THE DOMINIONS' BUILDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15513, 21 January 1914, Page 8

THE DOMINIONS' BUILDING.

The erection of a building costing a milium and a-quarter sterling in the centre of London to serve as offices for Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand would no doubt be an impressive evidence of the resources of the Overseas Dominions. No better site could be found than that proposed in the Aldwych, virtually a section of the Strand. It may be admitted freely that such a building on such a site would have great advertising value. But it is necessary to consider the proposition from a New Zealand point of view, and when this is done serious objections present themselves. In the first place, whatever New Zealand might gain through the added prestige of the dominions would be lost through her subordination to larger countries, and the sinking of her identity. The central portion of the new building would be occupied by Canada, with the South African and New Zealand offices on the wings. If the portions of the building occupied by New Zealand and Canada bore any relation to the size, population, and wealth of the respective countries, as they necessarily would, the New Zealand portion would by comparison be very small and insignificant. With Australia occupying a large building of her own, and Canada occupying the central and by far the larger portion of the dominions' building, the effect of the Aldwych group of offices would be to impress on passers-by the relative importance of Canada and Australia compared with the other dominionsTo secure this unprofitable comparison New Zealand woulJ have to incur a considerable expenditure as her share of the cost of the building and annual rental (£50,000) of the land. The money could be spent more profitably in a less ostentatious manner. It is necessary that the High Commissioner should be housed with dignity and comfort in a central part of London, but there should be no unnecessary architectural display. Money can much more profitably be used to disseminata knowledge of New Zealand throughout rural England, and so attract to our shores men who are willing to go on the land and who know how to till it. This I would pay the Dominion better than occupying a wing of an elaborate building in the Strand.-