A RINGING VOICE

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 62, 14 March 1911, Page 5

A RINGING VOICE

FROM BRITONS OVERSEAS.

(ReceiyedlMarcK 14,,9,35 a<m.) ; 1 JLONDON,; Marchl3. The. Pall Mall .Gazette,. says thaii Sir Joseph... Ward ..gives .a ringing voice ,to the perception which has lately seized '.Britons .overseas that .the Empire's,(.defence is a burden which Great Britain is no longer .able to. carry alone. Sir J. G* .Ward's is th© first candid official announcement that the Dominions are ready .fully to discharge their moral obligations, and that the ulaim for participation in the control must be accepted. The Globe, recalls Sir James Sevan •Edwards's proposal for an Imperial Defence Parliament, and says that the main difficulty with both schemes [is the' possibility of any new Imperial Parliament superseding existing Parliaments. The .House of . Comanqns would never the historic right of. control of the great spending .department. A possible alternative would nbe to have .the House of Commons Committee for Home Defence co-operating with similar .defence committees elected by the Overseas Parliaments. 1A debate was initiated by the Supporters of a reduceid Na*y on the ■motion .Mr TJ. .Munray.Macdonald, Liberal Merriber 'for Falkirk Boroughs, urging that the Army and Navy expenditure ought to be- diminishes, and on an amendment by Mr; Joseph King, "Liberal Member for, North Somerset,- advocating simultaneous international iJestriction of' warlike preparations.