HOME RULE FOR ALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15098, 14 September 1912, Page 7

HOME RULE FOR ALL.

BRITISH FEDERAL SCHEME.

OUTLINED BY MR. CHURCHILL

EFFECT ON IMPERIAL UNION

DIFFICULTIES ■IN ENGLAND.

SEVERAL SELF-GOVERNING

AREAS.

By Telegraph-Press Association-CopyTiekt

(Received September 13. 10.20 p.m.) London, September 13. In an address to his constituents at Dundee last night Mr. Winston Churchill outlined a scheme of federal Home Rule for the various parts of the United Kingdom. There would bono difficulty, he said in Scotland or Wale;,- but there would be a very real difficulty in England, which was so', great and populous that an English Parliament; whatever its functions and limitations might be, would be almost as powerful as an Imperial Parliament.

If, he went on to say, there was any divergence of feeling or policy between -the English ' and the Imperial Parliaments or a quarrel between these tremendously powerful bodies, the State might be torn in half, and thus great evils to all might result. '"[\, ''' u [)

A Task to be Faced. If,", said Mr. Churchill, "it is desirable to set up a Workable federal system we must' face the task of dividing England into several ■ selfgoverning areas." ■ \ Lancashire, Yorkshire,' the Midlands, and London, he said, were instances of convenient legislative units. He had no hesitation in saying that larger units for local government would be a great advantage. They would afford a larger sphere than was open at present for .the activities of women. • • , „... Mr. Churchill proceeded :~" I am not in the least disturbed by the prospect of seeing 10 or' 12 separate legislative bodies established for the discharge of functions entrusted to them by the Imperial Parliament. An Immense Undertaking. " The creation of a, Federal system for the United Kingdom will be an immense task, but under such a system each part of the kingdom will be better looked after, _ public life will become richer, administration will be more sympathetic and searching, and the central Parliament will be relieved of a vast and oppressive burden, and .will, have more time to devote to the foreign and colonial policies. " The United States has a great many Parliaments; Germany has separate kingdoms and. principalities with armies woven into a; strong federation ; and Canada, , . South Africa, and Australia have 'found the federal system the-only way to reconcile the general interests of the Commonwealth with' the special development of each part of it." . ■f Step Towards Imperial Federation. The scheme that he had indicated, said Mr. Churchill, was only another bold step onward in the direction of that closer union with the Overseas Dominions, which must be achieved ft Britain's greatness was to endure. The Minister said that he had put the matter forward, not as an indication of the Government's precise policy, but in order to draw attention to a question to.which many political 'issues were moving. A settlement of the Irish quarrel, he said, was a vital and indispensable preliminary to the ' larger scheme of reconstruction. Mr. Churchill also explained the Government's policy of land reform, which, he stated, was not one of confiscation, but one of sober/justice-.