BRITAIN’S OVERSEA POSSESSIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2674, 2 December 1909, Page 5

BRITAIN’S OVERSEA POSSESSIONS.

CABLE NEWS.

•A- CLOSER BOND OF UNION ADVOCATED.

United Press Association —Copyright

LONDON, Nov. 30

Lord Nortlicote, ex-Governor-Gene-ral of Australia, speaking at a Devonian dinner, said that both parties were firmly determined that there should be a closer bond of union between Britain and .the overseas possessions. The Colonial Office must rigidly and sedulously abstain from anything in the nature of interference. England was overcrowded. It was the duty of future statesmen to direct the overflow of population towards the great fertile spaces of Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, which were awaiting development. The increasing greatness or decline of the Empire might depend upon by whom the Dominions were peopled. Colonel Seely, presiding at a complimentary banquet to Sir J. W. Taverner, Agent-General for Victoria, declared that all in the Colonial Office recognised the great services to the Empire rendered by the representatives of the colonies.

Sir J. W. Taverner referred to the good effects of Sir Charles Lucas’ visit to Australasia, and the recent Imperial Conference here, and of the Empire Chambers of Commerce in Australia. Lord llanfurly, replying to the toast of the Empire, said that in all the colonies the people were even more loyal to the Crown than the dwellers of the Motherland. He instanced New Zealand leading the way with a Dreadnought, and other States doing all in their power to increase the navy.