The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1911. IMPERIAL ORGANISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 137, 10 June 1911, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1911. IMPERIAL ORGANISATION.

Tor the cause tliat lacte enaittance, for the icrong that nctidt rcsietoaetf. Tor the future in the dietanoc, And the good that tee sa» da.

j The proposal for a standing committee Ito carry un the work of the Imperial I Conferences during the interval between , their sessions has evidently not found I favour in the eyes of the colonial delegates. Mr Harcourt's scheme may be reI garded as the British substitute for such a representative Imperial Council as Sir Joseph Ward originally proposed. For it j mw fairly 'be argued that the work of I the Imperial Conferences ought to be l caTTierl on from one session to another. j and if there is no standing Imperial j Council to attend to such matters it j may seem at first practicable to . hand them over to the permanent comi mittee that Mr Harcourt suggested. But as soon as ever we come to consider the j constitution or the powers of such a body, difficulties at once emerge. The j chief objection, raised in different ways j by Mr Botha and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, obI viously is that such a committee if it did anything of a practical nature to carry out the resolutions and recommendations of the Conferences would really be arrogating to itsell the powers of the various Governments. Now, so far as the Dominions are concerned, the Imperial Conferences can hardly be termed representative of the Empire. For though the delegates are Ministers in the various colonies, they have never submitted the resolutions that they have I proposed to exhaustive criticism in Parliament, nor have they received any special mandate from the electors to secure these special objects. Mr Harcourt evidently intended to evifer large executive powers on this committee, as he was prepared "to give effect More

11 111 81S 88 nc SK luiif

r-remier of ffouih Afr/ra that this would

mean a distinct interference with responsible government, and we are not surprised that the opposition was so strongly pronounced that Mr Harcourt finally withdrew 'his proposal altogether.

It is worthy of notice ibat the support wlilc-h the Colonial Secretary secured was provided chieily by Sir Joseph. Ward. And it is not difficult to understand why our Premier took this course. He sawin Mr. Harcourt's proposal an expedient that might help the Conference to take a large share of the administration of Imperial affairs out of the hands of the Colonial Office. As everybody who has followed the proceedings of these Conferences knows, Sir Joseph Ward has always advocated a complete change in tbe methods of government hitherto employed by England in dealing with the colonies. This view has been the source and origin of his enthusiasm for an Imperial Council; and it accounts also for the scheme which he has already submitted to the Conference for the complete reconstruction of the Colonial Office, and the infusion of a large proportion of "colonials" among its executive officials. As our Premier pointed out in his speech in defence of Mr. Harcourt's resolution, there are many matters connected with Imperial administration which it is not advisable for the Colonial Secretary to undertake; and this is the keynote of his whole -argument. However, Mr. Harcourt speedily discovered that in the opinion of the majority of the delegates, the advantages offered by his scheme were not worth the inseparable risks, and he was well advised in withdrawing the proposals. Sir Joseph Ward has had no better fortune with his scheme for the reorganisation of the Colonial Office; for in this case, as in many others, most of the delegates seem to be reluctant to force upon the Home Government proposals that may seem derogatory to the dignity and power of the Colonial Secretary. This natural hesitation may help to account for the tentative character oi most of the colonial proposals and the large proportion of them that are regular'y withdrawn after discussion. But it by no means follows th.it these efforts at Imperial reform arc futile. For th? good done by debates about Imperial administration may be substantial and enduring even if no resolutions are carried; and the value of such conferences can never be adequately estimated by the number of "the proposals that they have actually adopted or the practical reforms that they have acliioved.