BRITAIN AND THE DOMINIONS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 24 April 1913, Page 2

BRITAIN AND THE DOMINIONS.

SPEECH BY MR ALLEN.

Colonel Seely, Secretary of State for War, presided at a luncneon given by the Empire Parliamentary Association in the baroourt itoom, House of Commons, in JL»ndon, on March 13, to the Hon. James Allen. Minister tor Defe»oe for JNew Zealand, and the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, High. Commissioner for New Zealand. The chairman, proposing the health of Mr Allen, said that was one of the most representative gatherings that had been brought together on an occasion of that kind within the precincts of the Houses of Parliament. Not only did it include members of both Houses of Parliament, but members of both political parties. (Hear, hear.) Whatever party was in power in this country, it was the same with us as with parties in New Zealand —the work of imperial co-operation went on. (Hear, hear.) He might also remind tiiem that New Zealand was the pioneer in the practical contribution to the pjob- , lems of "Imperial strategy and Imperial defence. (Cheers.) It was to the Government of which Sir Joseph Ward v:is the head that they owed the first offer of a Dreadnought^(cheers)—as a practical contribution to the Empire's naval defence. He did not think he was revealing a secret when he stated that at this moment Mr Allen, New Zealand's Defence Minister, was making further arrangements to secure to us, if anything vital to the interests of the Empire arose, that we should have the military co-operation of New Zealand. (Cheers*. A PARLIAMENT FOR THE EMPIRE Mr Allen, hi responding, said they in the new lands had a great respect for the Parliamentary institutions of tiii? Old Country, and they _ were hopeful that some day the Imperial Parliament would not only control these British Isles, but also the whole, of the Empire. He thought that the right way to approach that problem was by cautious stages —that the process of the development of the future Parliament of the should be like that of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; they should begin by taking little steps until the i right moment came for a strong forward movement, and then they should take a long step. (Hear, hear.) It might be tairly assumed that there would be some day a change in the Constitution of the Empire which would admit of the representation of other parts outside the United Kingdom which, although not so important as Great Britain to-day, might become in process of time not less important in relation to the Empire as a whole than the Old Country itself. (Hear, hear). Already this country had made a great advance in throwing open the doors of the Imperial Conference to the representatives of the Dominions, and although the Dominions had not benefited as much as they might have done from the deliberations and determinations of those Conferences, that was perhaps their own fault. The Mother Country had, in the popular phrase, called them to her councils, and the result had.been a marked improvement in public feeling in New Zealand and other Dominions in Empire affairs. A further, and very important step was when the British Government invited the Dominions to enter the Committee of Imperial Defence . (Hear, hear.) He thanked the Prime Minister for having invited him to attend a meeting of that Committee, and although lie was quite aware that it was but an Advisory Committee, he realised that it did not represent the last step in the direction of an Imperial authority on defence. He did not ask anybody to take a.n insecure step in that matter. He did not want them to do anything too rapidly. (Hear, hear). Colonel Seely had referred, to the strategical importance of concentration for naval defence. "Well, Australia had recoenised that. (Hear, hear.) Another principle they must also keep in mind was that the British people could not get the people of the Oversea Dominions to make the sacrifices that they ought to make unless they felt that they were doing something tangible, realised that they were doing something in which they ha da practical part. (Cheers.) The payment of a subsidy !r; the Dominions to Ko r-npnt by tlie British people a? the British people wished wonlr? not in the Jonq run appeal to their Dominion sentiment and patriotic fpplinsrs. If the Imperial authorities would guide tV»» "Dominions, if +hey would use the efforts of the Dominions for Impev'.il mrrpojses, they would draw from the "Dominions much sacrifices than before. (Hear, hear). , MEN AS WELL AS MONEY. What they wanted to do was to es- j tabiish a permanent naval policy, and it oould not be said that a permanent naval nolicy existed either in New Zealand or in Canada under the contributory system. He valued to the fullest extent the steps that had been taken by New Zealand and Canada, but after all they were only first steps, and they must be followed by the adoption h" themselves and for themselves of a permanent policy which would endure. (Hear, hear.) What they wanted was the living thing, in which the Dominion? would have a vital interest. It did notmatter so much, for the moment whert, the Dreadnoughts were built; that was a matter that could be arranged as conditions developed in the future; but what did matter was that it should be realised that the Dominions would not be content with merely putting their hands in their pockets. (Hear, hear.) The Imperial Navy must be a living reality to them, to which they con-

tributed not merely money but men. (Hear, hear.) There was more value in the lives of their men than in the life of a ship. (Cheers.) The Dominions must have the opportunity of doing their duty towards the personnel of the fleet and the manning of the Empire's ships at sea. Thoy must be prepared not only to help the Imperial Fleet with material, but they must have an interest in the operations of the fleet itself. It had been said that the Dominion fleets would be drawing on the British fleet for the higher ratings to a greater extent than the British fleet could afford, but it was not the fault of the Dominions that they were not yet in the posittou of supplying the higher ratings. They had not been given the chance of training them. But he was hopeful that these difficulties would not be found insuperable, since his visit to England had convinced him that the public men of this country were in sympathy with the public men of the Dominions, and wanted to work with them. (Cheers )- -Dominion Correspondent.