PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 42

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

To put the reasons for federation as briefly as possible, all colonial possessions should be in favour of a Britannic Empire, because (a) in the future only powerful nations will maintain their independence ; (b) if under foreign rule we would be subjected to great restrictions in trade ; and (c) only under the protection that the force and population of an empire can give can we expect to develop into the maritime nation of the Pacific - that some think we are destined, to be. Great Britain should be in favour of some federal movement, because (a) the colonies are the safest places to invest her surplus wealth ; (b) they can supply her with every conceivable commodity that she requires and take all she can produce ; (o) British trade with her colonies is increasing ia ' a greater ratio than with any country she has commerce with ; (d) while the trade with the outside world is more likely to become restricted than to expand, the trade, inward and outward, with the colonies is bound to increase, to the advantage of both; (<0 the colonies can take Britain's surplus population and make colonists and customers out of them, instead of allowing them to migrate elsewhere to become aliens and competitors ; (/) Britain and her colonies are bound by kinship, and so on, to an extent unparalleled elsewhere, and, as a whole, can produce every necessary and luxury under the most favourable conditions ; and (^) a Britannic federation would be absolutely unassailable, and therefore an immense power working for peace and prosperity. Am I overstating the advantages of a federation, think you ? I don'f, for I do not believe they can be overestimated.

Why There Should Be a Britannic Federation.

My last two chats dealt with the strength of the British navy as compared with that of France, and inferentially with the navies of France and Russia combined ; and with the origin and character of Britain's colonies. To-day I again take colonies as my subject, nor do I make any apology for doing so. History is being made every day, and I have no doubt that from either the political or the social point of view the closing decade 3 of tbe nineteenth century will in the coming centuries stand out as prominently as the Peasants' Rebellion, the founding of colonies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, or the Napoleonic wars of the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.

The masses are demanding fairer conditions of labour and a " living " wage ; colonisation has taken place in Africa unequalled since the discovery of America ; and wars are looming up, the effects of which are absolutely incalculable and will be felt to a greater or less extent in every corner of the world.

But we wish at present to take a rapid look into the future and imagine, as- the descendants of those who have been invincible on land and sea — it isn't spreadeagleism to write that, is it I—what1 — what Britain's position is to be, and ours too. If we take note of what has been going on for some time we see that instead of the tendency being in the direction of the formation of new kingdoms that kingdoms are being absorbed, and even different nations consolidated under one king and parliament. If, as is said, Britain really has no friend in Europe, except from purely selfish motives, what will eventuate if a combination should take the sea against

Britain ? More than once the naval supremacy of Britain has been in the balance, and under circumstances rather more in favour of Britain than seems to be the case now. And supposing Britain should emerge triumphantly from the naval dueJ, will it be with her colonies or without them ? If without them, will they be separated by conquest or by agreement ? If still united, will the bond be a closer or a looser one than at present 7 Will the next few years be such as to give a future historian an opportunity to write " The Rise and Fall of the British Empire " ? Greece, Home, Spain, Holland have had their day ; is Britain now about to decline ?

It seems to me that the next few years are full of possibilities. No nation, unless exceptionally strong, will be able to stand independent or invincible. Britain will be a ruin if alone, and so will we, and so will most of the oolonies. Nations are putting such restrictions on trade that as isolated units the colonies will be placed in a position that must be ruinous. The larger the kingdom the Ibbs protective legislation will be felt ; while the larger the area, and therefore embracing a greater variety of climate, the more self-contained the kingdom wiil naturally be.

Now, for empire development in the future Britain holds a uniquely favourable position, if she were fully alive to it. She hascolonies successfully founded, and no expense to her, in every clime and quarter. They are peopled by those who have the same religion, language, manners, and customs ; the same temper, character, and instincts. They are content to a degree unknown in the first days of colonisation. They do more trade with the mother country than with any other nation, and in proportion to their population take more of her products than any oiher. Everything is favourable to a federation, yet why is it that " the crimson thread of kinship " has not united us all to show an unbroken front at all points when necessity should arise 2

Once has Britain lost her colonies by (1) an act of ingratitude on one side, for had Canada not been previously conquered by Britain American Independence would have been an impossibility; and (2) by injustice on the other, for to restrict the trade of the colonists and to deny them representation while insisting on the right to tax wae an injustice. Commercially, however, the separation was no loss, for trade, on account of being free, expanded, and Britain got most of it. Bat there are two things to consider in comparing the results of a loss of colonies to Britain then and now. Then there was an undiscovered Australia and New Zealand ; Canada was undeveloped ; and only the Atlantic seaboard of the States was settled. As the American colonies did not fall under the rale of France or Spain, the trade, as I have said, still came to Britain, and soon after the separation Britain's other colonies began to open up, and Australia began to absorb her surplus population. But now the lands of the globe have all been taken up, and, with the exception of parts of Africa, no more suitable colonies can be founded either to increase trade or to take the overflow of Britain, and those already founded can only be of advantage to Britain as long as they are not under foreign domination.