DOMINIONS MINISTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1925, Page 5

DOMINIONS MINISTER

UNANIMOUS APPROVAL.

LONDON PRESS COMMENTS.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association )

, < LONDON, June 12. . All Types of Parliamentary Lobby opinion" approve of the new status' oi tne Dominions Department. The nett effect of the change is that a, new Parliamentary Under-Secretaryship and a new Permanent Under-Secretaryship will be created. As Mr.-Amery’s salary is unchanged, the new Department will not cost more than an extra £5OOO. ♦

The new Dominions Under-Secretary will sit in the House of Lords. Apart from Lord Clarendon, the names of Lord Linlithgow and Lord Onslow are mentioned. The latter has been recent Iv answering Colonial Office questions in the House of Lords. Mr. Masterman Smith (tho present Permanent Secretary) has been ill. and will shortly resign. Two new Permanent Sec-ret.-rics will then be appointedThe "Daily Chronicle’s” political correspondent states :. Though. > Mr. Amery’s title actually will be that of Secretary of State for the Dominions, and for the Colonies, he will popularly, he known as "Secretary of State for the Dominions,”, and will devote the. major part of his time, to Dominion affairs. The “Morning Post" editorially remarks: “This departure is an acknowledgement that the old feeling of dependence, ' justly resented by the Dominions, .has now ipi •i"':tifi('ati‘.>'. whatever. It should ■ facilitate cooperative measures- for reducing expense and giving further expression and greater weight to the unity of the Empire, and its common determination.” ’ The editorial concludes: “We hope Mr. Amery will be able to regularly visit the Dominions.” The “Daily Herald” says that, from the workers’ viewpoint, the new Dominion Department is long overdue. The Dominions are no longer children, to be-kept in the nursery. The Department’s recognition of the independent nationhood of Canada, Aus-lv-i]ii, and New Zealand, is belated. They always felt that the Colonial Office was a wrong name. “‘Whether it will ho wise to leave the new office in Mr. Amery’s hands,” it says, “is another matte I '. He does not even understand the Dominion viewpoint, and still believes that the Empire is held together by' recking tube and iron shard.'and he talks old fashioned stuff about a strong navy. The Dominion statesmen regard Mr. Amery as fifty '-ears behind the times. India must ils;> be given Dominion status as soon as possible, thus making the IndiaOffice a memory of the unhappy past.” “The Dally Express” says: “The announcement will inspire the great spll’-goverring nations with new faith and new hope. " They have long ago ittained the full status and stature of nationhood. The Colonial Office has ’fo?u for a'generation a grotesquely inaccurate misnomer. The Dominions will naturally expset the new Departiient to be animated by energy and initiative. The lessons to oe learned from its inauguration are .plain. The House of Commons ought to give the problem of preference a new '■ orientation. The politicians should rise' to a new height, and strive with all their 'night to lift Imperial preference from the ancient ruts of Party politics. The Labour Party is showing a. healthy interest in th* economics of the Empire It is possible that Labour may .shake itself free from the shackles of the obsolete laissez faii’e idea, and stretch out a helping hand to the great sisterhood of nations, which are the ripest expressions of democracy.”

MR AMERY’S SPEECH

LONDON. June 12

Mr Amery, in a speech at the Corona Club, said that the reconstruction of the Colonial Office was only an outward sign of a process which Ind been maturing for some Gme. He pointed out that there wits i fundamental difference between cops’dtrtion with the partner nation;; in the Commonwealth and adminislration and development of the Colonies, for whi h Parliament was directly responsible. The re-arrangement would benefit the Colonies no loss than the Dominions. “We are- <m the threshold of great development, and expansion of the Colpnlaj Enip're.”