THE PRESS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 August 1924, Page 8

THE PRESS.

MR. LLOYD GEORGE ON ITS POSSIBILITIES. Mr. Lloyd George was a principal guest at a dinner a.t Queen's Hall last week given by Lord and Lady Beaverbrook in honour ol "visiting editors from overseas. Proposing the toast of the Empire, Mr. Lloyd George said that within four centuries the British Empire had four times risked its existence in order to protect menaced right and freedom beyond its own frontiers. it Weis tlie great Empire of fair play in world affairs. The press constituted the tribunes of this great Empire and its lictors. They carried the big sticks. Their .steadiness and their stead fasti ness inspired and sustained the greatest effort this Ehipire had vcf put forth. In no part of the Empire was their power and devotion more helpful than in the great Dominions. We had not forgotten what our partners in Empire meant to us and did for us in the dav of trial. The Great War was a revelation of the infinite possibilities of the British Empire. Take the Dominions alone: their cultivable area enormously exceeded that of the United States of America, although the population now occupying these immense territories was not more than one-third of that which dwelt on these little islands. He was a profound believer in the Empire for what it was'and for what it might become. There were in all the provinces of the .Empire, including Britain, internal issues which provoked controversy. If possible, unity must not be sought along lines wdiich roused any of these controversies. The unity of the Empire must not be made a. party question, a racial question, or a. religious question, if it could be achieved in any way by uniting all parties sects-, creeds and races. They must hnd a foundation for "Empire that would cover all its formidable multitudes.. There must be the sentiment of a common purpose, of a common interest, of a- common inheritance, and ot a common mission: He had constantly. urged two suggestions. The first was a, closer consultation between all parts of the Empire with a view' to x'eaching a common policy. The other was an improvement in the communications of Empire. TJe press alone could make a democratic Empire possible. The press were the eyes and the ears and the, voice ot democracy to-day. They there repr sen ted the living agency which reconciled democracy and Empire The press could secure the triumph'of this noble ideal of a united Empire of free nations winch -should be the watchtower and citadel of peace, liberty, and fair play in the world.