THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 123, 25 May 1909, Page 4

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

WILL SIR JOSEPH WARD GOT Interviewed upon the likelihood of Sir Joseph Ward going Home to represent New Zealand at the Imperial Defence Conference, the Hon. T. Mackenzie,' Minister for Agriculture, stated that though the matter had come before Cabinet for consideration, no decision had yet been arrived at, and it was impossible to say at the present time whether the Prime Minister would go Home for the Conference, or when Parliament would meet in the event of it being decided that he should go. A very great compliment has, the Minister adds, been paid to New Zealand, inasmuch as -the British Government has intimated that they would wait until the latter part of July for the presence of Sir Joseph Ward before holding the conference. "Sir Joseph Ward," added the Hon Mr Mackenzie, "is the man who should go to represent us at this important time. Of what importance is it to us that we should till our soil and prepare our products for export if the highway of our commerce to the great markets of the world is unsafe or the markets themselves are destroyed? Such a catastrophe is not an impossible contingency when you consider the absolute defencelessness of the Empire so far as her army is concerned to the present moment."