EMPIRE UNITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 9

EMPIRE UNITY.

A NOVEL PROPOSAL.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONERS.

SEATS IN HOUSE OF LORDS.

[FROM urn OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

LONDON. March. 22.

Lord Strathspey is not often to be heard in the House of Lords. This week, however, he was responsible for the revolutionary suggestion that High Commissioners of Dominions should have a seat in the House of Lords. He asked the Government to take immediate steps to consult the Dominions with the object of bringing forward definite proposals for consolidation of the Empire and keeping the right spirit uppermost in future years. He said he was not only, a New Zealander, but was also the 31st of his line as a Scottish chief. On this subject he spoke on behalf of all the Dominions.

We had an Empire unrivalled in the opportunities for trade and commerce which might have inspired statesmen, yet we had before our eyes the spectacle of the disintegration of the Empire because England did not sufficiently trust the colonies. Great Britain was physically and geographically Little Britain'. It could not feed and clothe its population with its own produce. But the Empire contained everything man could want. There should be reciprocal trade within the Empire. It was for the Government to find a plan for the consolidation of the Empire. He suggested the Dominions should he represented in some way in that House. High Commissioners might be given seats in it with official titles. They should bo empowered to attend Cabinet meetings dealing with foreign policy winch might affect the Dominions. if nothing was done to strengthen the Empire there would soon be no Empire to strengthen. The Economic Conference. The Duke of Devonshire, Secretary for the ■ Colonies, remarked that he had had greater opportunities than Lord Strathspey of seeing th© efforts that were being made throughout the Empire to strengthen still further the bonds that tied all parts so closely together. When Lord Strathspey referred to the, impossibility of anyone from the Dominions taking a prominent part in the national life of this country he should have remembered that the present Prime Minister was Canadian born, and that in the present Parliament those who had taken part in the affairs of our Dominions were more strongly represented than ever before. One of the very first acts of th© present Government was to notify as publicly as possible that at the earliest date they would summon representatives of the Dominions to a conference not only of Prime Ministers, but also to an Economic Conference. The Government was considering far-reaching proposals by which trade conditions in this cqamtry would be materially improved and which would lead to very great developments of the national resources of the Empire. The reforms suggested by Lord Strathspey were certainlynovel, but whether they would be efficacious he doubted. The Battleship New Zealand. With regard to the breaking up of the battleship New-Zealand, the sums which might be realised would be placed at the disposal of the New Zealand Government. His Majesty's Government were in process of handing over mementoes of the ship, which would perpetuate for all time the part she played in the war. It may be mentioned with regard to this, last statement by the Colonial Secretary that Sir James Allen brought the question of the proceeds from the breaking up of H.M.S. New Zealand before the Admiralty about six months ago. It had evidently been taken for granted that any money derived from the sale of the dismantled cruiser should be absorbed by the Admiralty, but the High Commissioner thought differently, especially as the people of the Dominion were still paying' off the debt incurred through the presentation of the ship to the British Navy. It is evident that the tions made by Sir James have borne fruit. , . .