The Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1944. Westminster to Wellington

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 206, 31 August 1944, Page 4

The Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1944. Westminster to Wellington

At the opening of the current Parliamentary session the Government announced its intention of bringing down legislation to adopt in New Zealand the imperial enactment known as the Statute of "Westminster, 1931. Presumably this intention still stands and shortly will be given effect to, so that some inquiry as to what the legislation will involve is both pertinent and useful. Hitherto, the Statute of "Westminster, though of stimulating interest to the constitutional lawyer, has not been a matter of great concern to the layman. Indeed it is doubtful whether the man-in-the-street has been even vaguely aware of the existence of this very important enactment. But what is seemingly a dry-as-dust legal document frequently conceals matters of supreme interest to those affected by its operation, and every New Zealander is. affected willy-nilly by the Statute of "Westminster if and when it is adopted by the Parliament of this Dominion.

To illustrate the point of this contention, let us suppose that the Government’s desire to alter the country quota cannot be carried out safely unless the Statute is adopted. We do not claim that such is assuredly the case, though it may be true that the Aet effectively abolishes such lingering powers of disallowance and reservation that the Imperial Government still possesses. And it is an odd coincidence that the question of adoption should arise at this precise moment, thirteen years after the Act was passed by the Imperial Government at the request of the Dominions. Does not this delay, if nothing else, point to the need for all of us to make some inquiry into the matter?

This column is not the place in which to conduct an exhaustive investigation of the meaning and effect of the Statute. That task has been ably accomplished already by several gentlemen well qualified for it, and we wish merely to direct the attention of readers to the importance of the subject and where an analysis of it may be found. Earlier in the year some five public lectures on the question were delivered at Wellington by two historians, a lawyer and a political scientist. Their varying viewpoints led them to the same conclusion, viz., that it is desirable for New Zealand to adopt the Statute, and these lectures (now available in book form) constitute an admirable survey of a subject which has been clouded too often by prejudice and ignorance. Those who care to take the time to probe into the phenomenon known as “dominion status” will find it by no means an arid study. There is indeed a deep fascination and considerable pride to be found in exploring the flowering of what Edmund Burke nobly termed in Boston tea-party days “the Spirit of the English Communion.” That communion has endured from colonial empire to dominion autonomy, has weathered two world wars and now steadfastly awaits the great world changes which lie ahead.

Whatever form of international direction emerges from the present conflict, it will assuredly be based upon regional controls. Our future lies in the Pacific, an area which can no longer be controlled from the other side of the world. In order to take our full place with other nations in the Pacific destiny New Zealand as a nation must have extra-territorial powers, must, develop a foreign policy of her own and the trained administrators of such a policy, and above all, must have no doubts as to her sovereign legal rights.

Let there be no misconceptions as to cutting the painter with Britain. If sueh a thing is ever to occur, it happened ni 1926 when the Balfour declaration informed the world that Britain and the Dominions are each of them “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”

New Zealand, and her sister Dominions, reached full nationhood then, a fact which has been Unqnestioningly accepted and acted upon by other nations since. But the legal forms have lagged behind our political status. We have the nominal powers but not their legal clothing. Therein lies the ease for the adoption of the Statute.