THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners’ Advocate. TUESDAY, 23rd JANUARY, 1912. LABOUR’S PROPOSAL

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 6, 23 January 1912, Page 4

THE PELORUS GUARDIAN and Miners’ Advocate. TUESDAY, 23rd JANUARY, 1912. LABOUR’S PROPOSAL

Thk Commonwealth’s invitation to New Zealand to become a partner in a grand confederation of British possessions in the South Pacific is a gaudy proposition, but it is not likely to be seriously entertained by the present generation of New Zaalanders. It is not so many years ago that our legislators indicated very plainly that they were not in favour of federation with Australia, and their judgment has been proven to be very sound. The present effort to induce the dominion to join the Commonwealth comes, strangely enough, from the Federal Labour Congress, the proposal being tabled by Mr Fisher, Federal Premier, and seconded by Mr Me-' Gowen, another Minister of the Crown. ■ Ten years ago, when New Zealand declined a similar proposal, the prediction that the Labour Party would becom'e dominant in Australia would have been scoffed at; and there is thus a greater significance in the suggestion of federation, bearing in mind its source, than would have been possible in the pre-Labour days. For we are not without experience of the growing potentialities of the Labour party, and if and when they come into their own, as seems very probable they will in another decade, it requires no prescience to foresee the day when, urged onwards by the might and influence of a continent of Labour Unions, New Zealand will sell her birthright for less than a mess of pottage and enter into a state of political travail from which there would be' no relief. For the arguments against federation with Aush tralia ace even strongest toeday than they were ten years ago. The Commonwealth’s experiment has been anything but a success. The welding of the States, has for the most part been in name only, and the restrictions on a full measure of autonomy have resulted in. friction between -Stats Departments, and this has been reflected in certain industries. Our developmental requirements are puny

compared with those of Australia: about ten millions are required for two trans-Oontinental railways; the colonisation of the Northern Territory will absorb several millions; at least ten millions are required for vast irrigation schemes; and large sums must be spent in order to attract immigration to the waste spaces of the Continent. If we were a partner we would have to contribute our share of the cost of these undertakings, and, except in the matter of defence, there cannot be any adequate return. We could not hope to have anything but the most meagre representation in the Federation Parliament, and legislation that would be applicable to Australia might be ruinous to out population. It has been urged that our huge debt would be absorbed by the new scheme, but we would be even worse off when the needed expenditure was added to the Commonwealth’s gross debt of £252,000,000. For the present, there seems no reason to fear that the proposal will be entertained; but a shuffle of the political cards may result in undreamed-of suggestions in order to placate the party whose shadow is looming so large in the background of New Zealand politics today. -