BRITISH EMPIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 122, 25 May 1945, Page 7

BRITISH EMPIRE

DYNAMIC, NOT STATIC

LESSON FOR THE WORLD "The British Empire is dynamic, not static. It is Hot a thing of the past, but a thing of the future. It is evolving all the time," said the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom (Sir Harry Batterbee) at the Empire Day luncheon held yesterday by the Wellington branch of the Royal Empire Society. Mr. L. O. H. Tripp presided., and Mr. W. J. Sim, K.C., moved a vote of thanks to the speaker. Regret was expressed that that function of the society would be the last attended by Sir Harry and Lady Batterbee. THE BRITISH GOAL. "Just as the present independent nations, which form the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, evolved from the colonies," continued the High Commissioner, "so the present colonies are themselves evolving, first towards representative government and then, in the fullness of time, towards full self-government. In some cases that self-government in internal matters is almost complete. You have only to look at Southern Rhodesia, Ceylon, and Jamaica to see how near some colonies are to a status not very different from that of the Dominions and the United Kingdom herself. The goal to which our eyes are set is that of a family of free and self-governing nations, helping and supporting one another, collaborating in the great causes of peace, security, and human brotherhood, working together to banish fear, suspicion, and mistrust from the world, bound into a unity by the common ties of history, tradition, and purpose which are symbolised for us in the throne and the person of the 'King. There were, in his view, two great services which the British Empire could perform for the world of the future. "It could lead the colonies along the path of political, economic, and social progress until they were able to stand on their own feet. For many years the colonies, some in greater, oth?rs m lesser degree, would need guidance and assistance. There was another service equally important. It was necessary for the nations of the world to learn, if there was to be a peaceful and united world in future, how to harmonise their national loyalties with loyalty to the interna- : tional organisation which was now being sought. Unless the nations were prepared, in the interests of international peace and security, to abate in practice a little of the full national sovereignty which belonged to them, he saw little hope for the world. "SPIRIT OF THE FAMILY." That lesson had already been learned by the British Commonwealth and Empire. Its elements had learned to apply the spirit of the family in private life to the Empire relationship. "If by our example we can help the nations of the world to learn that lesson, to learn how to combine the narrower national loyalty with the wider international loyalty, if we can help them to apply the spirit of the family and of human brotherhood to the community of nations of which they are all members, if by our example we can help to bring about the realisation ot the idea that we are all members one of another and that none of us can live to ourselves alone, then the Empire will have rendered a service of the greatest value to all mankind. "To these great purposes let us rededicate ourselves today," he concluded. "Let us celebrate this Empire Day not in any spirit of boasting or pride, but in thanksgiving to God for the mercies of, the past, and, above all, for the crowning deliverance of the Empire from'the gravest and deadliest danger which it has ever faced, and in humble resolve that under Divine Providence we will make the Empire a finer thing yet, and one. of still greater value and service to all mankind." _^________—