The Federation Commission in New Zealand has unani- mously reported
that although Federation would improve the credit of the Colony, it woald on all other grounds be lined_ visable. As this is the general feeling in the island, Parlia- ment will adopt the Report, and the project may be considered finally abandoned. The decision is, we bold, a wise one. In the event of war the Colonies of the South can help each other, and the island is too far from the continent to admit of the feeling of a community of civil interests. New Zealand, too, is inclined to try social experiments which the continent could hardly venture on, and can try them safely. Most of the argu- ments which justify the existence of small States in Europe apply also to New Zealand, with this additional one, that, although her people are not of a separate nationality, they ruu no risk of being conquered, or compelled to make believe that they are "neutral " when great contests break out. That latter posi- tion, as we see in Belgium, gravely diminishes the national sense of responsibility.
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