MR AMERY ADVOCATES CHAMBERLAINISM

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1936, Page 12

MR AMERY ADVOCATES CHAMBERLAINISM

To revive the dormant Empire spirit and to build again the Empire ideals of Joseph Chamberlain, is the aim of a group of young members of the British Parliament who are planning a great campaign of meetings to take place during the next few months. Behind, the scheme is the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery, former Secretary of State for the Colonies and for Dominion Affairs.

Mr Amery has done more to carry on the traditions and ideals of Joseph Chamberlain than any other man.

When Mr Baldwin, after the 1923 election, went back on protection, Mr Amery at once set to work and founded the Empire Industries Association, which has over 300 M.Ps. among its members. Throughout his political career he has fougjht for a closer union between the lands that form the Empire. In an interview with the “Sunday Dispatch” he explained the reason for this new campaign.

Ahead o v His Time.

“Joseph Chamberlain was a man who thought far ahead of his time,” Mr Amery said. “His ideal of an Empire united on questions of economics, defence and foreign policy is more necessary today than ever before. “Chamberlain, we feel, would have much preferred us to carry out this campaign than to erect the conventional statue to his memory.

“The public is beginning to realise the value, and indeed the necessity, of the policy which Chamberlain visualised more than thirty years ago, and we hope our effort will act as a spur.

“Time has proved that world free trade is hopelessly impracticable, and of late the tendency has been for nations to make individual agreements as their requirements dictate. “Britain cannot, obviously, be completely self-contained, but with the Empire it is a different matter.

Vast Resources. “The Empire has vast resources, and its markets, properly protected, are capable of tremendous expansion. “Tied as they are by common bonds of tradition and patriotism, as well as by common interests, what is more logical than that the Dominions, Colonies, and the United Kingdom should turn to each other to make their agreements? “That this is the more practical way has been proved by the Ottawa Conference of 1932, where the first moves towards Imperial Preference were made. “Compare this with the abject failure of the World Economic Conference, where 60 nations not tied by any natural bonds met in London and went away as empty-handed as they came. “It is only in a united and developed Empire that our safety can be found, particularly in this new age of difficulty and danger. “The policy of Imperial Preference should be but the beginning of a far more whole-hearted policy of cooperation in shipping, in finance, migration and defence. “As Joseph Chamberlain realised years ago, economic co-operation is only the approach to this ideal of complete unity in free partnership, which eventually should include both defence and foreign policy.

Definite Objective. “Our campaign has a definite objective in view—the Imperial Conference at the time of the Coronation. “Our task is to awaken public opinion to the Chamberlain spirit of passionate yet practical idealism, that zest for action, and impatience of half-heartedness, so that its effects can be felt when the representatives of the Empire meet again.” English local government today needs a Joseph Cahmberlain, a business man endowed with foresight, experience, youth and courage, declared the Mayor of Hampstead, Mr B. S. Townroe, during the Joseph Chamberlain centenary celebrations at the Bonar Law College, Ashbridge. Such a man would inspire the younger generation, fresh from our universities and public schools', to take their share in the hurly-burly of municipal politics. A Joseph Chamberlain today would act as a pioneer, just as the Mayor of Birmingham in 1873 blazed the trail in the provision of cheap electricity, pure water and slum clearance.