26 APRIL 1924, Page 11

Small wonder that foreigners do not understand the inter-relationship of

the British Empire and the exact status of the -various parts, for the British Common- wealth is in a state of flux and our own minds are somewhat hazy on the subject. Interesting debates have been taking place both at Ottawa and in Dublin as to the exact implication of Dominion status, and in Dail Eireann speakers have been anxious to prove that there was nothing derogatory in the term " Dominion," and the Irish Attorney-General pointed out that it was derived originally from the psalms of David from the phrase " Dominion from sea to sea." Certainly the knowledge of some of the members of the Irish Parliament concerning the working of the British Commonwealth is elementary, for the Attorney-General had to point out that the Dominion of Canada was not a Dominion of „Britain ! Professor Magennis was quite Tight when he pointed out that during the past ten Tears Canada had developed from a Colonial status into a virtually independent nation and that the term His Britannic Majesty and the British flag were to be interpreted in no narrow sense. If our conception of a world Commonwealth is to endure, each section must be subordinate to the Commonwealth as a whole ; just as the States of the American union are subordinate to the Federal authority, but there is no question of Great Britain occupying a dominant position.

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