of independence, and which would be thrust upon them in a very crushing fashion if that protection were withdrawn. What has kept the flag- flying nas been the British Navy, of which the taxpayers of the' United Kingdom nave/ borne practically the whole burden. Thefirst necessity of the position is that, whether by their-own navies or by contributions to the Imperial Navy, the* colonies must take their fair share ois the- burden of the common defence. Mr. Malcolm quotes a Melbourne workingman in saying at a public meeting with regard to -this question : "I don't want, to pay less than my share."- That, as* .Mr, Malcolm, says,. is "the-iionest spirit,"* and' an appeal from that side will touch, thousands who are not stirred by thebeating of itha big,lmperial- drum. Whem we are no -longer "sponging" upon the, generosity of the British taxpayer for the primal necessaries of national life, -we can justly claim an^ effective voice in., the direction of Imperial policy. The* Empire^' could then speak as a single "Power through an authority which would , for this purpose represent us^all. The. objection 'that we -should then-be obliged, to join in -every war that Britain made* is to be met — Mr. Malcolm points' out — in two ways. In the first place, we are willy-nilly in that position already, for with Britain at war the whole Emis at war, and the parts that may neglect their duty are- equally liable to.attack with the others. Secondly, the\ new arrangement would give i£s what -we have not got now — a voice in the determination whether-there should be wax or not. Mr. Malcolm does not hesitate to declare for' a complete Imperial Federation as the policy to be adopted, and.; we shall examine his. arguments. in a±sub-« sequent-article.