UNITY OF ACTION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 25 January 1944, Page 2

UNITY OF ACTION

BRITISH COMMONWEALTH’S FOREIGN POLICY

NEED SEEN BY LORD HALIFAX (Rec. 11.0 a.m.) Ottawa, Jan. 2s. , Britain could hardly claim equal J partnership with the United States. Russia and China after the war without the rest of the empire, therefore the ( British Commonwealth must fortify the i j partnership by unity of action as well j as thought on all vita! international , issues, said Lord Halifax, British Am,bassador in U.S.A., in a speech at the Board of Trade Centenary celebrations in Toronto. Lord Halifax said: ‘His- , tory will recognise the British Commonwealth’s unshaken staunchness as a decisive factor of the war. Before accepting the conclusion that all is at present for the best we should remember that the Statute of Westminster while assuring complete self-govern-ment left unsolved the obstinate problems of foreign policy and defence. Self-determination in external affairs is plainly lost if responsibility for action is not shared by all. It will be an immeasurable gain if on vital issues we can achieve a common foreign policy, expressed not by a single voice, but in unison. Otherwise the Dominions will again face the inexorable di- j lemma of 2nd September. 1939, of j having to conform to an unshared pol- i icy or stand aside and see the Common- j wealth shattered. The solution may be ; in maintaining and extending the pre- | sent wartime planning consultation procedure. Not Britain alone but the British Commonwealth must be the fourth power in the group of nations with the United States, Russia and China on which the peace of the world will henceforth depend. “DAILY MAIL” COMMENT (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) London, Jan. 24. “Lord Halifax is not entirely right in saying that at the outbreak of war the Dominions were not in danger of direct attack,” says the “DaiL Mail” in a leader on Lord Halifax’s Toronto speech. The leader continues: “It may not have been plain at the time but subsequent events in the Pacific show that the peril was very real. The day is passing when Britain, merely by holding out as in 1940, can give time to Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand to build up their war industries and fighting forces. In this era speed is as important as the possession of vast resources. There should be foreign defence policies not for Britain alone but for the. Empire as a whole. The Dominions should partake in framing these policies and make contributions according to their capacity. The “Daily Mail” describes the New Zealand-Australian agreement as the nucleus of an empire and international agreement. “This clear-sighted act of statesmanship will be a mode] for further developments.”

Alone, the Dominions with the present populations would sink to the level of small powers but in closer partnership each with the other and with Britain and the colonial empire they would form a mighty federation whose influence was essential to the world.