Evening Post. FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1921. "THE LIFE OF THE EMPIRE"

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 49, 26 August 1921, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1921. "THE LIFE OF THE EMPIRE"

Though the general impression produced in Great Britain by the Imperial Conference appears to be one of disappointment, Mr. Massey's optimism continues unabated, and may even be said to have reached its climax in the parting message reported to-day. " The events of the last two months," he declares, "from the point of view of constitutional, procedure have been the beginning of a new era for the Empire. It was by far the most important Conference yet held, because the Dominions had been called upon to participate in the management of the Empire's common affairs." Even the War Conference of 1917 was, Mr. Massey argues, on a lower level. ,

In that case (he says) the Dominions were consulted, but nothing further was done. The recent Conference, though called a conference, acted as a Cabinet, its decisions being equivalent to Cabinet decisions. The overseas Ministers acted up to the new status arising out of the war, namely, the Dominions were now partners of the Empire, with all partners' privileges and responsibilities.

The Imperial Conference of 1921 would indeed mark the beginning of a new era for the Empire if we could accept Mr. Massey's rosy : picture as representing the. facts without any additions from the optimism which he is officially bound to 'profess, or the hopes which he personally entertains. But by the time his flattering tale has been stripped of its official and emotional colouring, the rosy tints are turned to gray as rapidly as they sometimes are when a bright sunset fades.

Just before he set out for the Conference, Mr. Massey declared for an Imperial Cabinet whinlj, in its constitutional basis and composition, was to be nothing mora than the Imperial Conference under another name. His idea received little, if any, encouragement from the other Dominions, nor has it been adopted by the Conference. But Mr. Massey is not to be denied. Undaunted by the rejection of his proposal for a change, pf name, he retaliates by insisting that the Conference has really become a Cabinet in everything but name. Like the gentleman in the French play who had been talking prose all his life without knowing it, the assembled Prime Ministers have constituted an Imperial Cabinet though they were not aware of it. By hook or by crook, Mr. Massey is to have his Imperial Cabinet, hut whether or not he ha>; really got it admits of a very simple test. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The decisions of the Imperial Conference are, says Mr. Massey, " equivalent to Cabinet decisions." The essential function of a Cabinet is not its power to talk but its power to get things done. The Imperial Conference can talk as freely as any Cabinet or Parliament, but it has no executive power at all. It can consider, debate, advise, and recommend, but the efficacy of its advice and its recommendations is entirely dependent upon the independent volition of half-a-dozen different bodies among which the real responsibility is parcelled out. A Cabinet which cannot get things' done is little better than a. contradiction in terms.

A simple test is provided by the most fundamental of all the issues that the Conference has discussed. Though the attitude of Mr. Massey and his Government to the naval question before he went to the Conference was not worthy either of the part that this country played in the war, or of its peace-time Imperialism, he has made amends by the strong line he has taken in London, in / combination with Mr. Hughes.

Britain (says Mr. Massey, in his parting message) must be in a position to defend her interests in the Pacific^ She cannot allow, herself to sink to third place. The Empire depends upon sea power, and will ceaSe to exist if unable to maintain its communications.

Except that the Empire should have been substituted for Britain, i;his statement is absolutely unimpeachable. 'Sea power, as Lord Jellicoe says, is the life of the Empire, anct how much' has our socalled Imperial Cabinet done to maintain it 1 It has not strengthened the r power of the Empire in 'the Pacific or anywhere to the extent of a single ship or a single "gun, because it had not the power to do so. It has not even pointed out how the Empire's naval defences could be put on a safe and equitable footing, or affirmed the principle on which this should be done, because it had not the will to do so. It is early to talk of an Imperial Cabinet and a new era as accomplished facts in the presence of such futility as this.

The outcome of all the brave talk about the matter ou which everything else depends is that, in the words of Mr. Hughes, " only a colourless resolution was passed, leaving Australia and New Zealand to make thaix. own arrangements

with Britain for the defence of the Pacific." It is not for us to lament the defection of the other Dominions, but to put ourselves right. So far we are in the wrong through the inertia of the Government and 'Parliament and the woeful inadequacy of Mr. Massey's references to the subject during last session. It will be time for us to criticise other Dominions when the genuinely Imperial doctrine which Mr. Massey has been preaching in London has been carried into effect by his own Dominion. Towards that end the admirable exposition of the meaning and value of sea power with, which, without touching any controversial point, the GovernorGeneral has delighted two Wellington audiences this week, should materially contribute. '