In the first place, one of the essentials for such a federation would be that each state should be a self-governing colony. The mine owner knows, and the Government of Great Britain must know by now, that once self-government is given to the Transvaal, Chinese slavery would be at an end. Therefore the mine owners, who really "boss" the Transvaal, would take care to suppress any agitation in favour of self-government. As they refused the referendum so will they refuse the Boer and the Briton the right of free constitution. Hence the granting of responsible government to the Transvaal is deferred, and hence the federation of South Africa is postponed indefinitely. Again, Cape Colony would never consent to the federation of the Transvaal unless the Chinese labourers were repatriated. They have stated their opinion in no uncertain language. They would have no desire to enter into a partnership arrangement with a community which was hampered with such a grave social problem as Chinese labour. The Transvaal has done harm enough to Cape Colony, without adding this last straw to the load of evil which the gold mines of the Rand have bred for her. This is one of the Imperial political disasters resulting immediately from the importation of Chinese labour. There is another Imperial consideration even more serious. No one can read the protests sent to the Colonial Office by the great self-governing colonies that fought in the war, without realizing the gravity with which such a breaking away from the traditions of the Empire has been received by these colonies. Had we known it was to be war for the Chinese miners, the appeal made to Australia for men and arms would have had a very different effect. This is the substance of Australia's protest. Sentiment is a thing easily destroyed. Not even the Government, I think, can realize the indignation felt in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand by the Indentured Labour Ordinance. It should have been the policy of the Imperial Government to foster the tie that binds all the units of the Empire together. Mr. Chamberlain has voiced this opinion times out of number; our Imperial bards have sung it. The Government, which has always boasted that it was more Imperial than the Opposition, more wrapped up in the honour and the greatness of the Empire, has made this sentiment a commonplace in every election speech. And yet they have done more to destroy this bond than any other party in the state.