19 JUNE 1936, Page 11

AN EMPIRE OF IDEAS By SIR STANLEY REED This was

a compact body of journalists from every part of the Commonwealth, not only from the Dominions and India, but from isolated colonies such as Trinidad and Fiji. • At first sight it may seem that the subjects which engaged their attention were severely technical. The Conference deVoted much time to the consideration of communications by air and sea. In the forefront of the programme was a demand for a flat rate for newspaper postage of a penny a pound to all the countries united under the Crown. It was claimed that the present charge of fourpence a pound is restrictive ; it was shown that the special rate between Britain and Canada has induced such a development that one great firm sends by post to Canada almost as much newspaper and magazine matter as to the rest of the Empire combined. In view of the great change in the Imperial postal services due next year, when letters will be carried by air at the rates now ruling for the ordinary post, it was urged that there would be a revolution in the sea mails which would make this beneficial change practicable without loss to post offices. This view is being pressed on the Postmaster- General. The development of the air mails may reduce the importance of cable communication ; but there is at present a substantial surplus capacity, and it is held that this should be used to establish a deferred newspaper cable rate of a penny a word throughout the Empire.

Much attention was given to the amendment of the law of libel. No intelligent Editor challenges the right of the community to the protection of an adequate, even .a-severe, law of libel; but it was demonstrated by competent legal authority that the class of cases coming within the purview of the law as it stands has been greatly extended, and the number of speculative claims increased. In effect, libel actions have become a pleasant form of speculation, where the potential profit is large and the investment small. Recognising that a common libel law is unattainable, the Conference pressed for the enactment of a general principle. relating libel to slander and limiting claims, other than in specified gross instances, to eases where actual damage can be proved.

Whilst these questions may be regarded as domestic affairs, it would be a cardinal error to assume that they are in any sense ends in themselves ; they are only the means to the achievement of the great object in view the development of a still closer understanding between the States and Dependencies of the Empire. For- tunately any tendency towards a particularist mind was prevented by the admirable address of the Secretary of State for the Dominions at the opening session. In a speech pregnant with thought Mr. Malcolm MacDonald reminded us that now that the freedom of the Dominions had been established beyond any shadow of doubt, we might with much advantage concentrate on the building up of new forms and practices, which would keep us united in our thought and in harmony in our various actions. He suggested that the time was ripe for a great deal of hard thinking on this problem of creating forms to keep our association of free nations together. Lest this should be forgotten, it was driven soundly home by Colonel J. H. Woods. of Canada. who roundly declared that inasmuch as the Statute of West- minster recognised the independence of the Dominions with the single link of the Crown, we could not stand still ; we must go forward, or the fissiparous forces latent in all loosely-knit communities might prevail. The foundation of any new forms of union must he a community of ideas ; the basis of this community a yet closer understanding. Hence the paramount import- ance of everything which appertains to the improvement of communications. Understanding cannot exist without knowledge.

Here we need to clarify our minds. There has been a vast improvement in telegraphic communications. We must appreciate the courage with which our Goveru- ments are developing air mails. But these are not enough. What we call news is too often dominated by politics tinctured with scandal. Politics are, after all, the expression of the economic and social forces which move nations ; scandal is a curse. Both overseas- and at home there is little interest in politics in themselves ; it is a lamentable fact that an appetite exists for the prurience exploited by a section of the newspaper Press. Surely what we have to aim at is a knowledge of each other so close and intimate that from it a quick apprecia- tion of our common ideas will spring and grow. In the long run it is the common people who count. Parlia- ments and politics are transient things. The true union will be found in appreciation of what James Robinson is doing and thinking in Britain and the Dominions ; of the daily life and hopes of Ram Bux and Jan Schmidt.

Our Empire of Ideas is attacked on many sides. By dictatorships in Europe ; by unceasing wireless propa- ganda ; by dumped magazines of foreign origin. We can neglect no means of conserving them_ Hence the value of a cheap postal rate for newspapers and maga- zines, so that not only may British publications be found in thousands of homes overseas, but the admirable illustrated papers of overseas in every reading-room in Britain. Hence the value of using the surplus capacity of cables and wireless for additional news of domestic interest. Colonel Woods warned us that we cannot stand still. The disease of nationalism having been cured by the definition of Dominion Status, we are free to concentrate on the new forms necessary to keep our association of free nations together, and their foundation must be understanding. For it is this wider understanding that must be the foundation of the Commonwealth.