Captain CRAIGI beg leave to ask for leave to introduce a Bill to provide for the official recognition of the 24th day of May as Empire Day.
I make no apology for reintroducing this very important measure. It is quite true that on 20th May, 1908, in the last Parliament, I was refused permission to have the Bill read a first time. A great number of those who voted against the introduction of my Empire Day Bill on that occasion have fortunately not returned to this Parliament. I take it, therefore, that if successful in obtaining the leave of the House to introduce this Bill that we may confidently ask the Prime Minister and his colleagues to allow official recognition of Empire Day in future, and that the flagpoles on the great offices in London may be adorned with the national flag on that day in order that the will of the people may be carried out. I think I am particularly fortunate in having this day, which is an anniversary which some of us are celebrating—[An HON. MEMBER: "Where is your primrose?"]—on which to introduce this Bill. The Bill is very short and simple. The various Departments of State have the flagpoles and they have the flags, and they have the good feeling of the great majority of the people throughout the Empire behind them. All that we ask is that they should give official recognition to the day, and set a tone throughout the country for making the 24th of May Empire Day, thus show to those Colonials who happen to visit our shores at the time, that we are not neglectful here, in the centre of the Empire, and in order to show those foreigners who happen to visit our shores that we have the greatest Empire in the world. The second part of the Bill is to permit the flying of the flag on our national schools, under certain conditions, where a majority of the parents, 1896 and the managers, are all united that such should be done. I think no one in the House can find objection to flying the flag on Empire Day on our schools, so that the youths may be taught the true meaning of the flag, and so that from their youth upwards they may recognise and know what Empire means, and so that they will be all the better citizens when they grow up.
I place greater importance on the second part of the Bill, namely, the recognition by the proper authorities of the necessity of teaching the youth of the country the full meaning of the national flag rather than on the first part. At the same time, I think that when it is a well-known fact that the ratepayers of the country pay for the erection of these great buildings in London and other large cities, that they should have their feelings consulted in this matter; and that we should be permitted to see that the flags are hoisted on the day that is now increasingly honoured throughout the Empire. The Prime Minister was the only Member of the Cabinet from whom I got any courtesy in the matter. In 1908 he made one of his most courteous and, at the same time, most amazing replies. He said that if I would from time to time give him such information as was at my disposal as to the growth of a general desire for this particular form of manifestation on the part of the people of the Empire it would receive his most respectful consideration. I think there can be no question whatever that if I am refused permission to introduce this Bill by even one less than in 1908 that will be an indication to the right hon. Gentleman that there is a growing desire on the subject; and if on the other hand the House is unanimous in its desire to celebrate the day and does not divide against the Bill, then I say that we will be within a very short distance of having the occupants of the Front Bench brought to a sense of proper proportion, and that they will accede to the wishes of the great majority of the people of the Empire. I beg to move
§ Sir CHARLES W. DILKEIf the only question before the House was that of flying the Hag upon the public buildings I should leave the hon. Member alone as far as I am concerned. The hon. Member has attacked one of the Front Benches, but I think he is not justified in only making it on one, as the other has adopted a similar attitude.
Captain CRAIGI was not in the Parliament prior to 1906, and in 1908 our Front Bench told for this Bill.
§ Sir C. W. DILKEThe flag was refused to be flown on the public buildings at the time the Conservative party was in power. It is considered an administrative matter as far as the Government is concerned. I do not profess to understand the principles which regulate the matter, but they are very strange. Why Scotland flies the flag of Scotland at the Scottish Office and why Ireland flies the National flag at the Irish Office—these are mysteries of that kind which I never could understand. Personally I agree with the hon. Member in his desire that the flag should be popularised, and I strongly supported the late Mr. Arnold Forster when he proposed that it should be flown on the Palace of St. Stephen's—just as it is in every other Parliament in the world. That was a matter on which the House of Commons unanimously agreed with Mr. Arnold Forster, and it was done, and continues to be done. But this Bill deals with a more delicate matter—the opinion of the great self-governing Dominions and the opinion of India are very far from being as unanimous on this subject as the hon. Member would lead us to suppose.
4.0 P.M.
The King's Birthday is the public occasion of celebrating the unity of that most powerful and delicate fabric that we call the British Empire. It is the most ancient and the most widely accepted. The King's Birthday celebration is as popular among the French-Canadians at Quebec and the Dutch at Bloemfontein and Pretoria as it is in any part of the Empire. It is universally accepted and recognised, and anything that can be done to popularise that ceremonial on that day it would be wise to do. But Members have only to read the reports of the last Colonial Conference to see how delicate is the use, in certain portions of the Empire, of the term "Imperial." It means different things. A day set apart for an Imperial celebration in some parts of the Empire is a source
§ of division and peril among people equally patriotic. The fact that a difference arose between New Zealand and Australia, who are equally patriotic, upon the use of the term "Imperial" in connection with Army matters, that Mr. Deakin, himself an Imperialist, found difficulty in the use of the term, shows how delicate a matter this is, and how unwise it is that it should be left to any single Member of this House. It is a matter which ought to be brought only with the approbation of both Front Benches before the self-governing Dominions and India. In India there is an Empire Day, which is set aside to celebrate I the assumption of the title of "Emperor I of India," but that is an entirely different idea from that contained in this Bill.
§ Sir C. W. DILKEMy only point is that this means a different thing. In this country I agree with the hon. Member (Captain Craig) that Empire Day, which is the birthday of the late Queen, has obtained a popularity even among those Radicals whom he condemns. In my own Constituency schools managed by my leading supporters make use of those symbols, and have those holidays which the hon. Member desires. But this Bill goes far wide of that. It will be taken in the Dominions and in India as being the institution by the Imperial Parliament, without consulting them, of a day on which very delicate matters are to be brought before the people in an ill-considered fashion. I submit that the hon. Member ought not to force the House, by the proceeding he adopts, when he could present his Bill and have it printed and considered, to take sides on a question which involves matters so delicate as those dealt with by this Bill.
§ Question put, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the official recognition of the 24th day of May as Empire day."
§ The House divided: Ayes, 150; Noes, 242.
1899| Division No. 42.] | AYES. | [4.6 p.m. |
| Acland-Hood, Rt. Hon. Sir Alex. F. | Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J. (City Lond.) | Bentinck, Lord H. Cavendish. |
| Adam, Major William A. | Banbury, sir Frederick George | Beresford, Lord Charles |
| Allen, Charles Peter | Banner, John S. Harmood- | Bird, Alfred |
| Arbuthnot, Gerald A. | Barnston, Harry | Bottomley, Horatio |
| Atherley-Jones, Liewellyn A. | Barrio, H. T. (Londonderry, N.) | Boyle, W. Lewis (Norfolk, Mid) |
| Bagot, Colonel Josceline | Bathurst, Hon. Allen B. (Glouc. E.) | Boyton, James |
| Baird, John Lawrence | Bathurst, Charles (Wilts, Wilton) | Brackenbury, Henry Langton |
| Baker, Sir Randolf L. (Dorset, N.) | Beckett, Hon. William Gervase | Brassey, H. L. C. (Northants, H.) |
| Balcarres, Lord | Benn, Ion Hamilton (Greenwich) | Bridgeman, William Clive |
| Brunskill, Gerald Fitzgibbon | Heath, Col. Arthur Howard | Paget, Almeric Hugh |
| Burgoyne, Alan Hughes | Heaton, John Henniker | Parker, Sir Gilbert (Gravesend) |
| Campbell, Rt. Hon. J. H. M. | Henderson, H. G. H. (Berkshire) | Parkes, Ebenezer |
| Carllie, Edward Hildred | Hickman, Colonel Thomas E. | Peel, Capt. R. F. (Woodbridge) |
| Castlereagh, Viscount | Hill, Sir Clement L. (Shrewsbury) | Perkins, Walter Frank |
| Cecil, Evelyn (Aston Manor) | Hoare, Samuel John Gurney | Peto, Basil Edward |
| Chaloner, Col. R. G. W. | Hooper, Arthur George | Pretyman, Ernest George |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J. A. (Worc'r.) | Hope, Harry (Bute) | Proby, Col. Douglas James |
| Chapple, Dr. William Allen | Hope, James Fitzalan (Sheffield) | Randies, Sir John Scurrah |
| Clive, Percy Archer | Home, William E. (Surrey, Guildford) | Rankin, Sir James |
| Clyde, James Avon | Horner, Andrew Long | Rawson, Col. Richard H. |
| Cooper, Capt. Bryan R. (Dublin, S.) | Hunter, Sir Chas. Rodk. (Bath) | Rees, J. D. |
| Courthope, George Loyd | Jackson, John A. (Whitehaven) | Rice, Hon. Walter Fitz-Uryaa |
| Cowan, William Henry | Jardine, Ernest (Somerset, East) | Roberts, S. (Sheffield, Ecclesall) |
| Craig, Charles Curtis (Antrim, S.) | Jessel, Captain Herbert M. | Royds, Edmund |
| Craig, Norman (Kent, Thanet) | Kerr-Smiley, Peter Kerr | Samuel, Sir Harry (Norwood) |
| Cripps, Sir Charles Alfred | Kerry, Earl of | Sandys, G. J. (Somerset, Welts) |
| Croft, Henry Page | Kinloch-Cooke, Sir Clement | Sassoon, Sir Edward Albert |
| Dickson, Rt. Hon. C. S. (Glasgow, E.) | Kirkwood, John H. M. | Spicer, Sir Albert |
| Dixon, Charles Harvey (Boston) | Knight, Capt. Eric Ayshford | Stanier, Beville |
| Du Cros, A. (Tower Hamlets, Bow) | Knott, James | Stanley, Hon. Arthur (Ormskirk) |
| Duncannon, Viscount | Lane-Fox, G. R. | Steel-Maitland A.D. |
| Falle, Bertram Godfray | Lee, Arthur Hamilton | Stewart, Sir M'T. (Kirkcudbrightsh.) |
| Fell, Arthur | Lewisham, Viscount | Strauss, Arthur |
| Fitzroy, Hon. Edward A. | Llewelyn, Venables | Sykes, Alan John |
| Fletcher, John Samuel | Locker-Lampson, G. (Salisbury) | Talbot, Lord Edmund |
| Foster, John K. (Coventry) | Lyttelton, Rt. Hn. A. (S. Geo., Han. Sq.) | Tryon, Capt. George Clement |
| Gardner, Ernest | Lyttelton, Hon. J. C. (Droitwich) | Wairond, Hon. Lionel |
| Gastrell, Major W. Houghton | Macmaster, Donald | Ward, A. S. (Herts, Watford) |
| Gilmour, Captain John | M'Calmont, Colonel James | Waring, Walter |
| Goldsmith, Frank | Magnus, Sir Philip | Wheler, Granville C. H. |
| Gooch, Henry Cubitt | Meysey-Thompson, E. C. | White, Major G. D. (Lane. Southport) |
| Gordon, John | Middlemore, John Throgmorton | White, J. Dundas (Dumbartonshire) |
| Grant, James Augustus | Mildmay, Francis Bingham | Williams, Col. R. (Dorset, W.) |
| Greene, Walter Raymond | Millar, James Duncan | Willoughby, Major Hon. Claude |
| Gwynne, R. S. (Sussex, Eastbourne) | Moore, William | Wood, John (Stalybridge) |
| Hambro, Angus Valdemar | Morpeth, Viscount | Worthington-Evans, L. (Colchester) |
| Hamersley, Alfred St. George | Morrison-Bell, Major A. C. | Wyndham, Rt. Hon. George |
| Hamilton, Marquess of (Londonderry) | Newman, John R. P. | Younger, George (Ayr Burghs) |
| Hardy, Laurence (Kent, Ashford) | Newton, Harry Kottingham | |
| Harrison-Broadley, H. B. | Nicholson, Wm. G. (Petersfield) | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—Captain Craig and Mr. G. O. Faber. |
| Harwood. George | Orde-Powlett, Hon. W. G. A. | |
| NOES. | ||
| Abraham, William | Cullinan, John | Harvey, W. E. (Derbyshire, N.E.) |
| Ainsworth, John Stirling | Davies, Ellis William (Eifion) | Haslam, James (Derbyshire) |
| Anderson, Andrew Macbeth | Davies, Sir W. Howell (Bristol, S.) | Haworth, Arthur A. |
| Armitage, Robert | Delany, William | Hayden, John Patrick |
| Ashton, Thomas Gair | Devlin, Joseph | Hazleton, Richard |
| Baker, Harold T. (Accrington) | Dillon, John | Healy, Maurice (Cork, N.E.) |
| Baker, Joseph Allen (Finsbury, E.) | Doris, William | Henderson, Arthur (Durham) |
| Balfour, Robert (Lanark) | Duffy, William J. | Henry, Charles Solomon |
| Barnes, George N. | Duncan, C. (Barrow-in-Furness) | Herbert, Col. Sir Ivor (Mon. S.) |
| Barran, Rowland Hirst (Leeds, N.) | Duncan, J. Hastings (York, Otley) | Higham, John Sharp |
| Barry, Edward (Cork, S.) | Edwards, Enoch | Hindie, Frederick George |
| Barry, Redmond J. (Tyrone, N.) | Elverston, Harold | Hobhouse, Rt. Hon. Charles E. H. |
| Barton, William | Esmonde, Sir Thomas | Hodge, John |
| Beale, William Phipson | Falconer, James | Hogan, Michael |
| Benn, W. (Tower Hamlets, S. Geo.) | Farrell, James Patrick | Hope, John Deans (Fife, West) |
| Bentham, George Jackson | Fenwick, Charles | Horne, Charles Silvester (Ipswich) |
| Black, Arthur W. | Ferens, Thomas Robinson | Hudson, Walter |
| Boland, John Pius | Ferguson, Ronald C. Munro | Hughes, Spencer Leigh |
| Bowles, Thomas Gibson | Ffrench, Peter | Illingworth, Percy H. |
| Brace, William | Field, William | Jardine, Sir John (Roxburghshire) |
| Brady, Patrick Joseph | Flavin, Michael Joseph | Johnson, William |
| Brigg, Sir John | Gibson, James Puckering | Jones, Sir D. Brynmor (Swansea) |
| Brunner, John F. L. | Gilhooly, James | Jones, Edgar R. (Merthyr Tydvil) |
| Burke, E. Haviland. | Gill, Alfred Henry | Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth) |
| Burt, Rt. Hon Thomas | Glanville, Harold James | Jones, William (Carnarvonshire) |
| Buxton, C. R. (Devon, Mid) | Glover. Thomas | Jowett, Frederick William |
| Buxton, Noel (Norfolk, North) | Goddard, Sir Daniel Ford | Joyce, Michael |
| Byles, William Pollard | Greenwood, Granville George | Keating, Matthew |
| Cameron, Robert | Griffith, Ellis Jones (Anglesey) | Kelly, Edward |
| Cawley, H. T. (Lanes., Heywood) | Guiney, Patrick | Kennedy, Vincent Paul |
| Chancellor, Henry George | Gulland, John William | Kettle, Thomas Michael |
| Channing, Sir Francis Allston | Gwynn, Stephen Lucius (Galway) | Kilbride, Denis |
| Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston S. | Hackett, John | Lardner, James Carrige Rustle |
| Clancy, John Joseph | Hancock, John George | Law, Hugh A. (Donegal, W.) |
| Collins, Stephen (Lambeth) | Harcourt, Rt. Hon. L. (Ronendale) | Leach, Charles |
| Collins, Sir Wm. J. (St. Pancras, W.) | Harcourt, Robert V. (Montrose) | Lehmann, Rudolf C. |
| Condon, Thomas Joseph | Hardie, J. Keir (Merthyr Tydvil) | Levy, Sir Maurice |
| Crawshay-Williams, Eliot | Harvey, A. G. C. (Rochdale) | Lewis, John Herbert |
| Crossley, Sir William J. | Harvey, T. E. (Leeds, West) | Lincoln, Ignatius Timothy T. |
| Lundon, Thomas | Palmer, Godfrey Mark | Taylor, John W. (Durham) |
| Macdonald, J. R. (Leicester) | Parker, James (Halifax) | Taylor, Theodore C. (Radcliffe) |
| Macdonald, J. M. (Falkirk Burghs) | Pease, Rt. Hon. Joseph A. | Thomas, Sir A. (Glamorgan, E.) |
| MacNeill, John Gordon Swift | Philipps, John (Longford, S.) | Thomas, James Henry (Derby) |
| MacVeagh, Jeremiah | pirle, Duncan V. | Thome, G. R. (Wolverhampton) |
| Markham, Arthur Basil | Pointer, Joseph | Thorne, William (West Ham) |
| Martin, Joseph | Pollard, Sir George H. | Toulmin, George |
| Meagher, Michael | Ponsonby, Arthur A. W. H. | Trevelyan, Charles Philips |
| Meehan, Francis E. (Leltrim, N.) | Power, Patrick Joseph | Twist, Henry |
| Meehan, Patrick A. (Queen's County) | Price, C. E. (Edinburgh, Central) | Verney, Frederick William |
| Menzies, Sir Walter | Priestley, Sir W. E. B. (Bradford, E.) | Wadsworth, John |
| Molloy, Michael | Pringle, William M. R. | Walsh, Stephen |
| Molteno, Percy Alport | Radford, George Heynes | Walton, Joseph |
| Mooney, John J. | Raffan, Peter Wilson | Ward, John (Stoke-upon-Trent) |
| Morgan, G. Hay (Cornwall) | Rainy, Adam Rolland | Ward, W. Dudley (Southampton) |
| Morgan, J. Lloyd (Carmarthen) | Raphael, Herbert Henry | Wardie, George J. |
| Morton, Alpheus Cleophas | Rea, Walter Russell | Warner, Thomas Courtenay T. |
| Muldoon, John | Reddy, Michael | Wason, Rt. Hon. E. (Clackmannan) |
| Murray, Capt. Hon. Arthur C. | Redmond, John E. (Waterford) | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney) |
| Muspratt, Max | Redmond, William (Clare, E.) | Waterlow, David Sydney |
| Nannetti, Joseph P. | Rendall, Athelstan | Watt, Henry A. |
| Neilson, Francis | Richards, Thomas | Wedgwood, Josiah C. |
| Nolan, Joseph | Roberts, George H. (Norwich) | White, Sir Luke (York, E.R.) |
| Norton, Capt. Cecil W. | Roberts, Sir J. H. (Denbighs.) | White, Patrick (Meath, North) |
| Nugent, Sir Walter Richard | Robertson, John M. (Tyneside) | Whitehouse, John Howard |
| Nussey, Sir T. Willans | Robson, Sir William Snowdon | Whittaker, Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas P. |
| Nuttall, Harry | Roche, Augustine (Cork) | Whyte, Alexander F. (Perth) |
| O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) | Roche, John (Galway, East) | Wiles, Thomas |
| O'Brien, William (Cork) | Roe, Sir Thomas | Wilkie, Alexander |
| O'Connor, John (Kildare, N.) | Rowntree, Arnold | Williams, Penry (Middlesbrough) |
| O'Connor, T. P. (Liverpool) | Runciman, Rt. Hon. Walter | Wilson, Hon. G. G. (Hull, W.) |
| O'Doherty, Philip | Samuel, J. (Stockton-on-Tees) | Wilson, Henry J. (York, W.R.) |
| O'Donnell, John (Maya, S.) | Scanlan, Thomas | Wilson, John (Durham, Mid) |
| O'Donnell, Thomas (Kerry, W.) | Scott, A. H. (Ashton-under-Lyne) | Wilson, T. F. (Lanark, N.E.) |
| O'Dowd, John | Seddon, James A. | Wilson, W. T. (Westhoughton) |
| O'Grady, James | Shackleton, David James | Winfrey, Richard |
| O'Kelly, Edward P. (Wicklow, W.) | Shortt, Edward | Wing, Thomas |
| O'Kelly, James (Roscommon, N.) | Smyth, Thomas F. (Leltrim, S.) | Young, Samuel (Cavan, East) |
| O'Malley, William | Snowden, Philip | |
| O'Neill, Charles (Armagh, S.) | Soames, Arthur Wellesley | |
| O'Shaughnessy, P. J. | Summers, James Woolley | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Clough. |
| O'Shee, James John | Sutherland, John E. | |
| O'Sullivan, Eugene | Sutton, John E. |