IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18626, 26 February 1926, Page 15

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

LOCABNO TREATY, OVERSEAS SETTLEMENT. | (trojj ora ows coaaaaFOMßßitt.) LONDON, January 12. No authentic statement has k ßtfa made, but it appears that the Prima Minister has been in communication •with the Cfovornrnentg of the Dominion* with reference, to the date of the aest Imperial Conference. Whew the plans lor these Empire gatherings were first made, it W»« agreed I that they should take place. eVery four and other consideration!! in the various Dominions, as well »P Rt Home--4mfc *b<? Great War upset the arrangement, and the Conferences have been held at ir- : regular periods. ■ . When the Conference assembles, the Loearuo Treaty will doubtless be tbe first subject on, the agenda. |n dJseu&Sing the matter }n a finding article, tbe <«|foriiag Post" sap thai?e»uehatr tentlon baa. been wrested to what Is described as the spirit of fcoearno, tbftt the letter of liflearno fcaa perhaps been rather left out of consideration, "It is well, however, when the nation assumes what way be an eseeadingj ly oneyowa obligation, to e'stltoftte with mmo eara. what menus ife has at command to fulfil-that obligation. It is, indeed, for that reopen ihe Tjaaty of Locarno mafeea it necessary to discuss Imperial deduce with tfte J?o?»MOBS. Both their 1 security and their 'ability to contribute assistance to this country depend absolutely upon the strength <jf the Boyal Navy. That elementary and irrefutable axiom has been largely disregarded since the war. Australia New Zealand,, at least, suffer Under »0 illusions op that point. The QommflS* wealth and the Dominion weip founded, grew, prospered, and eentlnno to prop* per by reason of the' protection of the <«lsTpw is the tima for tho creation of the comprehensive scheme of Imperial migration which has been so Jong and so deplorably delayed. It in fair to pay that the Win pbataele is, not in this country, but 'overseas. . . , New Zealand no longer owns large vacant areas. But the Commonwealth of Australia offers to an envious world the gpcqia.eje of • a continent of inestimable natural riches, inhabited only upon ita const' line by a population less in number than the population of London."

Imperial Prefeswice. "Another question associated with Empire settlement is the policy of Imperial Preference. Tbo arrangements upon, which the Conference p£ 1923 were agreed have been carried into efeet by the present Government. Tha result* of these measures, and the proposals for extending them, will appear at tlje next Conference. The problem to bo solved is, of course, how to give the produce of the Dominions and Colonics an advantage in the British market without imposing a duty upon foreign fgodatujfs, Itu solution would bo much easier wore the production of the Dominions considerably increased; and it ean only fee increased by the establishment of new settlers in large numberg,'*