Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2nd, 1917. IMPERIAL UNITY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 May 1917, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2nd, 1917. IMPERIAL UNITY.

The Germans set out to break the British Empire, but they have made it infinitely more solid than over it was before, and to the Huns must be given'the credit of taking the first place amongst those who acted as unifiers of the Empire- Our great task now is to see that we maintain an organic unity which will secure the liberties of all peoples, creeds and races living under the British Flag. Anything that retards this must 'be looked upon with suspicion; as a source of weakness and dangerIn order that perfect unity may be brought about and maintained great sacrifices will be required from the Motherland on the one hand and the overseas Dominions on the other- The United Kingdom, for example, will have to surrender its free imports and its Imperial powers- The overseas Dominions will have to give up some of their Customs revenue and bear their proportion of the burden of Imperial defence. 'Hie great difficulty arises when we come to the ' Dominions, which differ from each other as much as they differ from the Motherland. This fact has been shown at the various Imperial Conferences that have been held prior to the war, \ and such eminent statesmen as jSir Wilfred Laurier and Sir Joseph Ward have held very strongly divergent views on many important questions- Any attempt at settling the question of Imperial unity that does not recognise this fact must lead to endless confusion and waste of time- The, fiscal question is, of course, the most vital one- ISo complete organic unity can be obtained unless there is a common tariff. The self-governing Dominions have held strong opinions on the question of Im-

peria'l Preference, and they have recognised that now is the acceptable time. It is therefore gratifying that one of the first resolutions passed by the War Cabinet was that laying down the principle of Imperial Preference. It is when the arrangement of the details is considered that troubles may arise- One of the leading characteristics of the British race is a stubborn, resolute instinct in favour of self-government and liberty from the community. It is ingrained.in us and we carry it iato every land that we make our home- The overseas representatives have already declared that they will not accept any arrangement that will deprive the Dominions of the rights of selfgovernment that they now enjoy. Another trait in our character may also cause some trouble- We as a race are most' conservative and we hate anything that is entirely new. We cling to old institutions and old ideas in a mariner that is a never ending source of amazement to foreigners- ' We do not mind re-modelling and recasting what we already possess and adapting it as far as possible to our present needs. The war, however, has taught us a lesson as to the evils of this conservatismWe clung to the voluntary system of raising an army until we were brought nearly to the verge of destruction- We must try and learn from past experience. The Peace of Paris in 1763 ended the Seven Years War and gave us

Canada- The Peace of 1783 which ended the American War of Independence was the most ignominious that we have ever signed. Twenty years only intervened between our greatest success and our greatest failure- The present war will end, we are confident,.in the most glorious success that the Empire has ever known. Let our statesmen beware and guard against any action that will lead to the dismemberment of the Empire a short- time after. We must take care that in this case history does not repeat itself. We do not think it is at all likely- The overseas Dominions came forward voluntarily to help the Motherland in her hour of trial- They have done magnificently, and it is unlikely that the Imperial statesmen will be unmindful of their obligations. The present war is a stand-up fight between the tAvo opposite principles of uniformity and diversity. The German Empire is the greatest illustration of uniformity that the world has ever seen : it is a triumph of organisation, a machine of immense power, ordered on one- pattern, working on One plan and obedient to one will. The British Empire is the embodiment of diversity: freedom is plainly marked all over it ; all its parts and dominions develop each on its own lines. The war has plainly proved that for Avar' purposes uniformity is infinitely more effective than diversity- We have been saved from destruction because we have a strong Navy and resolute Allies who are also well organised, hut not so well organised as Germany. Thus we have been given time to renjedy our weakness and abandon diversity for uniformity. In time of war uniformity is absolutely essential. On the other hand, in peace time and for peace purposes, has the world ever seeji anything approaching the British Empire with its contented and prosperous peoples ? This is the result of giving full play to all the diversities of soil, climate, colour, race, tradition and creed, instead of drilling them into one like the German Empire- What must we deduce from all this? We must have more uniformity and better organisation for the' purposes of defence, but when that great matter is assured, we must have that diversity that in the oast has proved such an unqualified success in building up a strong and contented EmpireThere must he close co-operation of the armed forces of the Empire and one uniform system of de- — fence, the cost of which shall he home conjoin tlv hy all parts of the Empire- The. overseas people must be given n voice in the foreign policy of the Empire as a whole in determining questions which involve peace or war.