POLICY OF THE EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18341, 6 March 1923, Page 7

POLICY OF THE EMPIRE.

CONFERENCE URGENT. MR. BRUCE'S PLEA ENDORSED LONDON PRESS COMMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association Copyright, (Received 4.6 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. March 4. Tiie Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. S. M. Bruce, is congratulated by the Morning Post for insisting on the importance of the Imperial Conference, particularly in connection with foreign policy and inter-Imperial trade. "The old policy," the. newspaper comments, "became unreasonable and illogical after the Egyptian and South African campaigns, and the new practice was i heroically confirmed in the Great War, ! when a sacrament of blood united the Mother Country and the Dominions for ever. It is true that Mr. H. H. As- | quith at the 1907 conference definitely refused to treat with the Dominions differently from foreigners, and Mr. Winston Churchill banged, barred, and bolted the door to reciprocal trade, but the war showed the difference between a son and a foreigner; one will die for the family while the other is seeking to destroy it. "This great demonstration forced upon British politicians a grudging change in the economic policy of the Mother Country, which has been accepted in principle and should be extended. Mr. Churchill's ill-starred action in connection with the Dardanelles crisis aroused the Dominions to a sense that the old system must be remodelled. This sentiment in the Dominions must now be faced and considered j in consultation between the Dominions and the Mother Country. "The Imperial Government will be wise to consider Mr. Bruce's proposals for an early Imperial Conference seriously."