IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3559, 6 May 1901, Page 3

IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL INTERESTS.

In the course of his speech at Hokitika the Premier said :—Year by year, almosl imperceptibly and involuntarily, we an being drawn closer to the Mother Country. In years gone by when the Imperial Council was mooted, or that the colonies should be consulted in respect to Imperial affairs, 01 vice versa, the idea was treated with derision.. No one could mow gainsay the advantage which must necessarily arise to those entrusted with the Imperial affairs and those entrusted with the government of British dependencies, and great good resulted from the conference of Premiers in 1897. The time is ripe now for another conference, and more especially in respect to affairs in South Africa and what is going on in the East at the present moment. Th« changed condition of affairs render it necessary that those entrusted with the responsibility should confer at no distant date. In respect to the settlement of the people in South Africa, the advice and co-opera-tion of the colonial Ministers would be of advantage to the Imperial authorities. We have practically in New Zealand had to go through almost the same process. We have the same class of country to deal with and when the military stage is passed South Africa will have to be legislated for, and dealt with, and administered on lines similar to those in New Zealand and the other colonies. It is with some diffidence at the present juncture I suggest that in respect to trade, commerce, and industry, I etc., a royal commission should be set up, and that on such a royal commission CanI ada, India,. Australia, and New Zealand should be represented. At the present time there is a serious and dangerous war proceeding. It is a war of commerce and industries, and I am bound to confess that in this battle we are being worsted. The seriousness of the situation has not yet been sufficiently recognised in the Mother Country, and unless some change takes place disaster must overtake the Empire. Take the importation of manfactured goods into the colonies from Germany, America, and other countries. They are gradually but surely increasing. It is no fault of the colonies, as we prefer to obtain our goods from Great Britain, and to keep our trade and commerce within ourselves. But the British manufacturer must give us what we want, and where it is wanted. There seems to be a lack of enterprise on the part of the British manufacturer. Time after time we have been forced to, obtain, against our wills, goods ■ from other "countries. British territory .and population are increasing far more in relative proportion than their output of the British manufactured articles. It makes one feel quite despondent, more particularly when we find ourselves forced into a position of helping to strengthen others behind in commerce, industry,and technical. If we were asked whether we would help _to build foreign war vessels would we say " Yes ?" Emphatically no. And yet we are doing it every day. Great Britain is lagging behind in commerce, industry, and technical education. She is slow to move. But there can be no doubt that at tiM root of the success of German and American manufacturers at the present time is the educational —scientific and industrial —question; and they are far ahead of Great Britain in these respects. Seeing we cannot get supplied from Great Britain, we must supply ourselves. We must take goods from Canada in preference to importing from America. We must, and are prepared to, give preference to manuf:»''-rers at Home when they can supply us with what we require, and when ■ we require it. It i$ about time those entrusted with the affairs ofl .tie nation should realise that the open-dor policy should apply to those under the British flag After the way the door has been slammed in our faces we should at least put up a self-preserving fence.