The Southland Times. "LUCEO NON URO” WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1937. Mr Savage As An Empire Leader

Southland Times, Issue 23227, 16 June 1937, Page 4

The Southland Times. "LUCEO NON URO” WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1937. Mr Savage As An Empire Leader

It is a matter for speculation how many persons in New Zealand have been able to accept the utterances of Mr Savage at the Imperial Conference as expressions of a national attitude in foreign affairs. Where he has been quoted literally his "words have added unforgettable touches to the portrait of a statesman who, representing an unarmed nation of one and a-half million people, has advocated policies which would have to be implemented by Britain —and possibly by Britain’s Navy—and who, sublimely unaware presumption, has patronized the President of a country whose 128,000,000 people present problems of a variety and complexity undreamed of in the South Pacific. “President Roosevelt,” said Mr Savage in a cable message printed this morning, “like my Government, aims at raising wages.” ’ He neglected to add that the weight of the American Constitution, concentrated in the Supreme Court struggle, has made the issue political as well as economic, and that the long effort to adjust the discrepancies and anomalies of wage levels and social conditions that fluctuate in 49 different states has called for wisdom and patience and the best kind of statesmanship. No man with a working knowledge of present-day conditions in America could have spoken so casually of President Roosevelt as a man who “has already succeeded to a considerable extent and can be forgiven for the failures for the sake of his aims and what he has already accomplished.” The truth seems to be that Mr Savage sees all things in terms of New Zealand politics. In some ways this is as it should be; but it has been difficult to avoid the impression, implicit in many cable messages since the opening of the Imperial Conference, that he has been sitting • among men beset by problems in which he can take no real share; and that, lacking positive contributions to Empire statesmanship, he has spoken grandiloquently on issues that are fundamentally irrelevant. “Mr Savage’s is essentially an individual viewpoint,” says a Press Association correspondent in a message this morning. And it is there, undoubtedly, that the reason for so much “plain speaking” can be found. Compared with the other Prime Ministers, Mr Savage is unencumbered with political inhibitions. Mr W. L. Mackenzie King has frequently expressed his fears of “internal complications” in Canada. Other cable messages published last week have indicated the nature of these complications. Word has come from Ottawa, for instance, that “the Liberal leaders of Western Canada are strongly opposed to the sanction of revision of the Ottawa Agreements by the Canadian Prime Minister.” It appears that the primary producers are unwilling to make any of the sacrifices which would be needed before there could be a trade agreement between Britain and America; and if Mr Mackenzie King insists he is faced with a possible schism in his party. He is not without allies among the gold miners; but these are a decided minority in comparison with the farmers who constitute the main strength of the Canadian Government. South Africa also has her troubles. General Hertzog has been unable to make the lightest statement of policy without carefully considering the reactions of a strong Opposition. He represents a country where every new move in politics must be related to a deep-rooted tendency, cutting across almost every section of the people, towards separateness and independence. And Mr Lyons, who none the less has managed to express viewpoints that have been not only “fearless and frank”, but constructive as well, is on the eve of a federal election and must know that every utterance he has made will be challenged on political platforms when he returns to Australia. Of all these Dominion statesmen, Mr Savage alone is the mouthpiece of a Government with a sweeping majority. He alone is undisturbed by the fear of unruly elements within a coalition or makeshift Cabinet. Compared with the countries represented by the Ministers with whom Mr Savage has been in council, New Zealand is unified and prosperous. That is why his speeches, resounding with platitude, have been directed mainly towards ideas that have been abandoned by English statesmen. It is fatally easy to express opinions—in plain terms—on issues that affect us indirectly, or not at all. But the habit is dangerous in that it encourages a fixed idea to assert itself in and out of season. In no other way is it possible to account for Mi" Savage’s extraordinary insistence — reported in a message this morning—“on the inclusion of references to a higher standard of living for the masses” in a document which, in essence, implies a danger in the future, not to wage , rates, but to life itself