“BOSSY” DOMINIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20273, 6 April 1934, Page 4

“BOSSY” DOMINIONS.

Shaw Expects Imperial Disruption. ENGLAND SICK OF IT. Per Press Association. BLENHEIM, April 5. A Britain sick of being badgered, battered and kicked by her rapidly growing dominions, and withdrawing from the Empire, was referred to by Mr Bernard Shaw during an interview at Picton to-day, in which he administered many sly digs at the dominions. When Mr Shaw first arrived in New Zealand he noted the habit of referring to England as " Home,” and suggested that the people of this country should apply the term exclusively to their own land. This drew from the Prime Minister (Mr Forbes) the remark that probably Mr Shaw did not realise that he was touching the hearts of a great many New Zealanders in this connection. In the course of the interview to-day, Mr Shaw reiterated that he was shocked at the verbal absurdity of New Zealanders in referring to Britain as “ Home.” Of course, he said, the Prime Minister, like all Prime Ministers, has to .speak according to certain conventions. Unreasonable Demands. “ Apparently,” said Mr Shaw, ” there still lingers an idea that you are greatly attached to the Old Country, that the Old Country is your home, and all the rest of it; and you show it by wanting Britain to do all sorts of unreasonable things for you. You want the Empire to allow New Zealand to make butter and cheese for the whole Empire. You go further even than that. In case any other country in the world—any of the great Powers—refuses to take your butter and cheese, you want England to make war on them to compel them to take it. You don’t ask her to go as far as firing guns, but you want her to make retaliatory duties. All this is nonsense. “You are quite right in making use of the Empire in every possible way. You are quite right in going to Ottawa to boot and bully the Empire into what you want; that is, if you can succeed. But what is the real position? Our Ministers went to Ottawa expecting to be fatherly and helpful to you, but the way they came back was quite painful. They had been booted and battered all round the place and sent home quite upset. England’s Soul Not Her Own. “ That is the difficulty the Empire—the dominions are starting to boss. You will find England breaking off from the Empire if she is not allowed to call her soul her own. The big dominions (are growing, and want all the say. When I was a boy you were all Crown colonies and could do nothing without the assent of the Crown, and could' get at the Crown only through the English Governmenjt. As for your being represented at international conferences, no one ever thought of such a thing. “ But nowadays you not only send your High Commissioner to London, but at Geneva or other international conferences you have your Ambassadors as if you were an independent State. You have direct access to the King past Mr MacDonald, Mr Baldwin and the English Government, and can have it out with him personally. “ That is all very nice for you,” Mr Shaw proceeded smilingly, “ and the more you get on top of us the more you wave the flag qf Empire; but it is pretty poor fun for us, and we are becoming the bottom dog. In the end, something like America, we shall break off and insist on not being trampled on by these colonies. Indian Independence. “ There’s another thing,” he proceeded. “ When the colonies became strong they insist on becoming dominions. India is determined to become a dominion, if not an independent State. I consider it would be better if she became an independent State, because it she became a dominion the centre of the Empire would have got to India, and the King would have to live at Delhi because of the preponderance of population there.” Replying to a question, Mr Shaw asserted that the British Islands “ never think about you. They can’t conceive that any colonial bothers about Britain except for what he can get out of it.” The interviewer pointed out that New Zealand had demonstrated the strength of her attachment to the Old Country by sending troops to the Great War. This drew a violent retort. “Pure Devilment.” “ You went into it out of pure devilment,” said Mr Shaw. “ You need not have sent those men unless you had liked. You could have joined the Germans if you liked.” Mr Shaw replied to a further question that he did not altogether mean that the British Commonwealth of Nations would fall to pieces. He envisaged the world as a whole becoming increasingly bound together by the common needs of civilisation in the shape of postal and transport services —things that frontiers could not stop. “ What I mean is that politically the nations are becoming more independent of one another,” said Mr Shaw. “ Nevertheless, the need of dealing with one another is increasing.”