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Now, I have only a short time to speak to you. would like,-in this city of Toronto, which has very pleasant memories, for I was here nine years ago visiting my old school-mate, who is on my right,-to discuss with you the problem which presents itself to those who have been trying to think out this question of Empire consolidation. There are some in Australia, few I hope and few I believe-possibly there are some here in Canada-whose one ideal is a great nationality for Australia or a great nationality for Canada, ultimately developing into a great nation standing alone by itself. That is one policy that is before us. That policy will not lead to the imperialism which is before the New Zealander's mind every day.

There is another policy. It is represented by a man like Jebs. Some of you probably have met him or you have read his works; he has written on colonial nationalism. The policy that he presents to the public is the policy of Britannic alliance. We are all to build up separate nationalities, we are to be absolutely separate as nations, and yet we are to be an alliance. I have tried to think that policy out, and I cannot come to any definite conclusion about it, and for us in New Zealand we must have something clear and definite, something which makes us feel safe. I cannot recommend to you the Britannic alliance.

Then we come to the last policy which has been presented by thinking men to the public of this great Empire, and that is, the problem of Imperial Federation at some time or another. We shall have to come to it I believe by steps that are gradual. It will have to be evolved out of our experiences, just as the Mother Country has evolved out of her experiences her Constitution of today, and just as you in Canada have been evolving out of your short experiences your Constitution of to-day. So I hope, in the future, will be evolved that greater constitution which will unite us all together in a bond which will preserve all our freedoms and all our liberties. (Applause)

Let me just for a few moments show, if I can, how I think the question may be wrought out. We have

taken some steps already. The invitation by the Mother Country to the Imperial Conference was a great step in advance, and I have no hesitation in saying it has been a great education to Colonial statesmen and not to us only, but a great education to the British statesman that he has met men who think, men who are developing great countries, as you are; men who are making empire, as you are and as we are. They cannot neglect us, and they cannot neglect what we think; and the evidence that they do not neglect us was first given to us when they invited us to their Imperial Conference. It was a step in advance.

They took another step and a very pronounced one, when they invited prominent statesmen from these outside Dominions to the Committee on Imperial Defence. (Applause) I have had the honour of being asked by the Prime Minister to attend two meetings of this Committee of Imperial Defence in London, quite recently. And I wish to say to you that I have received every consideration from the members of that Committee. I went to England on behalf of the government in New Zealand, first of all, to arrange for money. I found that Canada was sucking the place so awfully dry it was hard to get it. (Laughter) I went, in the second place, to arrange for the organization of an expeditionary force from New Zealand to help the Mother Country, a force not of naval men but of soldiers to arrange for the organization of this expeditionary force from the shores of New Zealand to serve any part of the Empire that needed it. And they helped me in every possible way, and I have no doubt that we shall arrange that organization as soon as I go back. And I also went to consult with the Admiralty as to what ought to be the permanent policy in respect to naval questions in New Zealand. Gentlemen, I cannot disclose to you-it is not right that I should-what I have to recommend to the Cabinet of New Zealand when I go back, in regard to naval policy. All I want to say in connection with the Committee of Imperial Defence, is that I should have found it an extremely difficult thing to settle with the Admiralty alone the policy of New Zealand with regard to naval

defence. When it did come down to the Committee of Imperial Defence, when the Prime Minister could hear what both sides had to say, and the rest of the Committee could hear what both sides had to say, I found no difficulty. (Applause) I say to you that this great step which has been taken, of asking us to attend a Committee of Imperial Defence, is a very pronounced step towards consolidation of Empire.

If we statesmen can be invited by the Prime Minister to come from our various Dominions to attend that Committee of Imperial Defence; if, notwithstanding our agreements or our disagreements, we can come and present our case to an absolutely favourable tribunal-and I use the word "favourable" advisedly-if we can present our case to a favourable tribunal, as I believe the Committee of Imperial Defence is to us, then I have no hesitation in saying that we are going very fast indeed along the road which will lead to unity of Empire. (Applause)

Now, these are the three phases of the question that present themselves, I believe, to the minds of thinking men. I do not hesitate to pronounce in favour of the latter one. As a New Zealander, I must say so; as I have hinted to you before, the consolidation of the Empire is everything to us.

In the years gone by the Mother Country alone could control all the seas of the world. Some of her statesmen think that she does to-day. Well, they have only to come to my country, and although it may be absolutely true, that a decisive victory in the North Sea may settle the question in the Pacific, yet you cannot go away to the other end of the world and settle down and make your homes and develop your country, make it rich, make it a pleasant place for man to live in, without realizing, after you have gathered these riches together, that there is something to defend there, too. (Hear, hear) And so the question is not to us only a question of one decisive battle in the Mediterranean Sea or in the North Sea; the question, as it presents itself to us, from the Imperial point of view is this: The Empire ought to be in the position in which she was very many years ago,

controlling every sea and every line of communication by sea. Our lines of communication are by sea. We are not like some of those great continental nations which have their roads and their bridges and their railways, as their means of communications. The sea is everything to us in New Zealand-little island that we are, the home of not a large population-the sea that girds us is everything to us. We cannot contemplate with equanimity the possibility of our trade routes being even temporarily blocked; for the wealth of our people depends upon their being able to send away their products and receive returns from other countries. We want to send to you, we are sending to you, and I am very happy, indeed, to know that New Zealand is already supplying Canada with butter. I wondered, when I heard it, why Canada was not supplying her own butter. (Laughter) But our butter comes here, and we take things from you in return, and we shall be happy indeed to continue to take things in return. Let us make that great sea-way, that protected sea-way, safe for us at all times, so that whatever you want from us, and whatever we want from you, may come in safety.

I do not think that there is any greater conception for any man or any statesman than the great conception that is before the thinking British statesmen of to-day, the Empire statesmen of to-day. It is a great thing to have in one's thoughts that an English-speaking people scattered all over the globe may sink differences, even party politics, as we have done in New Zealand, for the purposes of our common defence. Gentlemen, let us keep clear in our minds, that one thing—defence. I know there are some who believe that the trade question and other questions must be considered in connection with it. It may be, that in the ultimate investigation, that in the process of development, some things will have to be considered in this matter of defence which we now want to exclude, because they make the question so difficult to solve; but, for my own part, I leave them out for the time being. I am a student-as I hope we all are trying to discover what have been in the past the causes of all our foreign difficulties, all our

diplomatic tangles, and all our wars. And if we can get down to a basis on which we can all unite for common defence without troubling ourselves too much over the things which render it difficult to unite, then let us get down to that common basis and all stand together. (Applause)

There is just one other thing I want to say before I close. I have come from New Zealand around the world, and I have valued very highly indeed the education that it has been to me. One does not realize, if he lives in his own country and never comes away from it, exactly what the other parts of our Empire are like. I did not realize, until I came to Canada, how solid Canadian opinion is. I do believe that Canadian opinion, as far as I have gone, is thoroughly sound upon this great question of inter-Empire defence. (Applause) But what we would like, we who live away on the other side of the globe, is this: we would like to get some of the Imperial statesmen to come down to see, and not only to see, but to be among us, and to realize what we feel about this matter.

If any of you Canadians ever can find an opportunity to come down to Australia or New Zealand, I bid you very heartily welcome, and so will my country I know. Come down for commercial or other reasons and absorb a little bit of Australian and New Zealand feeling and sentiment. The national sentiment and local patriotism of New Zealand has produced there a more loyal community than will be found even on the shores of Great Britain herself. We are trying to keep a pure white race. We are trying to protect our labour from a competition that would not be fair to it. We know what that policy may ultimately lead us to. No man in New Zealand wants to be in a state of conflict with anybody. If those outside of us will leave us peaceably to enjoy our own country and develop it, and allow us to have our trade routes open, we shall never raise an arm of offence. But if anybody does want to interfere with us, or interfere with you, then we want to be in a position to raise our arms so strongly that there shall be no doubt about the issue, that the Empire cannot have any doubt about the issue.