THE NAVY AND THE DOMINIONS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 21 December 1916, Page 7

THE NAVY AND THE DOMINIONS.

j , After paying a high, tribute to the 'enormous and incalculable services of ■. the navy, not merely to the Empire, S but to the whole Allied cause, the Prime Minister said he came to the question of the Dominions. Ministers had repeatedly acknowledged the splendid assistance the dominions had given of,their own free will to the Old Country in its champmnship of the cause of humanity. The great ideals of national fair play and' justice appealed to the dominions just as insistently as to ,and the ,dominions had recognised throughout that the fight was not a selfish one and the, quarrel not ' merely :a European one, but that great world issues were involved with which their children were as concerned as ours. The new Government is, as full of gratitude jas the old for the stfperyalor which our kinsmen have ghown on ,so many stricken fields, but that was not why he introduced the-■ subject). .' .... . ' -..',' '■■■'.■■"'■. t The reason was that the Government felt the. time had come when the dominions ought to be more formally consulted as to the progress and course of the war, and "the steps that ought to be , taken to secure victory and the best methods of governing in those fruits of victory. . We propose, therefore, at an early date to summon an Imperial con- . ference and place the whole position before the dominions arid take council : with them as to what further action they and we should take together in order to achieve an early and complete triumph of the ideals that they and we so superbly fought for. RELATIONS WKTH THE ALLIES. ■ Mrr Lloyd George the!n dealt with the subject of relations with the Allies, .and said that we had already achieved unity of aim, but when it came to a question of unity of action he still thought there was a good deal left to be desired. He had olny got to refer to the incident of Roumania, and each man could spell out for himself what it meant. The (enemy had two supreme advantages-^----he could act on internal lines, and there was one great dominant Power that practically directed the enemy's forces. We had neither of these advantages^ and therefore must achieve the same end by other means. The advantages which the Allies possess were advantages which'time would improve, but no one could s.ay that we had made the best of that timei There had been tardiness in decision and action,, and there must be some means of arriving at quicker and readier decisions and carrying them out. He believed this could be done.