LEAGUE OF EMPIRE

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 273, 20 November 1919, Page 2

LEAGUE OF EMPIRE

MANDATES FOR DOMINIONS

DISCUSSION OF STATUS

LONDON, Oct. 25. ,-

The new status of the Dominions is being widely discussed, in view or Sir James Allen's statement in New Zealand that ;m Imperial Order-m-Counoil was sufficient to legalise New Zealand's rule over Samoa. Professor Berriedale Keith, in a letter to Tho Times, asserts that this has been true under the old regime, but the Dominions now acquire their .rights over former German territories fom the League of Nations direct

Professor Keith argues that the Dominions will surrender their new standing as equal nations if they accept their rights as from Britain, irstead of from the League. This view' is not generally accepted, because the Peace Conference agreed' that the mandates • should 'be issued Ly the Bvitsih Empire in the name of the King of England, on the understanding that Jli» powers would he delegated to the Dominions. 31ie Manchester Guardian argues Vkat if a Dominion becomes involved in a dispute concerning a mandated country the decision will* rest with the League ani not with Britaitt. "The importance of thisi pomt," rays the paper, u\s realised in .Arreriea, where the Republicans prot ose th^fc Britain and her Dominions should be restricted to one vote in the League Council on matters in which they are involved. We fear this will be unpopular in the Dominions, where the determination is increasingly visible to assert full individuality to the limits compatible with the holding of the Empire tcgetlier."