THE LIBERALS AND THE COLONIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10778, 29 May 1911, Page 4

THE LIBERALS AND THE COLONIES.

AIR LLOYD-GEORGE ON PATRIOTISM. [By Electiuo Tei,egkaph—Coptiiight.] (Per Press Association.) Received May 20, at 0.20 a.m. . London, May 28. Five hundred cruests attended at the Eighty Club luncheon ' iii the*. Hotel Cecil, including, many .leading colonial visitors. ' ■ *■'• ; ' y ''i '" '■ . - . Afr Lloyd-George, presiding, declared that the conferring of self-government upon the great communities within the Empire was-thivgreatest of. all Liberalist acliieyeiiieilts; 1 an;d ,he\w:is7p'ro : ud to see the -'dominions 'grow'ing infiuence, aiid power in the' anns of selfgovernment. The Liberal party felt they could share the triumphant vindication.;of x democratic,, government which tlffeftlqminions f-preseilt -toftlie:. civilised wovld.- There Vas'iio greater inistake of statesmanship than to imagine that the narrower patriotism,'.excluded the wider one. As Liberals .they studied and' watched with admiration and a spirit of emulation the.hold experiments/of the. sister States. It was an ! tbisep fiidir J their enterprise !;ahrlVd.o'urageV : effort which was extricating humahity from the .undergrowthiwlierem.,it. was tangled. !' , i)btlbt«s^'?hd-AV{fy. t woulH , l>fe a final cut march through to light. '.;.'Str?JJoseph".Ward emphasised the cordial affection for the Motherland in New Zealand. overseas governments were acting in ; snob... nothing done in the fixture 'would .lead to separation, and when the dominions numbered scores of millions of people they would be at- ' faclied^'to'.the'Matherl'and"by* ties which ever would be remembered.

Received|May Va;m. ->v ~ft; ■*■;<;» Lbfidbli,'May 28. At the Eighty Club luncheon, Mr Fisher; said -the' more -Australia w;as allowed- to manage her own affairs in ever}'-- department -of 'government life the more Attached did the people become to the Mother, Country'and the ;British Crown. It; was freedom that made for safety; I r Referring to; Mr. Lloyd-George's . reference to social legisla- . tion,.: Mr. Fisher.. declared ..'that Australians had not ended their experiments if some of them could help it; they were Idnly beginning; ; Because- 1 it regarded j eeoriopiic- ideals as 'quite -as sacred as political" liberty, Britain's system of overseas government would not end witch tne'presentf do^nionsi.''' Foreign statesmen were deeply interested therein, and one of deelaredVthat he looked forward to the British system encircling thei^tKerVhatidns.who .desired ' the federation of the peoples of the world. "Phis was something to.be proud •of. •' ! - ri '^ t - ■■•-' '-■■■ Mr-Botha, speaking ii) Dutch, ,said he man had not lived to see the fruits of jliis South African policy.