EMPIRE COUNCIL

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18073, 15 May 1924, Page 9

EMPIRE COUNCIL

sf) PARTY POLITICS.

SUGGESTION BY MR THOMAS.

OPPOSITION LEADERS SHOULD ATTEND CONFERENCES.'

''''l-* ABSOCU7IOK OOPY&IGHT.) fvSw f D "• CABLB ASSOCUTIOH -> (Received May 14th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 14. jjt ) B. Thomas (Secretary of State fcr tiseOflianies), Bpeaking at a dinner v „ to Mr Theodore (Prime Minister s*LtfUlDfid), at the Hotel Cecil, ade an imP° rtant s tatement m refer * 18 Imperial Conferences. said: "I know it is a dei,We subject, but 1 believe it is bet-, t*to gpeak of things that ought to be ?ieTtban merely of pleasant ♦Urt t recognise that there are of Britain and the DoniS who are anxious-mdeed appre-Snsirfr-about the outcome of the Bfittah Government turning down, -„,« ruthlessly, recommendations sol* Ztt arrived at by the Imperial Con*SJut»wa« only blind party politics ttt usuilHJ that there was only one aide to iuch ouwtioiis. There are two, and I mrt to fwo them. I believe it was a mistake to bring Dominion Prime Ministers to deliberate and reach conIgioflS With the Government here, tfbtn there was a danger of the condtuloM tatoU repudiated either here or in their own Dominions. This happen«d in reference to last Imperial inference through the change in Government here. Steps should be taken to orevent a'ramrrenee in the future. «I have to watertight solution to •Set! but I * hink ? arty feeling coUld II, inotaad of only Prime jHnJttera attending the Conference, th« leaders of recognised official OpboBtliii te B» uin and tho Domimons L, also to attend, with the result tbtf united instead of party decisions cottfo t* reaohed. ' .■■•.- . , JiQueatiani of Imperial concern and of {Mire development should be lifte* out of the realm of party politics. tfhat wis the spirit in which he was seeking to -administer the Colonial (Mice. •» i . ■ , , ?h Tbqtfas added that he rejoiced at a?|eftt«U&t*Df the dispute between flntm9ial P^?*' *H« he was most apprehensive titkr«g&M ! to,tbe position when. Mr because he believed thai teach a settlement, and Dominion 1 to seek, financial a^stwithin, wbuld liaV»\Ws«^Wo^' ft,om whusjl i<J would ' fa to* Empire to re- , &fr&«f i » ' ' ■■■■"■':'.'""■'• Mr Theodore, proposing Mr Thomas's Jjwilth, flaisa tribute to his conspicu- * towards the recent settlelie came to London he Government and k Lg||mi;ciicjesj viewa as far apart aa ' jl&ityifr'liut the exercise of sound fljdiniofrsense on the part of all conintercourse, and the m^k|et,discussion of the issues' into overcoming entirely / IS difWences which had existed for said that the people of ifllft&i ; the more distant n](jns, who had 'lost much through must learn to make (Able allowances for different view&|itfc»|id |&utUally>to give credit, to tW'bbfiaJldes thereof. He declared that population and trade were) Jsunerring as fast «4 they, ought; consequently Australia was unable to p% tie part she ought in the 'Oommoiii tfeallji of Nationß. ' Jjhe chief reason was that Australian typbpment hitherto had been confined, kSouthern Australia. Half Australia liy übrth of the twenty-fifth parallel of latitude, but contained only 100,000 tpites. The White Australia policy <*)il4 t liot be justified unless use were ffltfdfr o| empty area.

UNITY.

RESIDENT MINISTERS. Vj'i'- (Wom'a nuoauta.) "S' OTTAWA, May 13. from London, Ontario, !|||pfr Sir Robert Borden, a former Wjm} addressing the Women's Cansuggested bringing the ?P&British Empire into closer' co*W»™» by resident Ministers in Bri)9j*fc Voice opinion in the Dominions "Pjtopjre. *nd external affairs. . I 04« gj €a t difficulty so far in the *#-of4jveater unity of Empire," he 3r t-' • 8 be€n the fact flt tho « Country has held a sort of in the administration of , affairs. Now the Dominions B?*. begun to have a (voice. We - ' *° nn d means whereDy each SjfV'te. part may express! its desire." i