Britain's Possessions

Upper Hutt Weekly Review, Volume I, Issue 10, 21 February 1936, Page 1

Britain's Possessions

A question that has been asked, somewhat querulously, of late by certain nations is "Why should Britain own one quarter of the earth's land surface?" There are even some loyal subjects of the crown, people who are proud and happy to be members of the great British Empire, who ask the same question, not complainingly, but magnanimously, with some obscure generous thought of re-distribution. The answer is to be found in the reply to a somewhat similar question "Why does Britain own so much territory?" The subject deserves an abler pen and far more space than we can allot to it in this small Journal, for there is an important aspect to the question and its answer should be definite and satisfying. A study of the growth and building up and consolidating of the British Empire is inspiring reading, for it is the history of courageous, adventurous, broad minded, wise and humane men and women, a history remarkably free of that lust of conquest and brutal domination which has marked the efforts of some other colonizing powers. It is true that the Empire has not been won without the shedding of blood, and there may be incidents here and there which we, in the enlightenment of today, view with disfavoiir and regret, but the blood was not wantonly spilled and where circumstances compelled conquest, humane and just administration has inevitably healed the wound. By far the largest proportion of the Empire has been acquired by settlement. That is to say that the spirit of adventure carried Englishmen overseas in search of other lands, in

which to settle and live their own lives. Often they found other European nationals there before them. Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Dutchmen occupied the same or adjacent territories, but none displayed the same aptitude for colonizing as the British, none treated the native races so humanely. Recourse to force, leading to conquest, was not a system adopted by Britain, but it arose from time to time as the result of various causes; with some of the native races, because of racial misunderstandings often arising - after friendly relations had been established; with some of the foreign colonists mostly because of war having arisen between the respective Mother Countries. Her acquisition of territory was definitely not the result of a calculated policy of "grab" as some would have us believe. Britain holds her great possessions because she was quick to realize the potentialities of colonisation, because she lent her ready and powerful support to the little bands of brave pioneers who ventured into the empty spaces of the earth, because she mothered them in their infant states, treated them loyally and justly, and led them on, step by step, to greater maturity, then she gave them freedom to make their own laws, to formulate their own responsible and representative governance, to control their own trade and foreign policy, until, under her, they have become a great Imperial Federation of free and independent nations, a happy, proud and prosperous galaxy of sovereign states, bound together by no sterner bonds than mutual ideals, mutual trust and common loyalty to the crown that represents their unity—a model for the future Federation of the World.