PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
The United Kingdom must adopt Federal Government.While Australians are getting their Commonwealth Constitution into working order, while Afrikanders are laying the foundations of Federal Government for South Africa, we, in the mother country, have our part to play in the evolution of a more perfect system of Imperial Government. The establishment of Federal Government in the United Kingdom is an essential preliminary to Imperial Federation.
Arguments for.Such a proposal involves a great change in our constitution, and it must be justified by very strong arguments. First and foremost of these is the fact that power is rapidly passing from Parliament to the Cabinet, and to the great Departments of State, owing to the overwhelming pressure of business in the House of Commons. This pressure arises partly from the growing prominence of Imperial questions which, though not receiving adequate attention themselves, have absorbed the energies of Parliament and the Government to such an extent as to throw questions of domestic and social reform into the background, partly from the competitive claims of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, to secure a portion of the time of Parliament for the consideration of their special interests.
Let me give two illustrations of the way in which our Imperial business is at present conducted:—
India.(1) The Imperial Parliament is responsible for the government in India of three hundred millions of people, nearly a fifth of the human race. That is an enormous responsibility. And what is the amount of time devoted by Parliament to the consideration of Indian questions? At most one or two days at the fag end of a session.
(2) The control of national expenditure is amongst88
