DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 18

DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

fence. If Canada -and' Australia accepted the principle of naval defence, that "defence must be adequate in their own waters, and they mu«t give the Admiralty what it asked. Sir Edward Hutton endorsed .the views s of Sir Gilbert Parker as regarded coi operation. Imperial defence was not a. ■ I question on which the Old Country could ;" demand anything from her offspring. A ■ monetary contribution was regarded by | the' colonies with feelings of disquietude," j. and the instinct that it was contrary to f the constitutional system of selPgovern3 I ment. The Australians and Canadians s j desired to have fleets of their own, and" s regarded themselves as nations. r Mr Harold Cox said that we should *' bargain with the colonies as nations, and 3 the colonies should behave as nations in 3 this question. g Dr Parkin thought colonists were as blind to the importance of sea power as fc the people of this country were to their . own defence. If each of the colonies , made good docks and coaling stations and > had good coast defences the Mother Land r wotild have a strength in the world which she could get t in no other possible "fay. Mr Richard Jebb pointed out that the [ colonies -were growing into, nations, and , England must not think that, she had * j monopoly of Imperial. authority > pres- '■ -tige, and rights..- 5We must .accustom oar-, r selves to the idea that; we- were .only 6ne' i of five instead of masters of the whole i business. We must aim at getting, an Imperial commercial policy, then an foreign policy,, and then' Im- \ perial defence. ' * Oolonel Seely said that the colonies would not mind following King Edward, but they objected to following one party i leader after another. A .solution, of the i Imperial defence problem would only ' come when, Imperial matters were, kapV» away from party strife, and he believed 1 j that it was imperative to reconstitute i the Imperial Defence Committee and place on it representatives of both parties and of the colonies.

THE COLONIAL POSITION _(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 29. The results of the recent Imperial Conference from the point of view of f Imperial defence were discussed at a meeting of the Imperial Federation (Defence) Committee last Friday evening. In the absence through indisposition of Mr H. O. Arnold-Forster, M.P., Colonel J Seely.M.P., presided, and among those present were Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., , Dr Parkin, Mr J. Cathcart Wason, M.P., and Mr Richard Jebb. Sir Gilbert Parker opened the discussion, and said he had a little knowledge . of how the colonists felt and understood j why some colonies had given freely to the • navy and some had withheld monetary contributions. South Africa, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand had become nations through their potentialities and resources. They' had long ceased to think that Downing street either had the power to oppress them, 1 or might be endured if it did oppress them. England could not remain great without her colonies, and the colonies could not attain a ( great position unless they maintained j their co-operation with England. The j colonies, owing to their conditions, could , not stand alone. Sir Wilfrid Laurier ] had said that "we must move toward ] closer union or drift apart." He was \ afraid that that had been taken to mean t that Canada was prepared to bear finan- c cial responsibilities. Events had proved t that Canadian sentiment was not pre- c pared to make a-monetary contribution to l the Admiralty without any voice in the i expenditure. The obligation was not a c. constitutional one, but a moral one, and t could only be established by moral per- * suasion. It could not be established by demand. More was accomplished on the military side at the last conference than on the naval side. From the naval point of view the conference established on the part of Canada and Australia an "7" 7 almost stern determination to do nothing *. except take care of their own naval de- I