EMPIRE EVOLUTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18612, 21 July 1922, Page 5

EMPIRE EVOLUTION

BRITAIN AND DOMINIONS. CORRELATING INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS. LORD BIRKENHEAD’S VIEWS. Pnu Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, July 19. (Received July 20, at 10.45 p.m.) The Australian and New Zealand Club tendered a t luncheon to Lord Birkenhead at the Hotel Cecil. Sir Joseph Cook (Commonwealth High Commissioner), who presided, paid a tribute to Lord Birkenhead, whoso great qualities of statesmanship entitled him to all the honour earned. Lord Birkenhead, replying, expressed the opinion that they could never restore civilisation in Europe or prosperity in England until it became possible for Germany to make a contribution which that very remarkable and sophisticated people could make to the peoples and commerce of Europe. He had never associated himself with the view of those who boldly stated that the depression of the mark was the result of calculated German subtlety. It was largely the result of an unsound financial policy. He hoped that it would be possible that the Allies, upon whom fell the responsibility for the stops which must be taken, would arrive at a solution which would make it possible for Germany to make a large punitive contribution without placing her in a situation that would make it ultimately impossible for her to pay anything. Lord Birkenhead paid a tribute to the emigration movement, which had resulted in sending to the dominions men who were qualified to help in what Sir Joseph Cook bad described the great fabric _ of civilisation known as the British Empire. He congratulated Sir Joseph Cook upon having that day attended the Colonial Office and having signed a document under which Great Britain and the dominions were committed to an expenditure of £3.000,000 per annum on emigration, of which Great Britain had undertaken the responsibility for half the amount. This was a remarkable instance of the strength of the new policy for the evolution of the Empire. For the first time Great Britain and the dominions had joined in an organised endeavour to regulate migration as part of a process of correlating the industrial problems of the Empire. It marked the most representative development and was a most significant step forward.—A. and N.Z. Cable.