Burdens of imperial Defence "fle suggested that. the securing of the position of equality of status fu the Empire by the. Dominions carried with it some responsibility to share in the common burden defence." 'Thus the Premier of the 'Australian Commonwealth at the diseursion_on Imperial defence and no-one will question so eminently' logical a suggestion, Mr. Bruce put in figures of the expenditure defence in Britain and each of the Dominios in 1924-5 and 1925-6. These showed that in the latter year Britain's per capita total was: 51/1, Canada's 5/10, New Zealand's 12/11, South Africa's. 2/6, and Australia's 27/2. There figures! corroborate the comment offered in these columns a few days ago, that some information as to what the Dominions are doing for the defence of the Empire, which is very large insurance for them woul) have been rinch more impressive than all the sentimental speeches we had reported at such length, The same thought must-have appealed to "Truth," In its issue of November 2 we: find:— of Canton, are rallying against the South as they have never done in modern times though frequently ancient. Which will prevail? It seems unlikely that either wil. Not since the breakdown of the last vestiges of the old Viceregal system signalized by the collapse and elimination of Lu Yung-ting, Yuar Shih-kai's Inspector-General of the Two Kuangs, have the Nort made any real headway in south China and it seems equally improbable that the South will succeed in domina ing the North. Ancient racial antagonisms are against it. The outcome therefore of the present conflict is a China divided by the Yangtze into two separate states. The problems at once arising from such division are immense. Would, they remain permanent? Would they tend to split up anew into fresh subdivisions? How would they: stand in respect of international affairs?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.