At the 1921 Imperial Conference British Prime Minister Lloyd George said : '' In recognition of their service and achievements during the war , the British Dominions have now been accepted fully into the comity of the nations of the whole world . They are signatories to the Treaty of Versailles and all other treaties of peace . They are members of the Assembly of the League of Nations , and their representatives have already attended meetings of the League . In other words , they have achieved full national status and they now stand beside the United Kingdom as equal partners in the dignities and responsibilities of the British Commonwealth . If there are any means by which that status can be rendered even more clear to their own communities and to the world at large , we shall be glad to have them put forward . '' The Balfour Declaration ( not to be confused with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on Palestine ) stated that " They the Dominions are autonomous Communities within the British Empire , equal in status , in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs , though united by a common allegiance to the Crown , and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations . " This was given legal effect by the Statute of Westminster 1931 , which took effect when a given Dominion adopted it . The New Zealand Government saw little urgency in the Act and delayed ratification , but for practical purposes 1926 had removed doubts about functional independence . At the opening of the 1930 Imperial Conference which drafted the Statute of Westminster , the Prime Minister of New Zealand , George Forbes stated : " New Zealand has not , in any great measure , been concerned with the recent development in the constitutional relations between the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations . We have felt that at all times within recent years we have had ample scope for our national aspirations and ample freedom to carry out in their entirety such measures as have seemed to us desirable . " While in 1914 Britain had decided on war for the whole Empire , in 1939 the Dominions made their own decisions . On 3 September 1939 New Zealand declared war on Germany . Declaration of war is normally regarded as an indication of sovereignty
1921 Imperial Conference
1921 Imperial Conference
Independence of New Zealand