The alteration in status was stirred by a sentiment on the part of the prime ministers of the self-governing colonies of the British Empire that a new term was necessary to differentiate them from the non-self-governing colonies . At the 1907 Imperial Conference , it was argued that self-governing colonies that were not styled ' Dominion ' ( like Canada ) or ' commonwealth ' ( like Australia ) should be designated by some such title as ' state of the empire ' . After much debate over lexicon , the term ' Dominion ' was decided upon
1907 Imperial Conference
1907 Imperial Conference
Dominion of New Zealand