Evening Post. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8,1914. WAR A GOAD TO UNITY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 86, 8 October 1914, Page 6

Evening Post. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1914. WAR A GOAD TO UNITY

Newfoundland, which was discoverd iv 1497, declared to be one of His Majesty's plantations in 1764, and received the grant of Responsible Government in 1855, claims' to be the "senior colony" of the British Empire; but, despite its seniority, the process of Imperial evolution has in recent years made its position more and more anomalous. Though the oldest of the Dominions, Newfoundland is the smallest, the least populous, and the least progressive. While the other Dominions have been rapidly developing in resources and population, and, except in the case of New Zealand, by federation or amalgamation, Newfoundland has remained comparatively stationary and absolutely isolated. Twenty years before- the first Imperial Conference was held in 1887, all the provinces of British North America, except Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, and Newfoundland, were included in the Canadian Federation. A few years later Prince Edward Island and British Columbia joined the Federation, but Newfoundland stood out. The resuit was that at the Conference of 1887 Newfoundland was represented separately from, and equally with Canada, and Ulttt ftimngcmoiiti has cvntinusd ever siajiß. h 1867, fthjEtt Naw South .WbJsj*

Tasmania, and the other colonies, and also the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, were all separately represented, the anomaly was not so striking. But after the consummation of Australian Federation and South African Union had eliminated the separate representation of their respective component units, the singularity of Newfoundland's position was emphasised. New Zealand was the only other ! individual Dominion to which the same privilege was accorded. "Perhaps," sa ye Mr. JeFb, apropos of the resolution of the Imperial Conference of 1897 in fa your of the grouping of "colonies which are geographically united" under a federal union, "it would be difficult to atato [ a principle on which Newfoundland | would be committed to Canada without New 'Zealand — quite a different case — being committed to AustraJia." New Zealand's individuality, enterprise, resources, and geographical isolation certainly seem to justify her claim to a special treatment for which the circumstances of the senior colony provide r.o basis. In the diagrams with which in his history of the Imperial Conference I Mr. Jebb illustrates tlie progress of Imperial evolution, ho accordingly finds a place for New Zealand, but not for Newj foundland, appending with regard to the latter a footnote which says that it "must be understood to be included m Canada." The Bound Table, the broad-eet-based of Imperial organs, provides a New Zealand section, but a Newfoundland section, would be plainly absurd. And when Mr. Kipftng speaks of "The Five Nations" he must have made the number six if he had not taken the came view of Newfoundland's destination as Mr. Jebb. Newfoundland is, indeed, not the fifth nation of the Empire, but the fifth wheel of the Imperial coachnot indeed an obstacle to progress, but a sore trouble to the classifier. That Newfoundland's proper place is with the other provinces of British North America has indeed been indicated by the Imperial Statute-Book for nearly half a century. The British North America Act of 1867, which established the Canadian Federation, included Newfoundland among the colonies which might eventually be admitted to the Union, flitherto Newfoundland has resisted the call of its manifest destiny, but the cable brought us word on Tuesday that, "as an outcome of the wai 1 , Newfoundland and the Bermudas have become part of the Canadian Federation." There must surely be some error in the transmission of this message. The clause of the British North America Act to which wo have referred requires addresses from both Houses of the Canadian Parliament and from both Houses of the Newfoundland Parliament, and also a confirmatory Order in Council, before the incorporation of Newfoundland in the Canadian Federation can take place. It is hardly credible that all these processes can have been carried through without the faintest indication that any of them had been begun or even intended, and that tho final result should then have been reported in the baldest possible terms. The war has been responsible for many things, but it can hardly have secured the suppression of so much important and interesting history. If, however, the alleged extension of the Canadian Federation is not likely to be an accomplished fact, the message entitles us at least to assume that it is in progress and that its consummation is assured. The hope is also encouraged, as we suggested y*esterday, that tho tendency which the war has promoted in North America may have a wider Imperial operation. The great unions of history have been largely the work of war. Speaking of the obstacles which the Imperial Federationists have to overcome, Professor Lowell, of Harvard, says : "They appear to forget that the present Federal Union of Switzerland followed the war of the Sonderbmid j that in spite of strong national yearnings the German Empire was created, not by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by blood and iron ; and that, as John Quincy Adams said at the fiftieth anniversary of its adoption, the Constitution of the United States was 'extorted from the grinding necessity of a relucant nation.' " It is possible that the Kaiser's great war will prove to have supplied the necessary stimulus for the greatest union of all.