The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1921. TINKERING THE CONSTITUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1921. TINKERING THE CONSTITUTION.

In the course qf his recent interview, Mi*. W. M. Hughes (the Commonwealth Premier) is reported as having reiterated his views on the Constitutional Conference proposal, concluding with the advice to “leave well alone.” There are always to be found in every country a small section of people who raise their voices or use their pens in the endeavor to alter something which they consider to be of national importance, but wants certain changes which they consider essential to the well-being of the nation. Naturally they do not agree in their views, except on the one impelling motive—there must be a change. These are the kind of people who regard frequent changes of residence as a salt-giv-ing savor to life, and prefer this excitement to the ordinary pleasure of taking a holiday. When, however, this curious obsession develops a craze for tinkering with the constitution it becomes, as Mr. Hughes remarked, “positively dangerous.” It is painfully evident that to a certain type of mind the British Constitution requires overhauling in order to be made perfect from their point of view. If the constitution of the British Empire were merely a structure like a four-roomed dwelling it could, of course, be altered easily out of all recognition by ignoring all the accepted canons of architecture, yet neither would its accommodation be, enlarged, nor could it be guaranteed from destruction by any one of the forces which ean terminate the existence of most of the habitations of civilised mankind. One of the objects of these enthusiastic but inexperienced persons, said Mr. uHghes on one occasion when speaking on this subject in the Federal Parliament, was to re-draft the Empire Constitution. and to substitute for the empirical, illogical structure, fashioned by time and circumstances, under which we have lived and flourished, a constitution built according to some logical plan which they have devised. When challenged they repudiate the desire to establish some kind of Imperial Parliament and hint at a central council endowed with powers over various parts of the Empire. They seem to think that the Empire is to be held together by some Imperial Council, or by some legal formula. They forget, or ignore, that it has existed for centuries without any of these things, and they fail to realise that a thousand formulas or Imperial Councils! would not keep the Empire toge-l ther if either Great Britain or the: .various Dominions desired to drift'

apart. They would have avoided falling into such a palpable error had they not been ignorant of the historical, ethnological and geographical facts, and if their advice were followed the Empire would fall to pieces.. The British Empire is not built according to plan; it is not the result of deliberate purpose ; it has grown up, as it were, haphazard, and there never was a time when its structure was crystallized, always being in a state of flux and indefinite, yet it has adapted itself to the ever-chang-ing, ever-growing requirements, just as a fine silken garment adapts itself to the movements of the body. It is the outcome of that genius for self-government so strikingly illustrated by our forefathers, and stands to-day as the most wonderful achievement the world has ever known, the reason being that the pillars of this temple of Empire are firmly fixed in the rock of liberty. It would be well for the Sinn Fein leaders to realise this great fact, and to fit in with this policy of adaptation, for therein lies the future happiness and prosperity of Ireland. Had Germany taken more heed of the dove-tailing process whereby the British Empire had grown up and become a world marvel she would not have under-estimated its solidarity and cohesion, but to foreigners the whole system appears illogical and inconsistent. The Federal Premier has so ably dealt with this phase of the matter that we cannot do better than quote his views:—

“What for want of a better term wo fill ihp British Constitution ought not to work; yet paradoxically it works, not in spite of its inconsistency, but because of it. I think nothing is more certain than that the surest way of destroying this mighty Empire, one of the chief bulwarks of civilisation, is to tamper with its constitution. Complete autonomy of the parts is .the foundation upon which its unity rests. Neither Great Britain nor the’ Dominions are prepared to yield one jot or tittle with regard to their perfect freedom to govern themselves in their own way, and this assurance of perfect freedom of each of several parts ensures a spiritual unity which binds us together. The basic principle underlying tluy rela■ttons between Great Britain and the (Tverseas Dominions is freedom of action. The relations between Great Britain and Australia to-day are as different from those existing one hundred or even fifty years ago, as is the world to-day different from that then existing.”