The Prime Minister's address to the Conference, on Tuesday morning,
was admirable in spirit and language. Pointing out that although 'the: Empire had achieved glorious things it had also made -mistakes, he compared it with a vast Gothic structure "where the rough and the primitive, passion and goodness,' mingle together in worthy unity, where in detail we see the frailties of the human hand and human acts, but in the whole the illumin- ation and aspiration of the humanmind." The Press, he said, had become a mighty business organization and was subject to Gresham's law ; if a debased coinage were tolerated by the Press it would inevitably elbow out the good coinage. The -Press could perform no greater duty than to help the Empire to bring into perfect combination the value of nationhood, and the value of community and unity. That, of course, is precisely the theme of General Smuts, who is always telling us that the Dominions have been so intent upon establishing their independence that they have thought too little of the give-and-take which is indispensable if the Empire is to face the world as -a coherent whole.
