UNITY OF EMPIRE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 13 September 1933, Page 7

UNITY OF EMPIRE

VITAL FOR THE WORLD. INTERNATIONAL DUTY. MAINTAINING HIGH STANDARD. (United Press Association—By Electric Te legraph.—Copyright.) TORONTO, Sept. 11.

Speaking at a banquet to delegates to the first British Commonwealth Relations Conference, Viscount Cecil, chairman of the United Kingdom group, declared that the influence of the British Empire in world affairs should be for peace and progress. Unity, of the Empire was vital, and nothing could more effectively achieve unity than a common goal—service for the greater whole and acceptance of .the doctrine that even the British Empire had no right to exist unless it was for the benefit of humanity. “What we ought to aim at if we are to discharge our international duty is to encourage international co-operation and maintain among the nations of the world a high standard of right and justice, of rigid regard for the sanctity of treaties, and above all—because it lies at the root of all useful international action— we must aim at the preservation of the peace of the world.” Viscount Cecil declared that the more the Empire coukl act in common the greater would be the chance of success of any international policy which it adopted. Sir Robert Borden, war-time Prime Minister of Canada, in welcoming the delegates on Monday, urged them to endeavour to consolidate the inspiring unity of the Empire’s infinite diversity. “Distinguished in public service,” he declared, “you have come from Britain and the sister nations of our Commonwealth, India among them, to sit in informal co.uncil. to consider and estimate the nature and permanence of Commonwealth relations, the most acceptable means of increasing their efficiency, and the probable tendencies of the future.