DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20931, 22 July 1931, Page 10

DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

BEARING THE COSTS.

PAYMENTS BY DOMINIONS. FAIR SHARE NOT ACCEPTED. INCREASED VOTES SUGGESTED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] "WELLINGTON, Tuesday. A discussion on defence matters cropped up during tho debato on the Imperial Conference report in the House of Representatives to-day. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart (Reform —Dunedin West) said a point of particular interest arising from the conference was the defence problem. Tho position seemed to be that the Dominions were claiming a greater degree of independence, and at the same time were passing the defence burden on to Britain. In the past the Dominions had claimed that Britain should shoulder a greater part of the burden in return for British preference in trade, but if the Dominions wanted an advantage through Empire preference, they would have, to consider ' bearing a greater share of tho defence burden. ' • . ■' " Mr. Waite's Arguments. " If the doctrine of equality means anything at all, it demands that additional . payments be made to bring into harmony tho sharing by the Dominions of the burden of Imperial defence," declared Mr. F. Waite (Reform —Clutha), when advancing a claim that so far the overseas Dominions had not accepted their fair share of responsibility. " Anyone wno cares to go into tho proportions that are carried by the several parts of the British Empire," he continued, " must realise that for us to talk about the Dominions being in no way subordinate one to another is mere humbug. " When the Prime Minister said we in New Zealand had no great desire to alter our status, I believe he was correctly •Representing the New Zealand point of view, and I believe that is logical. What :is the use of talking of equality 1 We do not shoulder a reasonable share of the burden of Imperial defence." Details ol Naval Votes. Mr. Waite quoted figures showing that in naval defence expenditure Great Britain paid £1 2s 6£d a head; Canada, Is 6d; Australia, 5s 6d; New Zealand, 9s South Africa, 10s 7d. Approaching the question from a different angle, Mr. Waite said the proportion of expenditure of the different parts of the Empire upon naval defence in relation to the total import and export trade was Great Britain, 3.04 per cent: Canada, 0.15 per cent. ; Australia. 1.06 per cent.; New Zealand, 0.77 per cent.; South Africa, 0.043 per cent. " Whichever way we look at these figures," Mr. Waite continued, " we find that none of the overseas Dominions is taking its share of responsibility in th& defence of the Empire." A word of wisdom in relation to Ireland was added by Mr. Waite. "If we i could transplant Ireland into the Pacific, where she would be as helpless as is New Zealand without the protection of the British Empire," he said,." we .would find Ireland even more enthusiastically patriotic than we are."