DOMINION LEADERS

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4602, 4 July 1917, Page 5

DOMINION LEADERS

SPEECHES ON THE LONDON VISIT,

THEIR VIEWS ON THE WAR

HUNS DEFEATED BUT NOT CRUSHED.

BUSINESS TRANSACTED ON DOMINION’S BEHALF.

Pres 3 Association Telegram. AVELLINGTON, July 3. During the sitting of the House today, Mr Massey cr/d that in compliance with the . desire expressed .by many members he, and the Finance Minister desired to lay before Parliament a, statement of their recent visit to Britain, and before finishing they hopped, to. make it plain that it is not entirely’a picnic as some people seemed to suppose. He proposed to divide liis remarks under several heads. (1) Commercial Business. (2) Outbreak of the war. (3) Business of the AA 7 ar Cabinet and AVar Conference. AVith regard to the War Cabinet lie desired to say at the outset that the business was confidential and could! not be divulged. In regard to the AVar Conference he understood that the report had been published in England which was now available. Speaking first of the commercial business, he said they were met in a most friendly spirit by the British authorities. Everyone agreed that the authorities have the right during the war to commandeer produce. The only question was as to the price to be paid for it. The Imperial departments admitted that in view of the rise in prices they were quite justified in asking for an increase and as a result of negotiations, prices were agreed upon that li© thought would stand until the end of the war and a long time after. On the subject of cheese he was of opinion that the first offer made was not satisfactory and he protested., and subsequently the authorities agreed to give 9Jd. f.0.b.. New Zealand, for this which lie was able to agree to. He further thought Ne" Zealand cheese would be again commandeered this year, and 1 they had an Understanding that no higher price should he paid for Canadian cheese than for ours, other things being equal. The greatest difficulty was in reference to wool but they ultimately agreed upon 55 per cent, over prewar prices. By no means ryas this a bad arrangement. In all these transactions the Imperial Government was taking the risk of storage a n d shipping, and as showing the magnitude of tlia transactions, if we had been able to get all our produce shipped the revenue to this country would amount to something like thirty millions. They, however, had gone on the principle that they were not entitled to squeeze the last farthing out of the British Government. A very great difficulty from the commercial point of view was to obtain the shipping to carry the produceHe need nob say war purposes must come first. It must also be understood that British shipping lias to do a great deal of carrying for the Allies and when it was put to them to choose between getting New Zealand produce away or getting the armies fed and supplied with munitions they felt it) was simply no choice. The submarine warfare had. or course, made the position much moie critical, especially in compelling neutral ships to remain in port, the worst, however, ho thought was now over as the longest day was now passed and the season favourable to submarines was now nearing its close. The rise of destroyers, mcludmtr American and Japanese destroyers" was helping with the sea-planes, and the building of ships in compartments, all to ultimately defeat the submarine campaign. The .attempt to starve Britain must fail. He admitted there was a shortage of certain classes of food there, hut starvation was not possible. The cost of living had gone up enormously, but with many of the people then earnings had also increased- Eveiyon© must admire the calm and confidence with which the British people viewed the war. They appealed quite determined to go on indefinitely so that we might win the war. Their visit to France was most pleasant, since they saw many New Zealand soldiers and witnessed thencheerful dispositions. They received no complaints in spite of the great amount of mud and inconvenience they.had to put up with. There had! been no epidemics of sickness. In that way this war was unlike all other wars in which Britain had engaged. The hospitals in France had been most admirably conducted. All the New Zealand inmates could only speak in high terms of tli© manner in which they had been treated. In England the same could be said generally. There were about 1000 New Zealanders at AValton-on-Illumes, while at Brackenliurst and Hornchurch Hospitals for convalescent soldiers there were also large numbers of contented wounded men. They visited th© great camps on Salisbury Plains and saw many New Zealanders there. They had ine Colonel who had heen spoken of as a particularly fine officer. General Richardson, who was i n charge of all New Zealandeis in Britain, was also a very fine officer, and the Imperial authorities were exceedingly anxious to send him back to the front, but the Goveminent* thought he should not spared from his present position. He paidi a warm tribute to the other officers and to the services of the nurses, who everywhere 'had! done just what was expected of them. Speaking' of the "war genGialiyj h e said it had been rightly described as “hell,” hut he met New Zealanders who said Gallipoli was “hell with, the lid off.” Persmially he felt strongly about Gallipoli, but it was too close to us yet to properly apportion the blame for the- blunder that amounted to a crime. AA 7 e knew little of the real horrors of the war. It was brought home much more closely to the British people and lie had already referred to their cheerful spirit under the most tcrrib.e circumstances. . . „ 7 The outlook was promising. We had achieved great victories this year East and AVest and had Russia been able to hold out he was confident the war would have ended this year. Ihe ehtrv of America into the war however, neutralised the failure .ol Russia and lie could not but regard with •the greatest satisfaction that _tlie two great branches of the Anglo-Sax-on race were now fighting , side by side in the cause of freedom and.hum'U Germany was undoubtedly beaten, though not crushed, khe uas fighting for time. Therefore there must He"nothing the shape of a ptematute peace- If that eventuated the hist, thing Germany would, ask for would, be the return of the colonies in hich we have special • interest. Therefore we must be in a position to dictate, our own terms wlien that rime came. He only hoped sufficient notice would be given loanable the overseas representatives to be pre sent to have a voice in that .important ■ entry into the fight, Germany has cultivated a bitter hatred against us. She'WiU never forgive us, and his deliberate opinion- was that so.far as the Emppe was concerned nothing mattered hut the winning of th©, war. ■ -

He described the circumstances which led to the formation of the AVar Cabinet and the War Conforonco wher© representatives of the Dominions sat at the round table- on a perfect equality with the British statesmen for the first time in history. He defended their action for remaining in England to attend these conferences. They accepted the fu|l responsibility for not returning to New Zealand eariy in the year and under , similar circumstances would do the same again. . ri. • , As the result of meeting the iepre r sentarives of India at these conferences he was confident that should international differences arise between that country and the Dominion they would bo much more, easily, settled than if the exchange of ideas had not taken place in London. Iho policy of the Imperial prelerence advocated by him at the conference had been agreed to and was now the policy of the Empire when a favourable * time came for its application. There was a great change taking place in Britain on th© fiscal policy, jnp change was going on lines or prefer-, once advocated by Lord Balfour of Burleigh’s Committee, with which he resuhf of their visit he was thoroughly convinced' we must have the quickest means of communicatio by the shortest routes. Ihe sea was our highway and if public money had to be used for the purpose of achieving that, object it should he done. He Was not propped- to say that shipping could not be earnedby the State and if private enterprise was not adequate to requn ements, then the State must step in. that was one way of securing preference. The adjustment of liarborducswas another and we must seek to coi sei our own people as settlers m our own of Imperial matters Mr Massey said that no efforts had bee made to solve problems relating to the building up of the Empire after tli war ,but bo was utterly opposed to any action that would destroy the freedom of the Dominions to manage their own affairs. He warned the House against any attempt to set up a so-called Imperial Parliament which would have- power to control the finances of these Dominions. Any false- step in this direction would delay the true Imperial movement indefinitely. He explained liis efforts to preserve the sacred graves on Gallipoli, and to secure special recognition for the men who fought there. Mr Massey, continuing said lie could not disclose the decisions of the conference on the question of the German Colonies, but his own opinion was that they would not be handed back. From our point of view these Colonies must not be returned to Germany, enabling her to establish her usual bases, wireless and other means of hampering British tirade. . A great change was taking place in the British opinion on the subject ol Colonies and lie thought in our own interests we ought to proclaim pui, objection to German Colonies in the South Pacific on every possible occasConcerning the Meat Trusts he declared! his confidence in Lord Stanley (chairman of the Board of iradel who would “scotch” such trusts by means of preference and would intime make the Empire self-supporting so far as food supplies were concerned. So far as those supplies from this country were concerned he looked forward to good times for some years to come. Alter the war th ele was sure to he a big demand for our meat, lamb and wool and to those concerned he gave that opinion f°i what it was worth. . He eulogised many organisations formed in England! and at the front for assisting and providing comforts for our soldiers. If ever organisation in this world followed the Divine injunction these men and women weie doing it. , rn . , Concluding, he said : ‘ I] 1 or?eh small, it could be truly said that New Zealand, was not behind any othei part of the Empire in the great and grand crucial test through which we are now passing.”

Sir Joseph Ward said it must be remembered that the Phemier and himself did not go to England at their own wish but at the invitation of' the British Cabinet. Under ordinary circumstances they might have done their business and been back in New Zealand early in January, but before they could- leave a great political upheaval took place ■in Britain. The old Government went out and a new Government went in, and the new Government decided that the Dominions should fie consulted on matters concerning tire Empire and the war. They were given information which made it imperative they shoudl remain and if it ended his political career he wouldl stiff rega their attendance at the AA ar Cabinet and Conference as the, most tant thing that has yet happened to this Dominion. He had pretty soo a "eneral knowledge- of the tilings political but not until he attended the AVar Cabinet did he realise the enormous responsibility devolving on the men who are now governing .the Mulish Empire. As a result, houeiei, of their being there he f«Jj> not matter connected with the war affecting the Domqnions would . m t - ture he settled without the Dornm ionl being consulted. So far as the Imperial Conference, was concerned, to which the Dominions wei e to b© annually invited he did not regal d i as a compliment. Considering the number of white people, in the great Dominions he thought they were entitled to something better than that it should be sentimental representation but it was not practical representation. Great as the advance made undoubtedly was, they must go further. There must be no putting off as in 1911 —no repetition of failpromises. but an active share in matters affecting the Empire as a whole, not as a compliment, but as a right. Speaking of the regenerative spirit now being developed in England, lie declared that the Motherland could never go back to the former conditions. The part played by the women of Britain was- simply magnificent. It completely opened the eyes of all sections of the community in a way that nothing bnt this great war could have done. In his opinion the end of the war was so near that it was worth while to devote some consideration to the questions which would have to be settled when it was over. Again, the first of these was disposition of the captured German colonies. He declared it would be a crime against the /Dominions if tlic colonies in the Pacific w r ere ever returned, and he could assure the House that- men in authority at Home knovjc perfectly well what the opinions of people of this country were on tliik question. Dealing with the visit to France', ho declared that the British • army was the best fed and best clothed army in the history of the world. The organisation in th'e field was marvellous, but that was not the only direction in which the organisation was complete. There was a general- idea that it would take eighteen months to get our soldiers back when the war was over. It would! not take six months—so perfect were the arrangements. Further not a New Zealand soldier would be sent back until he' had visited England and'seen the heart of the Empire not as a favor but as a right. > Oho of the questions discussed at the War Conference was the future defence of the Empire, and a resolution was carried-directing the men at the head of the navy to work out a scheme of naval defence. We would then have the benefit of the experience of the men now holding the North Sea. He was strongly of the opinion that in all decisions as to the form of the future navy we should be freely considered by' the men who have to control the navy in time of war. ' ■ ■ < k. ■ "

The effect of the Panama Canal upon the trade of the world would compel Britain to pay more attention to the .Pacific than in the past, for it was bringing foreign rivals six thousand miles nearer the Pacific Slop© than hitherto. The question of patents and naturalisation were dealt with in a way which would prevent our enemies exploiting us again as they formerly did. He agreed with the preference resolution passed at the conference, but lie saw that unless the fiscal policy of Britain was in harmony with that policy its beneficial effects would unfortunately' be defeated. His personal opinion was that Britain and her Dominions could no confine their trade to themselves. They must consider America and our Allies and perhaps some neutral countries. But much could be done if Britain adopted a fiscal system sympathetic with the interest of the Overseas Dominions. The control of metals /within the Empire was next dealt with and the method explained by which it was hoped to so regulate their production that there could be no limit on supplies for munition purposes. What Mr. Massey and himself did te secure the reform of the double income fax was explained, and the opinion expressed that the New Zealand Parliament was powerless to control the Meat Trust unless the British Parliament co-operated with ua by buying all the beef imported into England and distributing it to the people. On the subject of finance Sir Joseph Ward explained he had arranged to have our war loans extended for 30 years paying no brokerage. By this arrangement the country saved £490,000. He concluded by saying he was sanguine enough to believe the war would end this year, when we would sec the fruits of so much devotion and self-sacrifice now being made in the interests of Empire. In compliance with the wish or members, the Premier agreed to allow a discussion on the statements tomorrow.