EMPIRE OF PEACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1039, 11 June 1924, Page 12

EMPIRE OF PEACE.

VISION OF FUTURE AUSTRALIA. "SECOND TO NONE." LONDON, May 24. "As we celebrate Empire Day we remember the fact that tor twenty years each nation of the Empire has marked appropriately the spirit of devotion by which our Commonwealth has been built up," said Mr J. R. Clynes (Lord Privy Seal) in a special interview. "Whether there has been, in the past or to-day an adequate recognition of duties and responsibilities which lie on the shoulders of Imperial citizens is another matter. "In the heart of the Empire to-day are millions of unemployed men and women. Overseas, in the far stretches of hospitable lands, daughter Dominions possess millions of acres awaiting the coming of men with energy and application to make them yield rich bounty. Until populations in sufficient numbers are obtained the Dominions cannot come into their own. "The resourceful spirit wmch years ago took across tho seas the pioneers of Empire still exists, and we should attract those who possess it to lands where under equitable conditions their future would be assured. I have no first-hand knowledge of Australia and New Zealand, but from reliable testimony believe that those great countries offer scope for a development we yet hardly comprehend.

HAND OF HOPE

"Australasia holds out a beckoning hand of hope to many young citizens of the old world, labouring under heavy taxation, lack of opportunities, economic complexities, abundant grievances, and an idiotically inefficient system of distribution of products. Thousands ot voting citizens feel the need of a country with a- more hopeful future. If the future of Australia and New Zealand is, not to resemble Europe's there must be more ot the Commonwealth spirit and less faith in ruthless exploitation. "There is every reason to expect tnat the peoples of Australasia will profit by Europe's sad experiences, in the sense that they will learn the dangers which beget us in the social economic and military spheres If that hope is fulfilled a race of British citizens with national and civic machinery and traditions, as well as an intellectual culture and a spiritual voice second to none in tho world, is likely to be the outcome of the patriotic efforts of the men and women now building up Australasia. , . "To-day the Empire does not stand tor aggression but for human progress and peace throughout the world. Influential and far-sighted people are taking up again with a new heart, and furbished ideals the sacred trust of Empire settlement 'as an equal boon to Britain and the Dominions"