The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1910. THE NEXT IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 921, 14 September 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1910. THE NEXT IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

• days , a S° the.. Prime 5? E ' ln re P? y an inquiry'by Mr. llttcoui, indicated v that he might give the House an opportunity, session ends,'of discussing the interests of -New' Zealand in _the Imperial Conference to be hit it X ear ' We sinc erely trust, that Mr.. Malcolm, will find enough members to support him in preventing the matter ' from being overlooked. Members could not better prove their claims to be considered Imperialists than by deciding that it is worth while to set apart two or three whole days later in tho session tor a'discussion of the questions | which the country would' liko to nave raised by its representative, whoever he may;be. In; the: ; mean-' time this wook's London mail bhW us a. summary of an interesting Blue-Book which reports, mainly through tho printing of. correspondence, tho progress that has been made since tile Conference of 1907. ' This document is interesting, wo say, but lntercstihg not for what it contains in the way of results, but for what 'aV"?? lll , t ' le way of non-results. At the 1007 Conference 20 resolutions were passed, and . these are taken one by one in the Blue-Book; but .under the black type of many oi them there is no correspondence u° S "9 W Mint anything whatever'has boen done. The first result of the Conference, it will be remembered, Wis rearrangement: of tho Colonial Office, a Dominions Depai-t----ment being formed. This innovation • v ' aS cc Rifled --to " the- Dominions in September, 1907, .a,hd the present clue-Book makes public for the first, time the replies rccoived by tho' Colonial Office. - The replies, we are bound to sav, are-not-very encouraging. The'rephes of _the Transvaal, Gape and flataL Governments- went in : the direction'of urging that the change made had been of no particular conscquenco. The Cape, Government regarded the . new arrangement as "a temporary expedient, and urged that- it should be considered' aj a hrst .step to "the ultimate • establishment of an ■ Imperial department." "T?" was -: a lmost contemptuous. The ..change was ."too. minute . call for attention," and differed vitally from tho compromise' finally accepted at the ~1907 Conference. What waa then contemplated by the Australian -Government, he wrote, was an organisation- entirely s&arthe Colonial Office, with pincers controlled .by the Conference, and'maintained by the countries represented. New- Zealand readers will, of course, be most interested in • 2 1 ?' JpfWH-Wabb's reply to the Colonial Office dispatch, and we are sorry to be , unable to givei it, for the sufficient reason that he seems to have sent no reply at any time in the last three years despite, the fact that the _ Secretary of State ' made turther inquiries on two subsequent occasions. This silence—a similar silence was maintained by Canadawas declared by the Times to be What it may portend in the case of Canada we do n'6t know, but, .our' British cousins' may 'rest assured that so far as New' Zealand is the silence means nothing : more than • that the Government of this country has been too SfgPv, absorbed, in its own domestic difficulties to have'either the, time or the inclination to pay much iatten--tion to anything outside local politics. Imperial spade-work is suited neither to tho taste nor to the capacity of any of the present Ministry. The question of Imperial JJelenca was, of course, dealt with by the subsidiary Conference of last year; nothing was done to give any effect to the resolution. urging the desirableness of encouraging British emigrants to" remain within the Empire ; _ the appointment ■ of' Trade Commissioners is the ! uet result of the preferential trade resolutions. There a good deal of correspondence, however, on subjects outside the area of the Conference rcsolu -tions.

_ Thei general impression which the Blue-Book must leave .on the mind of thoughtful readers will be a not unpleasant one. To the impatient spirits who long disinterestedly for a patent Umpire, and to those others whoso Imperialism is not quite untainted by interest in the success of a particular ' policy,, the placidity of the interval since the Coiiferenco will be very welcome and reassuring For there seemed in 1907 to be everv likelihood that the Empire might be thrown into a-ferment of reconstruction and change. The popular idea certainly, was that everything was ready for tho delivery of the Empire into the hands of tho carpenters and tho masons, and that the work would be put in hand "just as soon as the architects at the Conference hacl agreed upon the plans. That nothing much has been done! and. .that ..'nobody.., seems..,to have' wanted to do very.much, of a radical sort, may suggest to. some ..minds'

that, the Conferences are formal farces of no value. Surely, however, tho correct conclusion is no ' more than that the Empire is too large and ponderous a system to be moved rapidly. Politicians ,ir<S apt to get into the habit of thinking of the Empire as a thing to bo changed at will, the only essential being the agreement of a score .of gentlemen sitting round a table. But since the Empire in like human nature in the vastness and gravity of its processes, and in its independence of the resolutions of Congresses and Councils, these politicians need not feel surprised ..that the intensely, serious Conference of 1907, despite the great ability of many of the delegates to, it, has had no greater effect upon the fundamentals of the Empire than is exercised upon human nature, by the operations of any political theory whatsoever. J.t is a good thing to. know that the Empiru cannot be forced out of the course of its natural development, by artificial means. Change will come when the time is ripe for change—not sooner, and not . later. This is what the politicians should endeavour to realise. There is so much impatience nowadays that it is good to find the London Times, which inclines towards favouring rapid movement in Imperial affairs, admitting, in respect of the idea of an. Imperial Council, that "in so delicate and difficult a problem, wherein it is easier to make false steps than to retra.ee them, progress towards an. ultimate ideal must necessarily be cautious." -Few people Would deny that the tendency of the Conferences is against caution, but if they are held in the right spirit they cannot, but be of great value as period-ical-stock-takings.' ■ Hitherto the Parliaments,of the Dominions have surrendered their authority .in . respect of the Conferences to their Executivesrand'it .is so :well worth considering whether- this unnatural abdication—the result of which, as New ■ Zealanders have reason to know, may be the representation of a Dominion by_a delegate very much out of touch with its feelings-should not be ended, that' parliament cpuld not better spend two or three days than by giving its attention to the. whole question; ...