THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1912. NEW ZEALAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH.

Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13315, 16 January 1912, Page 2

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1912. NEW ZEALAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH.

The deliberations of tbe annual conference of the Australian Labour Party, which sat last week at Hobart, possessed a general interest for New Zealand. There are those who prophesy that the commanding position Labour has assumed in the affairs of our big neighbour is duo only to a passing phase of popular feeling. However that may be, Australian policy for some years to come is likely to be shaped by statesmen who served their apprenticeship to the Cabinet room in walks of life which they have proved may be made stepping fstones to the highest offices in the State under a constitution of which ■ equal rights for all is a fundamental principle. The Federal Labour Party has been fortunate in its leaders, who liavo shown no disposition to misuse the power that has been entrusted to them, and have carried out their administrativo functions on the whole with an absence of class prejudices which is as remarkable in the circumstances as it is coirmenclable. While the Labour Governments of the Commonwealth wields their authority with as much wisdom and moderation as they have so far displayed, it is not to be expocted that tho pecplo will be in any hurry to withdraw their mandate. It seems that unusual but not perhaps, unreasonable measures wer-o adopted throughout the conforenco to prevent any but severely matter-of-fact reports of the proceedings finding their way into the Press, but a.s far as we can judge from the cabled intelligence, the conference wasted no time in debating impracticable ideals, and the concrete results expressed in terms of the resolutions adopted include no very startling innovations. The proposal which possesses the greatest interest to New Zealand of course, is contained in the motion which Mr Fisher had no difficulty in carrying, "that being impressed with tho belief that the interests, welfare and safety of the Commonwealth and New Zealand were mutually bound up in each other, it was extremely desirable that closer political, indiistrial and commercial relations should be established between the two' countries." The motion recommended tho Commonwealth Government to immediately open negotiations with tho New Zealand Government on tho lines of the resolution... The motion expres&os an obvious truth. The unity of interests of the Commonnealth and the Dominion, springing from identity of race and activities, is cemented by their isolation from the rest of the Empire, and the common obligation of both to.as? sume a very large sharo of the.. responsibility for the maintenance- of their integrity " and the protection of their commerce. This obligation each in its own way is successfully endeavouring to meet, and in discharging it each has experienced the necessity for a large measure of •oo'-iopftratiftii with th« other.

Defence vis not tho only matter in iviilcli the active co-operation .of thb two countries would bo of assistance to both, and "overtures from tho Federal Government with tho object of promoting a practicable scheme will not have an unsympathetic reception at tho hands of the Dominion. It must bo borne in mind, however, that tha project of a commercial alliance is not il ii6\V b"iio, and h is not Uio fault of the Dominion that it has not taken tangible shape befovo this. If Australia wishes the negotiations now in contemplation to be more successful than previous consultations have been she must bo prepared to treat the Dominion more liberally than in some respects Sho does at present. lii submitting his resolution lo the Cbnfefence Mr Fisher declared that the Do-minion-was undoubtedly in favour of tho federation of the two peoples,, who both .recognised that the fate of cine would be the fate of the other fi they happened to. come in conflict with greater peoples more powerful than theniselvos. If the federation tho Federal Premier has in mind is no more than an agreement to secure reciprocal trade relations and joint action with respect to Imperial questions of mutual concern, a practicable arrangement could no doubt be reached, but if he contemplates Now Zealand entering the federation as a constituent State, tho answer cannot differ from that returned to similar overtures when the federation of tho Australian States was in progress iv 1900.