The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1916.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4155, 4 February 1916, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1916.

The comments by the London “Daily

“All for each and each for all.”

Telegraph” on the House of Commons lunch-

eon to the new High Commissioner for the Commonwealth are of particular interest. It urges Britain to repay the Dominions for their devotion !>y allowing them a voice in the Imperial Councils and in the shaping of Imperial policy. In the Overseas Dominions great pleasure will be felt as a sequel to the increasing evidence of such a spirit, which must, in time, grow , in volume until an Empire partnership in the strict sense of the term can no longer be de_ layed. We wonder if it is generally known that it is not much more than half a century ago when even the then Prime Minister of' Britain expressed doubts as to whether the colonies were worth retaining? The aid which the Overseas Dominions were able to render the Empire at the time of the Boer War may be truly tsaid to have brought about- a higher realisation in Britain of how great an asset the

Colonies really are to the Motherland. But ovon during the period which has intervened comparatively slow progress has been possible towards the goal of an Empire partnership. There have, as it is well known, been several forward moves, as, for instance, the holding not only of further Imperial Conferences, but also of an Imperial Defence Council. But the Oversea Dominions cannot be said to have had, even in recent years, anything like the encouragement which might have been given them in their efforts to induce the Motherland to establish a business-liko Empire partnership. Wliat has still to bo adequately impressed on Britain is that the Oversea Dominions desire more than a voice in the shaping of Imperial policy if that phrase is used only in the restricted meaning of the Empire’s,Foreign policy. It was certainly very satisfactory to find that some months ago Sir R. L. Borden, the Prime Minister of Canada, was admitted as a visitor to meetings of the Home Cabinet. Mr. Hughes may also expect to have a similar honour conferred on him as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth. And then in turn it is certain Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward will be treated in exactly the same way. But as we have pointed out what is also very necessary is that a campaign having as its object the creation of an Empire trade policy of mutual assistance should be pushed ahead in the Motherland. The fate of the latest previous efforts in that direction may perhaps best lie recalled by Mr. Churchill’s striking comment that all that resulted was that the Asquith Government on that occasion “hanged, barred, and bolted” the door on Imperial Reciprocity. Despite all past discouragement the Overseas Dominions must now be persistent in their claims for a proper reciprocity scheme or they may find that too much in the way of concessions may be granted not only to our Allies in the present struggle but also to nations whose cli*ef aim in remaining neutral has been to make dollars out of the misfortunes of our Empire and its Allies. It was, if we remember aright, Jan Hofmeyer, the South African statesman, who first endeavored to get the Motherland to agree to the promotion of closer union between the various parts of the Empire by means of an Imperial Tariff of Customs under which extra duties impos_ ed on goods from outside countries should be devoted to the cost of the general defence of the Empire. But Mr. Deakin’s efforts ten years later in a similar direction must not he oveilooked.

“The power,” lie said, “possessed by the British Empire over foreign nations by its possession of a great market—a market to be opened or closod 'to some extent or to any extent—is little realised, but the most casual observer must recognise the strength of the Empire’s portion, which is certainly enormous, should all its component parts, combining together, use their power to meet the fiscal attacks of foreign nations upon any portion of the Empire. It is a case of all for each and each for all.” Yet what was Air. Asqith’s reply—

“It- means that we are to consider the question whether we shall treat the foreigners and the Colonies as it were differently, and that we conceive we are not able to do.” This, then, is, we feel, the time when the Overseas Dominions should cooperate in an endeavor to arrange an Empire fiscal compact, which will make for greater Empire strength than has in the past been possible.