DOMINION'S STATUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17294, 18 October 1919, Page 12

DOMINION'S STATUS.

Unity of the Empire.

HER PLACE IN THE EMPIRE. CHANGES DUE TO WAR. MANDATE AND PEACE TREATY. [BY TELEGRAPH."6PECIAL REPORTER. J WELLINGTON. Friday. The bearing of New Zealand's participation in the peace treaty and the acceptance of the mandate for Samoa upon the Dominion's status as a sovereign power was discussed in detail by Mr. Downie Stewart (Dunediu West) in tfie House of Representatives tonight. He : said the power to declare war and the power to conclude peace was accepted by ■ constitutionalists as final proof or sovereignty, and New Zealand had formally participated in concluding peace. From this might arise many anomalies. To 1 what sovereignty would the citizens of the Dominion owe allegiance—the soveireignty of New Zealand or of Britain? Suppose, in consequence of holding the 'mandate, New Zealand were to come into ' conflict with an Eastern Power, and sup- ' pose there were a difference of opinion between New Zealand and Canada, New . Zealand and Australia, even the Imperial Government itself. Might not this make for disunion instead of cohesion ? Would . foreign nations wish to regard New ZeaI land as a sovereign State or not on the . strength of her signature of the. treaty and acceptance of the mandate. What was the ' result of the development from the point of view of the constitutional lawyer ? It seemed that before this position came ; into being there should have been an i ! organic reorganisation of the component ' ! parts of the Empire. | .Mr. ('. .1. Parr (Eden): But is there not a special arrangement. A Generous Action.

Mr. Stewart replied that that was just the question which he was asking the Prime Minister. If it had been under stood that there was such an arrangement, and New Zealand signed under this understanding, it was a great and generous action in giving New Zealand the right to sign, but he wished to know whether foreign nations understood exactly the degree of . independent sovereignty enjoyed by New Zealand. Of course, if the Dominions had a voice in the foreign affairs of the Empire it would be another affair. The voice of Britain would then be the voice of all. He did not wish it to be inferred that he was opposed to the acceptance of the mandate by New Zealand. He believed that responsibility for communities not yet sufficiently organised to manage their own affairs should be assumed in that way. He felt that the United States were shirking their duty. It was very regrettable that America had refused to take the mandate for Constantinople. He did not oppose the acceptance of the mandate, but he did think that Parliament should have an opportunity of discussing the exact degree of responsibility conferred by the Dominion's new obligations.

Nations Within the Empire. These points were dealt with by the Prime Minister while speaking to the debate. Mr. Massey said the representatives of the Dominions and the other signatories fully understood the constitutional changes involved by the Dominions being signatories of the Treaty. The Dominions signed not as independent nations in the ordinary sense of the term, but as nations within the British Empire. Mr. Downie Stewart seemed to think that the constitutional change dated from the day when reace was signed. In Mr. Massey's opinion it dated from the setting up of the first Imperial War Council, when the Dominions were asked to take part in the discussions and the decisions arising out of the war. Conferences to be Held. | There remained much more to be done in settling the constitutional relations of the several nations within the Empire. There was an understanding among the representative men of the Empire that when normal conditions were restored a number of conferences would be called, to be attended by representatives of every part of the Empire and an endeavour would be made to provide a constitution to fit the time?. New Zealand would be represented at it. So far as making peace or war was concerned no Dominion had that power. The Dominions joined with the United Kingdom, and if in the future it became necessary to declare war, as he hoped it never would, Britain would declare war as an Empire representing all the Dominions.

There was not a tendency to break away on the part of any portion of the Empire. The call to war and the signing of peace itself had brought the units of the Empire closer together than ever before. He could not pass on from this subject without referring to the part played in the war by the native races of the Empire and paying a tribute to the magnificent work done by India. He did not need to emphasise what the services of the Maoris had been. They had been every whit a good as the other soldiers pent from New Zealand, and the Dominion's soldiers were equal to the average supplied by any part of the Empire. The same might be said of the men who had gone from the outlying island dependencies of New Zealand. The war had cemented together the component parts of the Empire in a way that nothing else could.