THE DREADNOUGHT OFFER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13905, 17 May 1909, Page 3

THE DREADNOUGHT OFFER.

MR BALFOUR'S APPRECIATION

In a speech delivered at a mass meeting of 10,000 in the Agricultural Hall, London, on 30th March, Mr C. J. Balfour, Leader of the Opposition ,j'h the House of Commons, spoke as follows regarding New Zealand's offer:— I kno\v nothing more moving, more magnificent-, than the immediate res|x>nse. made by New Zealand (cheers), by that great sister State, to the needs of the Country—of our own two small islands, from whom all these sister States have spread. New Zealand, you all know—every Englishman, every Scotchman, every Irishman knows at this moment —that New Zealand has come forward, when she could only have had a telegraphic summary of what has gone on in the House of Commons, and offered a Dreadnought to the -Empire.' (Cries of "Bravo!" and cheers). Do yon realise what the population of New Zealand is? The population of New Zealand is about Hie same as five out of the 28 London boroughs which surround this hall. The imputation o,f New Zealand is about one-fifth of London; it is less than one-fortieth of the United Kingdom. And .the contribution which New Zealand has offered to'lmperial needs is a contribution which in capital figures would relatively amount t-> a great deal more than the annual taxation of this country. (Cheers, and a voice, " When are . you going to give it preference?") I will come to that presently. Every man, I do not care what his opinions may be, in whose breast there beats one pulse of patriotic motive, every man must be deeply moved by this magnificent exhibition of patriotic sentiment; and if there is a man, and I hope - there is none, whose tendency is to despair of the future of the British Empire, to overrate the gathering difficulties with which we or our children may have to deal, I say, Learn a lesson of genuine confidence and optimism from what one of tlic smallest of our sister States has done; learn not to despair of what British patriotism has it in its power to do, aud what British patriotism, when the occasion arises, will most assuredly accomplish, whether it be at the other side of the world or across the Atlantic or in the two islands which n c inhabit. (Cheers.) L, have to admit, while no words that I can command adequatelv express the sentiments with which I regard this practical self-sacri-licing tribute to a- great Imperial ideal, hands of the Government. (Hear, that I am not so satisfied at the reception which it has met with at the hear.) I understand that our sister State offered this Dreadnought for our immediate need. (Hear hear.) It has been rejected from that point of view. (Cries of "Sliame.") It has been accepted, as I understand it, more oi less conditionallv ior some subsequent occasion. (Cries of "Shame.")> I do not wish to put that criticism too high, because 1 do not understand that New Zealand itself has made it, and it is not my business or my ' right ' to explain to the inhabitants of Great Britain pieciselv what it was that Now /cuiantl had'in view ; but oil another aspect ot the question I sneak with more confidence. The Government seem to have taken this Dreadnought as a relict to the British taxpayer—not so much as an addition to the British na\al strength as a diminution of tile burdens that fall upon the taxpavcr in this countrv. (" Shame and " J hat \\ HJ not do.") I do not deny that the taxpaver in this country has had to pay and will have to pay in correspondence with the Imperial obligations falling upon the Mother Country; but I do not believe it is beyond our power to do so. The time, indeed, may come when the relative population and the relative wealth of Great Britain as compared with the sister States ot the Empire may have undergone sonic profound alteration, and. we shall Inn e to look to them to a degree which up to the present- time we have not been obliged to look to them to help us to carrv the <'reat and growing rcsponsi- / bilit'ies of Empire. But in my opinion

that time has nut yet come; and while 1 most gladly and joyfully accept every aid which the sister States can give, let that aid be given in addition, let it be a super-added precaution (eneers). let it be something which is to guari, against the unKuown, the unexpected the incalculable, and the untoreseen. Let it not be part of the ordinary provision of ordinary times (cheers.), and let us not deal with the splendid and patriotic liberality of a'relatively small community like that of New Zealand merelv as' a subvention of our own pecumarv necessities, but let us meet them in "the spirit in which they have come to us, and let lis accept then magnificent offer as an additional guarantee, that whatever happens, whatever conies, whatever be the policy of this oi that great military .country, the supremacv'of Great Britain on the seas shall be * undisputed and indisputable. (CIIC COLONIAL PREFERENCE. I have but one further observation to liiake. and that is suggested by an interruption, a perfectly courteous interruption, which I think 1 caught Iroui the gallerv opposite. I think I heard a voice say. " What about preference.- ' (Cheers.) ' Surely that interruption was not an irrelevant one. Hero we •.ire accepting, and joyfully # accptmj;, this immense boon, this gift which, compared with the. resources <>) the <rivo\ is of enormous magnitude. " We. are accepting it, and rightlv accepting it, with gratitude. Are wo going to give entiling in return ? (Cheers.) We find the Government in their reckless financial career makiiv it obviously more and .more impossible, whatever your fiscal views may be. to collect the revenue of this cou'ntrv upon the old lines. - More and more plainly does the necessity show itself for adopting a scheme which, be it good or bad, our fathers had not to resort to. "VVc shall have to resort to it. (Cheers.) Even supposing that you are wrong and that I am w.rong, or those who believe in the expediency of a great fiscal change—supposing we are all wrong, he it. expedient or inexpedient,' it, is going to be necessary. (Loud cheers.) And if it be expedient, as I believe, as you believe, as London believes, and as the .country is going to believe, if it be necessary, as even those who differ from us will soon be forced to admit, then I ask you, ; are «-«• not out of the new fiscal system which must be born of our necessities if it is no.t to. be born, of our wishes, are we not out of that fiscal change to give our Colonies that which they ask for? (Cheers.) You are going to accept from New Zealand a gift which in a year amounts to more per head of the population of New Zealand tlian our .whole taxation in a year amounts to per head of the inhabitants' of the v ßritish Islands, and you are going- to refuse to New Zealand, Australia 1 , rtlie Cape, Canada, -the whole constellation of the Sister States have asked stendily, persistently, patiently year by year. You cannot manage an Empire on these lines. (Loud cheers.)

However dull your imagination, however hidebound by your economic theories, there surely are situations which will break through even the most obstinate and narrowest traditions. And if anything could bring home to the imagination of our countrymen Imperial organisation—l say if • i-iiy thing could bring home to them .t."e responsibilities which are : falling upon ti i m, surely if is New Zealand com ng to us in a moment when, by the admission of the Government as well as by our own contention, a new era ofreasibility, a new era of cost, nay. a new era of national peril and responsibility is upon us. 1 say when we have the sight of Now Zealand coining before us in that crisis with the magnificent generosity which she has displayed (cheers.), is there a man with heart so cold,, is there a, man of imagination so hidebound in tradition who does not see that, putting aside all other and all narrowed-(Considerations, the responsibility lies now and henceforth oil every Government controlling this great country to see that we do meet the colonies wherever we can, not by doing what they liave never demanded," namely, sacrificing our own prosperity to their own particular views, but by doing what they have asked, which' is that, when the time comes, as come it must, whoever is : in office, when we have vitally anj] fundamentally to alter the manner in which we" raise the taxation of th' country, when that time comes we =hall not only remember that we arc Englishmen," .Scotchmen, Irishmen —not only remember' that we live ju these two historic, islands, but re.nici' , b"r a'«'> tbat wo pro now the centre of the Empire of which all th'e sister States are gr«wing and are destined to grow, And that we" have duties to them as well as to ourselves. (Loud cheers.)