IDEALS OF EMPIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 10

IDEALS OF EMPIRE

LIBERTY AND WORLD PEACE DOMINION'S RESPONSIBILITY The value of his visit to the Dominion was stressed by the Marquess of Hartington, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in the British Government, in responding to a welcome extended to him at a reception given by the Auckland branch of tlio Royal Empire Society in the Lyceum Club rooms last night. Professor F. P. Worloy, who presided, and the Minister of Defence, tho Hon. F. Jones, who represented the Government, both welcomed Lord and Lady Hartington, and expressed the hope that Lord Hartington's visit would result in closer understanding between New Zealand and the Mother Country. "It has been like coming' home to see your New Zealand landscape," Lord Hartington said. "Except for your beautiful mountains, you provide a characteristically English, scene, with English hedges, English breeds of stock, English faces, and even English birds singing in tho fields. "Part of my duties at home is to argue matters on behalf of tho Dominions. As far as New Zealand is concerned, the matters with which I have to deal will now kike on a new significance in the light of my personal experiences in your country. 1 think I know more now of your problems and your aspirations. "Your society is accomplishing magnificent work, 'it must bo remembered that the British Empire to-day is tho greatest safeguard of peaco in tho world. Without tho cohesion of the Empire, world peace would probably not. be safe for more than a few months. British people enjoy a greater measure of liberty than has ever existed in the world before, and yet over great sections of Europe that liberty docs not exist. One careless word may mean disappearance or death. "If wo are to preserve the liberty of mankind it is of vital importance that we should preserve the cohesion, solidity and co-operation of the Empire. New Zealand is still a young country and I have been struck by the consideration of what you have been able to accomplish in under 100 3ears. We are trying to do what we can to preserve and strengthen the solidity of tho Empire of which New Zealand is a part, but there is a great deal which Governments cannot do. Your society, bv keeping uppermost the ideals of Empire, can perform a very real service for tho cause of peace and liberty."