ABSTRACT
The Empire after the victory of 1918 seemed to be at the height of its power and the old King believed fervently that it would endure. The idea of the British Empire being transformed into a union of independent countries developed gradually. The force of law was given to this formula in the Statute of Westminster. The ‘autonomous communities’ were commonly called Dominions, though this was really only the proper title of Canada. The Statute was approved by the Parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the South African Union, Newfoundland1, die Irish Free State, and – long afterwards – New Zealand. Small colonies, like British Somaliland, often found it difficult to make both ends meet, having to pay interest on any money which they borrowed from banks or the British Treasury, though fortunate dependencies like the Malay States, who produced quantities of rubber for the tyres of the ever-increasing thousands of motor cars, became rich quickly.
