BRITAIN SUPREME

Evening Star, Issue 21715, 9 May 1934, Page 3

BRITAIN SUPREME

TRADITIONS UPHELD ADDRESS BY MAJOR FINDLATER There was a most attentive audience in the R.S.A. Social Hall last night,, when Major J. Findlater, chief of staff of the Legion of Frontiersmen, delivered an address on world affairs. The meeting was presided over by Lieuten-ant-colonel G. Mitchell. The word “ Empire ” was subject to, a good deal of misunderstanding, saicj, the speaker. The League ot Nations had sought to change the name of the British Empire to the British Commonwealth of Nations, but this was unwieldy, and there was no all-embracing word' in the English language to describe such a phrase, with the result that the word “ Empire ” prevailed. Empire did not mean aggression, but rather unity and independence. When the Mediterranean was the centre of the world, the British Isles were the furtherest portiop of the earth. These isles were subject to many invasions, and as a result the nucleus of the great Empire was built up. It was remarkable that such 1 a small place as Britain could control so great a portion of the world. Much history had been written, however, before expansion took place. The action of the magnetic needle gave the British mariners the incentive to make voyages of discovery. These explorers were not always amicably received abroad, and when hostility was displayed it was necessary to use force. It was sometimes said that the British Empire would crumble away as other great empires had done. Major Findlater was emphatic* that this would not be so,' as the British Empire was founded on liberty and unity, and its political structure was such that the nation, of which New Zealand was the fartherest outpost, was such that it must be strengthened. It might be said that Britain had intruded in her colonisation scheme, but who would say that David Livingstone s intrusion in Africa was not to the advantage of that continent, or that the British occupation of Australia was not of benefit to that country? It was certain that the British Empire , would never go under so long _as its institutions and traditions remained intact. The old Elizabethan explorers fought, not only for personal gain, hut also for their Empire. Britain might be said to have seized more land than was necessary, hut it was now plain that this had been of benefit to the world at large. The members of the Legion of Frontiersmen, who were representative of the men who went to the frontiers of the Empire, had thus ample reason for upholding the traditions of the Empire. . Referring to the Empire’s many problems, the speaker said that India occupied about an eighth of the area of the Empire,, hut its population, represented about 70 per cent, of the Empire’s total. At one period, Indian imports comprised 80 per cent, of the Empire trade, and it was necessary to keep India within the Empire. The history of India had been one of almost continual invasion until Britain took control. The North-west Frontier was one of the great frontiers of the Empire, and the country provided one of the greatest Empire problems. _ Russia, wishing a port in that vicinity, was casting covetous eyes on it for that purpose. The decreased exports resulting from Gandhi’s boycott showed how good a customer of Great Britain India was. The reduced earning power of the British workman was also reflected on New Zealand.

Referring to Pacific problems, the speaker paid a tribute to Japan’s part in the Great War. Japan now had an acute economic problem, and its future was bound up mainly in commerce, as it had only one-quarter the area of New Zealand for, agricultural purposes. The Indian boycott of British goods left the field open for Japan, which was securing a good deal of the market. • This was balanced to a certain extent by the Chinese boycott of Japanese goods, allowing Britain to step in. The fact that the Japanese people must have an outlet was then sti'essed by Major Findlater, who said that he looked on the invasion of Manchukuo with a good deal of favour from a New Zealand point of view. China was not occupying that area to the best advantage, and if a peaceful solution to that difficulty could be found it would remove the danger of a Japanese invasion of New Zealand for at least another century. When Japan was granted the Marshall Islands, formerly a wellequipped German naval base, that country cut a deep salient of 2,500 miles into the Pacific. He did not wish to pose as a scaremonger, but he assured his listeners that the economic problems of other countries must be considered. In conclusion, Major Findlater pointed out that the Legion of Frontiersmen was essentially an Empire organisation, its members recognising what the nation had done in the past and what it still had to do. They realised also that the peace of the work! depended on the supremacy of the British Empire. . A vote of thanks was accorded the speaker for his interesting address.