BUILDING BRITISH EMPIRE

Taranaki Daily News, 26 May 1933, Page 11

BUILDING BRITISH EMPIRE

ASPECTS OF EARLY STAGES MODERN PROBLEMS REVIEWED. “UNREST GOOD HEALTHY SIGN.” ADDRESS AT NEW PLYMOUTH. An outline of the development of the British Empire and a review, of its present position and the problems it had to face to-day were given by Mr. C. G. Bottrill in an address at the New Plymouth business women’s tea organised by the Y.W.C.A. on Wednesday night. There were a good many stages in the growth of the Empire, Mr. Bottrill said. The first was in the time of Edward I. Before the British people could expand pverseas they had to consolidate themselves internally and for that reason the various expeditions of Edward into Wales and Scotland, while often considered barbarous and useless, were of value in the foundation of the Empire. He was responsible for setting the nation on the road to Imperialism trodden ever since. The second stage was the attempt to advance into France and Normandy. Had those attempts been successful the British nation would to-day have been a European power, with continental borders and continental quarrels to keep it fully occupied. There would therefore have been no overseas dominions. It was the much maligned King John to whom we owed the failure of this enterprise, and who caused the English people to look elsewhere for their expansion. . After the loss of possessions in France occurred one of the greatest events in the history of mankind, when on May 29, 1453, Constantinople was seized by the Turks. At this one stroke all trade routes to the East were blocked. Men were therefore led to look in some other direction for a new channel for trade. So was the New World brought into the cognisance of the western world, brought into being, as Canning stated fnany years later, “to redress the balance of the Old.” the voyages and discoveries of such as Captain Cook were, after that momentous event, merely extensions of the newly opened territories. One point particularly important about these discoveries was that they made possible the grounds for. future development in making the sea the medium for extension and founding the long record of British sea power.

The Stuart regime marked a period covering nearly 80 years when there was no apparent progress. Internal dissentions, even civil war, kept everyone fully occupied at home, and so no attempt* at colonisation, with the exception of the Pilgrim Fathers' migration to America, was made. But during that period England made secure her internal affairs,‘while France, intent on outside development in Canada and other places, allowed her home matters-to lapse, with the resulting revolution. The next stage could be divided into three sub-stages, when British rights abroad were challenged by Spain, Holland (involving the Navigation Acts) and France. The long struggle with France lasted until 1816. During that struggle the British position was consolidated in Canada, but the present United States was lost; India was won; and what was lost in America was more than made up for, in the opinion of New Zealanders, at all events, by the acquisition of Australasia. The Victorian period marked a veritable renaissance, when the nation expanded enormously in every direction, in which development the industrial revolution, of course, played a prominent part. In the words of an Italian statesman, it marked “the, first transcendent springtide of the modem world.” MODERN TRANSPORT VITAL. Without the marvels of modem science the Empire would inevitably fail, said Mr. Bottrill. Isolation of the separate countries would have resulted in their development on differing lines and in consequent estrangement. Modem transport and communications made possible the British Empire. The present decade marked the -,end of. an epoch. Colonisation by degrees of latitude was now out of the question; there was really no large territory awaiting exploration and annexation; in fact it would be impossible, except by warfare', to acquire any more land, and war was out of the question. The culminating point in the extension of the British Emoire had therefore been reached. It was now important that the Empire should not rest on its laurels and be content, for with inaction came stagnation and the death of everything within it. . Development must be continued, and it remained a serious problem for the future. Mr. Bottrill drew particular attention to" the fact that the building of the Empire was not a State-controlled affair; the responsibility for its formation rested on individuals who by their initiative had added to the structure brick by brick. Thus Edward Gibbon Wakefield gained New Zealand for the nation, while, had the Colonial Office handled the matter, the Dominion would have been lost. Another feature was the part played by the custom of primogenital succession in England, which was .responsible for the emigration to the colonies of many minor sons. The building of the Empire was an unconscious thing, it being constructed on no definite scheme such as the Russian Five-Year Plan. The structure had been built up in all manner of ways, some parts having been acquired by warfare. For that reason the Empire was disliked by many other countries; it had built up a- legacy of hatred. Whatever was done regarding disarmament the nation must be protected effectively. There were several outstanding problems facing the Empire to-day. The first was the maintenance of Imperial links, which in the past few years had somewhat dissolved. ‘ The Statute of Westminster had raised the Dominion Parliaments to equality with the English Parliament so that with the tie formerly connecting the two governments lost, the sole remaining link was the person of the King. There were some parts that would be only too glad to throw off allegiance to the Crown, and means of making these sections behave must be found. Secondly, some form of federalism

must be established, yet federalism had proved the weakest kind of government. Even if formed it would be a difficult matter to make it sufficiently flexible. The third question was that of colour. There were many brightly educated men in the coloured races. Could full rights of citizenship be denied them? Yet if a vote were given to every coloured man woman the white race would be hopelessly outnumbered. Immigration had almost ceased, owing to economic conditions, but it was a necessity, for. a country isolated and without a regular infusion of new blood would become rigid and particularist in ideas. - The difficulty would solve itself.' No Empire might hope to survive if the component countries insisted on running counter to the interests of one another, by bringing about inflation to seek a selfish advantage. The outlook, however, was bright. Unrest was a good, healthy sign, for friction developed electricity, which meant life. A nation content was lost. A large number of difficulties to overcome was a good sign. After all the difficulties of to-day were no greater than those successfully overcome in the past.