AN EMPIRE CENTENARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23276, 20 February 1939, Page 8

AN EMPIRE CENTENARY

The centenary is now being celebrated of the famous Durham Report on Canada, that document which crystallised and laid down the principles of responsible government for British colonies as they grew sufficiently in stature for the grant to be made. Thus the commemoration is of much more than Canadian interest. Its publication in 1839 did not produce any immediate result, or any magical change. It is not, in fact, really possible to fix any particular date as marking the .establishment of responsible government. The process has been describ.ed thus: "The Imperial Government only gradually accepted Durham's doctrine, and it was by a series of despatches and instructions that responsible government was introduced into the various Dominions." This very summing up brings the focus of importance back to the Durham Report, giving it credit as the starting point of that long process which finally produced the Statute of Westminster. Development has gone well beyond what was recommended by Durham, since he advocated tight control by the British Government over foreign affairs, external trade, and the administration of Crown lands. Nevertheless, honour done to his memory and his work in Canada is richly deserved. To New Zealand the occasion should have a special interest. The Earl of Durham was a member of that small band known as Wakefield's Reformers. When, following the Mackenzie-Papineau revolts in Canada in 1837 Durham was appointed Governor-General, and Commissioner to investigate the causes of unrest, Edward Gibbon Wakefield accompanied him. It has even been suggested that the great document should really be called the Wakefield Report. Whether that is just or not, this remarkable man's association with the work done should not be overlooked by New Zealand on the occasion p| jtg commemoratip^