EMPIRE PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 111, 7 November 1923, Page 3

EMPIRE PARLIAMENT

LORD STRATHSPEY'S ADVOCACY DOMINIONS NOT TRUSTED. After an absence- from New Zealand of about ten years, Lord Strathspey returned to the land of his birth by the Manuka yesterday. Bora at Oamaru in ' 1879, the present Lord Strathspey is the second son of the tenth Earl of fa'eafield. He was educated at Waitaki High School and at St. John's College, and he succeeded to the peerage on the death of his I brother, the Earl.of Seafield, in France, I in 1915. Prior to his departure for Eng- ! land, he was a member of the clerical staff ! at the Wellington Post Office from 1906 i to 1913. ■ ■ . ' Lord Strathspey is a strong advocate i of the Empire Parliament idea, which he I revived in the House of Lords in March | last, when, he urged the Government to ! consult _the Dominions with the object I of bringing forward definite proposals for the consolidation of the Empire and for keeping the right spirit uppermost in future years. Referring yesterday to the need for Empire brotherhood, Lord . atrathspey said it was not desirable that i the next generation should be allowed to ! forget the magnificent brotherhood displayed when the Dominions rallied to the assistance of the Home Land during the war. This spirit, if fostered, would prevent future wars. The Empire was unrivalled in its opportunities for compierce, but it was threatened with disintegration, not because the Dominions did not trust England, but because Eneand did not trust them. The Motherland was incapable of supporting herself ; she was dependent upon food, clothing, etc., from her colonies, for she was capable of producing herself only! sufficient sustenance for about one-third oi the population. If Empire affairs were properly managed, the British people, widely scattered as they were over I the face of the earth, could stand alone I against .the whole world and defy any , economic blpckade that might be made \ j against them. The Empire could be 1 1 entirely, self-supporting. Nearly even--! thing desired by mankind was obtainable trom some paj-t of tlys Empire. England had millions of landless men, and Australia and other, colonies millions of manless lands. New markets must be found, and the only way out of the difficulty was reciprocal,trade within the Empire mutually benefiting every part. Lord Strathsprey went on to refer to the reply he received to his question in the House of Lords. . Although his proposal, for colonial representation was little supported.i n the Lords and.the Commons, the statement made by the British Government that the time had come when: the Dominions should be granted anything they asked if they made their requests with united voice had given him much encouragement.. "It must be borne is mind, in considering my proposal" he said, "that the constitution I propose for an-Imperial Parliament makes it an entirely separate institution from i the House of Lords or the. House of Commons; It would be an elective assembly, in which., the. Dominions would '■ have, say, 100 seats, and Great Britain a similar, number. Some of my critics have jumped to the conclusion that the colonial numbers-would become a sect in the Commons. . That is not so at all I am satisfied that the proposal is open to criticism, -but it is entitled to criticism of a constructive kind, and some working alternative should be proposed by ! those who do not agree with me. The ordinary possessions of the Crown as, T ,5 s v self-governing Dominions, ' should be, formally: represented in the , British.Parliament in order to make it truly Imperial; and fit it for'the tremendous economic struggle ahead of us which may test. the.strength.of. the Empire even more severely than the mili-, tary struggle which a still unbeaten Germany launchedupon us nine years' ago."