STATUS OF THE DOMINIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18157, 31 January 1921, Page 6

STATUS OF THE DOMINIONS

THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION.

The Wellington " Hound Table” Group has issued an interesting pamphlet on The Constitutional Status of the Dominions, ’ from which we take the following extracts:

" Ever since the self-governing dominions signed the Peace Treaty with Germany and received certain Mandates from the shadowy League of Nations, wo have been told that they have a new status, that they are Sovereign States in the same sense in which the United Kingdom is a Sovereign State, that the ‘ British Empire is to a great extent dissolved, being in the League of Nations—not a unit but a group in which South Africa has the same rights and voice a* the United Kingdom,’ that * the doctrine that the British Parliament is the sovereign legislative power for'the Empire no longer holds good ’—and that the Empire is now ‘ a new commonwealth in which all the members are free and equal and joined together by the single constitutional bond ox the Kingship.’ Such are the recent utterances of General Smuts, for whom, as soldier and statesman, every citizen of the Empire must have profound respect. In those utterances lies in consequence all the greater danger. In his speeches he . appears to repudiate any power on the part of the Crown, acting through the British Ministry, to bind South Africa in any foreign relations and to claim in consequence the ngh» for South Africa to enter into direct relations with foreign nations. If these pronouncements arc sound, then obviously tney apply to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as well as to South Africa.” . The writers proceed to review the position created by the appointment of a Canadian diplomatic representative at Washington and its’logical consequences, and continue : “ If this tendency towards the dissolution of the British Empire continues at its present rate, then so far from the separate representations of the dominions at the Peace Conference and their separate signature of the Peace Treaty tying the bonds of union' tighter, this " tremendously important act’ will be one of the most disastrous events ever recorded in the history of the British Empire. _ " “ If these claims are seriously mad© and the dominions shape their acts in accordance with their claims, then the Empire u* already dissolved, and instead of an Empire we have a number of separate nations theoretically bound together by the common tie of the kingship but in reality by none. The existing common tie of the Empire legally and constitutionally has so far been and, it is conceived still is, the legislative sovereignty of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Executive Sovereignty of the British Cabinet, responsible to that Parliament. , “For, although by a long process of evolution, the King from a sovereign in. fact has become a sovereign in name, ‘ part of the State and like the rest of the State machinery is not there of right except in so tar as he fulfils his functions,’’ and although the Crown in Parliament is the law-making power of the Empire, and the Crown, in its Council of Ministers, is the executive power of the Empire, the King, as a constitutional monarch, is merely the official representative of the community, to carry out its wishes so lar as they are expressed or can bo ascertained, and must act on Ae advice of his Ministers, who are responsible to Parliament. What Ministers and what Parliament? Clearly in the last resort the Ministers of the Ui.ited Kingdom and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. If relations were strained between the British Empire and a foreign power and the British Cabinet advised the King to declare war, and the South African Cabinet advised him not to do so, he would have to follow the advice of his British Cabinet and declare war, and the whole Empire would be at war with such foreign power. “While in theory the King appoints the Governor of each self-governing dominion, and allows or disalldws colonial legislation, makes treaties of peace and war with foreign nations, we know that in practice this is done by the British Cabinet, which is the real link. “Here is another phrase that has been used which is apt to make us in the selfgoverning dominions think that unless wc declare our independence and vaunt our nationhood (while all the time relying on the navy of the poor old Motherland), w - e .ire subject to some grievous disability. ‘Everything seemed to be under the tutelage • of the British Parliament and Government.’ Look up ‘tutelage’ in the dictionary and you will find it is derived from the Latin and means ‘guardianship, protection bestowed, the state of being under a guardian, protection enjoyed.’ Well, who will say at the present time that any of the self-governing dominions axe not dependent upon tne protection enjoyed of the British Parliament and Government, which finds the tunds for tne navy. Even Canada, which is talking so loudly of nationhood and Independence, and nas so tar rejected proposals for a fleet of her own, relies in reality on the 'protection bestowed and enjoyed’ of the British Navy. Why does Le Soleil,' the organ of tne Bineral Party for tne Quebec district, say that Lord Jellicoe’s projects should be thrown into the waste paper basket.’ ror ilie simple reason that ‘tne British Fleet is sufficient lor any task that may be assigned to A.’ , "’Nationhood’ is easy when you do not keep up a navy of your own nor contribute to the British Navy, but rely upon the people of the .United Kingdom to keep up that navy for your protection. Sureiy it would be more honest to admit that we are under a tutelage, thank God for it, and rot talk about partnership until we are willing to assume the liabilities of a partner when demanding the privileges thoreot, or' about independence until we are willing to protech ourselves. , “But before we throw off the tutelage and scrap our existing machinery, let us take a look at the present system of Government of the British Empire, so fax as the self-governing dominions are concerned, and see what our true position is. “A self-governing colony or dominion, by its constitution, is given power to make laws for the order and good government of the colony; it can legislate to the extent of the grant and no further. It is limited by the four corners ot its constitution, and cannot alter that constitution unless the constitution provides tor suen alteration. . • • , . “A colonial legislature has no power to make' laws having extra territorial validity and operation; its Acta can only apply within the territories of the colony or dominion. ... . , , ~ “ But this restriction is construed broadly. A dominion legislature can prohibit the entrance into its territories of certain classes or races of people, even of British subjects, or lay down conditions under which they will be admitted. The power of exclusion carries -with it the corresponding power of expulsion. Hence a law of a. dominion deporting certain people or classes of people is good even though it involves the detention of or a dealing with a person outside the territories of the dominions—namely, has extra territorial operation. So, in order that a dominion may adequately depend itself on the Empire of which it forms part, it may make laws compelling citizens to serve overseas and providing for the necessary maintenance and discipline of its land' and sea forces abroad. - “ A dominion, too, can makp reciprocal treaties with other dominions. “ It cannot, however, make treaties with other countries outside the British Empire, send accredited representatives to such countries, or make peace or war with them. These powers axe reserved for the Crown with the advice of the Ministers of Parliament of the United Kingdom only. In spite of the procedure adopted in connec-

tion with the Peace Treaty, when the British Parliament ratified the Peace Treaty the whole Empire was at peace, whether such ratification were adopted by the other dominions or not. “We have arrived by a long process of evolution from the time when the King was really the sovereign, soliciting the advice of his council, but accepting it or not at his discretion, and when the King granted the lands of his realms to his tenants to be held on condition that they did fealty to him and render him military service, to the present position of the Empire. The King is still nominally sovereign; his officers and those who become his subjects by naturalisation take the oath of allegiance; acts of state are done in his name; he or his representatives deal with foreign countries; the territories of the Empire are the King’s dominions. In law, the Imperial Parliament, that is the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, is the Sovereign Legislature for the Empire, and the Sovereign Executive or administrative body for the Empire is the British Cabinet. That is the only body I that has the' power to act or the responsibility for acting for the Empire as a whole. The Imperial Conference, the Imperial War Cabinet, the Imperial Council, however grandiloquent its title, is merely a consultative and advisory body with no real power. “ This legal sovereignty imposes no real hardship upon the self-governing dominions in practice and places them under only a vague and scarcely perceptible suzerainty. They have real self-government except in two respects, the power of making war and peace, and foreign relations. , Each can make its own laws for its own territory, can impose its own taxation, is free from all outside taxation, can admit to its own territory, or exclude, whomsoever it will; can impose what customs duties it chooses, can raise its own army and its own navy, and send, support, and discipline them abroad, can make reciprocal trade arrangements with the Mother Country and\with the other dominions. At the same time, except for any voluntary agreement that it chooses to make, it is under no obligation to contribute one penny piece or a single soldier towards the defence of the Empire. ”It should be obvious that so long as we are an Empire, there must Be one Sovereign Legislature, with power to legislate for the whole Empire when need be, and one Sovereign Executive with power to represent the Empire in its external relations and to make peace and war. Abolish this, and you abolish the foundation of Empire. In practice, neither the Sovereign Legislature nor the Sovereign Executive will do any act that will infringe the real self-governing powers of the dominions. Each will act for the Empire as a whole only when the interests of the Empire as a whole are concerned or for those territories or regions which have not yet been granted self-government, or in a crisis where the central sovereign body must take drastic action to avert a common danger. Suppose, for instance, a self-governing dominion were to take the action that part of Ireland did during the war, practically revolt and enter into negotiations with the enemy, the Sovereign Executive would act promptly, and if it failed to do eo would lose the confidence of the other dominions. Then again, in peace time, we require the Sovereign Legislature to do the formal acts that are necessary to enable separate colonies to combine, or to separate, and to make arrangements for the protection of our shipping in toreign ports. There they are not English, or Australian, or New Zealand, but British ships. As long as you have an Empire you must have a Sovereign Executive or a Sovereign Legislature. Split up the Empire and you could not have a united Canada, Australia, or South Atrica without a Sovereign body. Its sphere may be narrow, but its power is not thereby diminished.

“The moment that a self-governing dominion claims and exercises the power of making peace and war for itself and of entering into relations with foreign countries, and that it refuses to recognise the existing Sovereign Legislature atid Sovereign Executive, or to combine with the rest of the dominions in creating a new one, at that moment it secedes from the Empire, and becomes a foreign nation no longer entitled to the protection of the rest of the Empire. “If each dominion were to attempt to exercise these powers and still claim to remain in the Empire, we should soon be in a state of hopeless confusion. “There are, therefore, two real alternatives, and only two, for a united Empire. The first is the present system; whereby we have no voice in, and no real responsibility for foreign affairs and peace and war, because we have not been willing to accept our fair share of the burden as a business bargain tor the cost of these matters. “The other that must follow, once we treat the Empire as one in which each part is liable for its share of the cost of foreign affairs, and of the defence forces of the Empire, is a Federal Parliament, the powers of which may be narrow, but within that sphere must be unlimited. “It is no use siying that we will not surrender a shred of oqr self-governing power to such a body. We must do so or submit to the consequences of the present system, or take the consequences of separation and secession. Supposing that wc adopt the position that General Smuts says now exists—viz., that the self-governing dominions are completely independent,, and the Imperial Parliament is no longer the Sovereign Legislature for the Empire. It follows that if we do not recognise the sovereignty of that body we are no longer entitled to its protection.* Great Britain will, and must, go on administering all tbe territories of the Empire other than those of the self-governing dominions. As the result of her Eastern policy a war ensues with an Oriental Power. New Zealand or Australia declares herself neutral, lhat would not protect her from the designs of that Oriental Power if it desired to seize her. England might very substantially alter and limit her programme of defence if she were relieved from the necessity of protecting Australia and New Zealand. If tnat °p‘ ourred we should have to arm to the teeth, and our burden of self-defence would be infinitely greater than the small sacrifice that we should make in taking our proportionate share of the defence of tne Lmpire and becoming legally responsible tor that share, while having a voice in the forwgn relations and in the policy which would either preserve peace far us or commit us to war. P “Great as seen* the difficulties of a Federal Parliament for the Empire, they are really no greater than those surrounding an alhance of the self-governing parts of the Empire. The question that we shall have to face sooner or later is whether we are to keep the Empire united as it has been in the past, with one body (whether the British Parliament as it now exists or some other body, such as a Federal Parliament), stiff able to represent it as a whole to the outside world, or whether we are to allow it to split up and then endeavour to hold all the severed parte together by some loose union. Surely, it difficulties have to be faced, the former is the easier task. “But the appeal that is made to the statesmen and legislators of New Zealand is not to cast a definite vote either in favour of federation or separation. This Imperial question is not an academic one at the present time. It is urgent and fraught with grave danger to us all, if we and our representatives pursue a policy of drift or indifference. New Zealand, as the most “solidly and unrepentantly British community outside the United Kingdom, should speak with a clear and certain voice at the coming Imperial Convention of 1921. To enable her to do so it behoves every legislator and every citizen not to be misled by sonorous generalities, no matter how eminent the statesman who utters them or how oalatable they may be to our selfconceit, but to study the question diligently, to take the opinion of our greatest constitutional experts; and in New Zealand we possess "one second to none in the British Empire. When this has been'done it is to

be trusted that Parliament and people wit/ give this mandate to our representatives at that convention. ‘Do not grasp at the shadow of independence and drop the substance of the freedom and that we now enjoy. Do not scrap pur existing machinery as out of date until you have something better to substitute for it. Let us retain our present system, the result of centuries of evolution, and continue working under it, considering from every point of view, practical and constitutional every form of co-operation that will enable us to hold our Empire together. Let us only surrender the present system, if and when we have evolved or substituted something better, or if. after the most deliberate and careful consideration, we reluctantly come to the conclusion that the Empire must break up.’ ”

Dunedin