EMPIRE CONFERENCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 172, 22 July 1924, Page 5

EMPIRE CONFERENCES.

FOREIGN POLICY. QUESTION OF UNITY. BETTER MACHINERY REQUIRED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON. June 11. Sir James Allen gave a luncheon to-day, :o which he invited a number of newspaper proprietors and editors of the English Press and, to meet them, journalists irom Australia and New Zealand. There, were no formal speeches, with the exception of that made by the High Commissioner, who seized the opportunity of addressing the Press of every school of political thought, from the 'Herald," which supports the Governnent. to the organ of the extreme right, :he "Morning Post" —to make a statenent dealing with the subject engrossing ittention in the political world to-day. Sir James Allen, after welcoming his niests, said: — "Last year two Imperial conferences ivere held, one dealing with Empire problems such as foreign policy and lefence, and the other with, economic questions—trade, preference and ex;hange. This year, with a change of 3overnment, several of the commendations of both conferences are not to be recommended to Parliament by the Government of the day, and are therefore loubtful of acceptance. The question naturally arises, of what value are Imperial conferences as at present constituted. "It is not my intention to deal with the resolutions except to say with respect. to preference that there is general disappointment in the Dominions and the colonies, and as to Singapore, both in, Australia and New Zealand grave unrest exists at the abandonment of the defence of a base which we look upon as a means of protecting our countries and trade routes in case of attack. "I do desire, however, to make short reference to the resolutions on 'Negotiations, Signature and Ratifying the Treaty.' Canada and Lausanne. "Some treaties, for instance, the Halibut Treaty, may be covered by the resolutions. As to others, of which Lausanne may be taken as a type, the resolutions leave us in the dark as to individual obligations, and the correspondence between the United Kingdom and Canada has not done much to lighten our darkness. Summing up the correspondence and the discussions it appears that Canada refused to ratify because she was not represented at Lausanne. The Prime Minister in debate last Friday in the House, in reply to a question as to whether Canada was undertaking the obligations of the treaty, replied: 'They are ratifying.' It appears to mc tliat this statement is open to doubt. Nor is the doubt cleared up by Mr. Mackenzie King's last pronouncement as reported in the papers last evening and this morning. He is reported to have said, 'Legally and technically Canada will be bound by the ratification of. the treaty . . . . but as respects the obligations arising out of the. treaty itself this Parliament : . . . will in no way be bound by any obligation beyond that which Parliament of its own volition recognises as arising out of the situation.' I will not attempt to interpret the resolutions, your Prime Minister's statement, or Mr. Mackenzie King's latest pronouncement. There was, however, one remark made by your Prime Minister, with which most of us will agree. He said, "I think the time has come when we have to consider in view of present circumstances, what machinery is required to lie created for the conduct of a united Imperial policy, particularly as regards foreign affairs.' It is gratifying to know that the Government has the problem under consideration, and that an will b» made to Parl iamen tjrcer on. But. meanwhile, I sufrgt #"chat much may be» done by our distinguished guests her? to-day "to educate the public mind through the medium of your papers, which represent Labour, Conservative and Liberal ideals. Defect in Constitution. "In examining the problem the question will arise; 'Why have Imperial conferences not achieved all that was expected of them?' Recent experiences provide the answer, namely, that some of the countries which go to make up the' Empire have had at the conferences as their representative a member of a Government in power at the time, the existence of which might l> short-lived. Is it not possible to remove this defect in the constitution of the Imperial Conference, especially on questions of foreign policy and dfenee (which seem inseparable) by such action as shall secure that the Prime Minister and anyone who accompanies him shall represent the Parliament and people as a whole. Under stress of war surely the representatives in the War Cabinet, speak for their people, and there seems no reason why, after discussion in Parliament or amongst the leaders of parties the representatives " at Imperial Conferences should not be placed in an equally strong position. Could this be achieved we should have assurance that the conference would not be challenged if a . change of Government did take place. Conferences, however, can meet only at intervals. Further machinery is required to keep in touch with United Kingdom Ministers, who represent the chief partners and who, through their diplomatic services have knowledge of events hap- ' pening throughout the world. Correspondence has not proved an adequate, means to meet this need. The, alternative seems to be Dominion representation in London, and for this two suggestions have been made; one that a Dominion Minister should be resident in London, the other that the High Commissioner should act. To duplicate Dominion representation in London seems unnecessary, and there are objections to a Minister, one being that his appointment I would probably be unacceptable to members of Parliament other than those of the Government party. In my judgment it would be better to appoint the High Commissioner, who should be the best man possible, selected because of his experience, his ■'knowledge of his country and its people, and broad minded enough to put aside whatever party polities hi; possessed. Whoever may be appointed, the duties devolving upon him would be to receive information from, and give information to. the Prime Minister or the Foreign Office; to make sure that no delay took place in transmitting information and advice to his Government.

Arrangements arc,not yet sufficiently far advanced to admit of a reliable statement of the total cost of the new British cruisers, including guns, armour an.l ammunition equipment, now being constructed in the Koyal dockyards and by private firms, respectively, being prepared, but as far as the construction of the hulls is concerned it is anticipated by the Navy Parliament Secretary that the cost of the dockyard-built ships will compare favourably with the cost of the ships to be built in private yards.