FOR THE EMPIRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1911, Page 6

FOR THE EMPIRE.

» ' The argument against allowing theexisting condition of Imperial '.organisation — or disorganisation — to continue, or trusting to the mai'ch of evolution, which, after all, is but a more majestic name for the of accidents to provide us with ;a better one, appears 'to us irresistible. Great hopes have been entertained, of tho Imperial Conference as the body.that might prepare and point the way to a scheme of Imperial governmentwhich wall terminate the existing chaos and bring the various self-governing States of the Empire into some sort of organic union. But the ways of the ■ Imperial '•Conference aro very slow. It * only meets once in four years, and in these -long intervals its affairs are treated with such profound inattention, both by, ,itß members and by their constituents, that.it has achieved very little, andthere, a-resno signs' at all that it is>likely to mend its pace. Compare the agenda., submitted this year on behalf of New ' 'Zealand with those of four years ago, compare the state of public sentiment, the attitude of the public mind towards, the issues involved ; and who can say that the democracy which yields to none* in its attachment to the Empire has> been doing much more than markingtime? The rapid development of Ger- ■ many's naval power has indeed impressed us with a deeper sense of the ! common dangers. It has ripened public sentiment for a forward move, but ,'the move has not been taken, and our<j responsible leaders have no suggestion as to what it should be. Imperial organisation remains exactly where it did | four years ago, and neither our Governj ment nor our Parliament appears to ] I have an idea or an inspiration on thewj subject. If this is a correct diagnosis of the position in New Zealand, there is> I unfortunately no reason for supposing that the sentiment of union is being brought into a more fruitful relation [ with reality anywhere eise. How many i more of these four-yearly intervals can* \ we expect to pass before the Empire is. put to tho supreme test of a greak struggle for which everybody recognises that it is quite inadequately prepared ? Mr. A. S. Malcolm, M.P., in the valuable address to which we devoted an article yesterday, expressed what is probably a growing feeling among the small number of people who pay close a-tbention -to the subject when he spoke of the present lines of tho Imperial ! Conference as. offering little ground for I hope. Advisory councils and secretariats, with which we are asked to be content for the present, have, in Mr. Malcolm's opinion, few advantages and maaiy disadvantages. "Froude, that j shrewd observer, as well as great his- j toxian, h»ld tliat an advisory council contained all the elements of disaster. These secretariate and so on were mere ! make-believes, and the British peopl* | had no time for them. And they were j not on the line of British political evolu- | fcion. In British history the invariable j remedy for national wants had been a Parliament." Mr. Malcolm accordingly declared boldly for the federation of 'the Empire under an Imperial Parliament, in which all of its self-governing 'States will be directly represented, and the meeting carried without dissent a, resolution affirming that the time had arrived for the creation of such a Parliament. We regard the speech and the resolution ac very encouraging proofs that public opinion, is not nearly so inert oai the subject as the politiciaaas have commonly assumed, and that, with a i little encouragement, it could easily be quickened into a very effective activity. We «should be glad to see Mr. Malcolm's example imitated all over the country, in ord-er that the educative process, for which the Government aaid Parliament have entirely ignored their responsibility, may be put properly in train. Our own opinion is that -the federation of the Empire Is still a long way off, but the way to hasten its coming is to set people thinking and talking about it. Mr. Malcolm himself, though he has evidently studied the subject very closely, is silent or vague upon come of ■the essential detail's, which, in a matter of this kind, often present a more difficult task than the general principles involved. There is, however, a very wide interval between such an advisory and intermittent body like the Imperial Conference and the complete Federal Parliament which Mr. Malcolm advocates, and an intelligent discussion of ultimate aims should hasten the decision as to what the next step should be, ■eveii though the last one may still be a long way off.