Evening Post. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1927. PARLIAMENT AND ITS WORK

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 55, 2 September 1927, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1927. PARLIAMENT AND ITS WORK

_ A session which began on the 23rd June is well past half-time according to the normal reckoning, but even if it lasts far into November there will be little to show for it unless the House mends its ..pace. Rarely indeed have the first ten weeks of a session been more conspicuously barren, yet this, as the central session of the term, is the one^in which every Parliament is expected to do its best work. It looks,as though the unreadiness of Ministers :and the dilatormess of members were preparing tor the.crowding of the most important work of the session into those" last few weeks of blind precipitation when exhaustion and impatience have disqualified them both physically and mentally for their task. 'A normal incident of the process which puts domestic legislation through in this outrageous fashion is that external affairs are crowded out alto-, gether. It,is, however, but fair to note that the : treatment of one external problem of the first importance has provided a striking exception to this rule. As the unrest in Western bamoa might have become dangerous with delay it was. justly considered to be a matter of urgency, and the country has good cause for satisfaction in the expedition and the energy with which the question was handled both by: the Government and by Parliament.. ••-"•■■ -.•■■■:■ The Samoan trouble is, however, Just the kind .of exception that proves the rule of Parliament's general neglect of external affairs. If its normal attitude to these questions is that which Lord Melbourne is said to have adopted to every inconvenient problem, "Can't we leave it alone?" here was a case where willy-nilly this question had to be answered in the negative^ The Samoan trouble was so loud in its demands, and our responsibility was so clear, that dodging or dallying was out of the question. Lacking the same dramatic insistence and, die. same individual appeal to our sense of responsibility, the infinitely more important problems of our Imperial relations are allowed to wait. They are not considered to be our business any more than Canada's or Australia's. "What is everybody's business is nobody's business" sums up the position fairly well so far as the Dominions are concerned. -.; As Britain does not interpret her Imperial obligations in the same comfortable way, and still protects the interests! of the Dominions as well as her own, they are able to do this for the present.with impunity. It is a grand thing for the Dominions to have a status which is officially certified to be as good as Britain's, and at the same time to be able to look to her for protection just as confidently as in the old days when they were, still, in the nursery. New Zealand's head has not been turned by the glories of the new status, h6r does she desire to evade the responsibilities of the nationhood to which it logically commits all the Dominions. But she badly needs educating, and the Government will surely be guilty; of a gross dereliction of, its duty if under the pressure of domestic business it allows the unique opportunity presented by the report of Uie Imperial Conference to pass wholly or substantially neglected. \ It is a year to-day since the statement was published in which the .Prime Minister reviewed the problems to be considered at the Imperial Conference and explained his general attitude towards them. It was a clear, candid, and on the whole highly satisfactory statement. On what were, perhaps its two most important points Mr. Coates may be said to have already made good. The first related- to the problems of status which had been eagerly agitated in some of the Dominions, but which New Zealand would have been glad to see left entirely alone. New Zealand, said the Prime Minister, will: bring- to. the Conference no spirit of carping criticism, no disposition to split points of privilege or of status, no desire to obtain an advantage for herself or to embarrass further 'an Imperial Government already sorely harassed by vast and almost m.t snperable difficulties. Opinion in this country, as I interpret it, is entirely satisfied .that wrbßinher present limits New Zealand has ample scope for freedom and for the attainment of a full degree of nationhood within the Empire. - .. •'' ' On this point the attitude of our Prime Minister at the Imperial Conference was exactly what he had pro-

mised. The change or alleged change of status was none of his seeking, and in what some Dominions appear to have welcomed as opening the door to a more pronounced independence he has doubtless seen an argument for strengthening every substantial tie that binds us to the Mother Countiy. The other fundamental point in the Prime Minister's statement related to what is probably the strongest of these substantial ties. He declared that the Dominion was not bearing its full share of the burden of naval defence, that in his opinion the Singapore base was "an indisputable necessity for the adequate defence of British possessions," and J that after consultation with the Imperial authorities he would consider the question of New Zealand's contribution.' On this point also the Prime Minister has made good. There was a tl(ird point on which Mr. Coates's pre-Gonference statement was less satisfactory, and which certainly demands attention now. It seems almost,like ancient history- to talk of Locarno as of special concern to New Zealand, but it was a live issue-a. year ago. Just after, the General Election the Prime Minister had declared for the association of New Zealand in the responsibilities of the Locarno-Treaty, but owing to. the delay ,in the admission of Germany to the League of Nations, and also, apparently, in the interests of harmony at the Imperial Conference, the matter was not Carried into effect last session. No doubt, saia the Prime Minister in the concluding paragraph of his statement, the, subject will receive consideration at the Conference, but as 'no direct obligation, can be incurred by New Zealand until the matter has beea considered hhry r Parliament, I can see nothing to be gained by discussing the question at present when the whole position is uncertain. Thero need be no doubt about the ultimate attitude of the. Government, nor I think is there any doubt, as to the opinion of the people of this country, and at the Conference it is my intention to express as strongly as possible the view that New Zealand will in the future take np the position she has been proud to occupy in the past—by the side of Great Britain.. :".--.. .. .'. ■■■ ".-.•;■ ..

Is New. Zealand to take her place by the side of Britain now? And if not, why not? Locarno, the League of Nations, the Imperial Conference, the Geneva Conference, the control of foreign policy, consultation—here are a few of the problems for which time should be .found before.members have packed their portmanteaux!