Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1917. IMPERIAL WAR CABINET

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 98, 25 April 1917, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1917. IMPERIAL WAR CABINET

It ie now five weeks since the sittings' ■of the imperial War Cabinet began, but wo have heard next to nothing of its proceedings. The secrets of the war are not for the public ear, and the alternation of these Cabinet meetings with others of a less special and confidential character on the lines of a normal Imperial Conferencel does not appear to have been found practicable. There yhas, howevor, been some business transacted which deaijs with broader issues than those presented by the conduct of the war. The resolution relating tft the ad- ■ mission of India to future Imperial Con- i ferences was of this nature. The repre- i sentatives of India were summoned to j the War Cabinet on exactly t&e same' footing as those of the Dominions, and the idea was universally approved. If it was the Dominions' loyal service, to the Empire in the war that has established beyond cavil their footing in the: Imperial partnership, India has made good her claim in precisely the' same way. So potent a fact was beyond the power and the deaire of the Dominions, vrhose interests had sometimes clashed; with hers, to dispute. They have therefore been proud that their representatives should have been meeting those of India on equal terms in the War Cabine/t, and they are glad to see that the resolution recommending that the recognition extended to the loyalty of India by the Imperial Government for this purpose should bo permanently adopted by the Imperial Conference was carried • unanimously. The assent of all the Dominion Governments to the change thus proposed in tho constitution of the Imperial Conference may.be regarded as) & certainty.

The latest) report of the geneiral progress made with' the work of /the Imperial AVar Cabinet was not enOouraging from the standpoint of those Dominions which have urgent work awaiting their delegates at home. "It is understood," said a London dated a week ago, " that the "greater p*rt of the urgent work of the Imperial Cabinet Conference will be finished early* in May; In order to get through i'ls task the Conference will shortly begin evening sessions." It is to b& noted that even with the help of evening I sittings th« Conference was not) expected to complete its work by the date named. It is only the greater part of its urgent work that the Conference is considered likely to finish early in May. We;are left in the dark as to how much is Covered by the referepce to "urgent vyork." Is it; limited to the war work for which the^ Conference' was convened!? Or does itrinclude the more important of the general problems, which the delisgat.es were> expected to take the! opportunity of; dis r cussing? There is nothijig to show that any general discussion pi this kind has taken place. As there* was in this case -nOjreason for secrecy/ the presumption, is either that no thrie ha* been found A for this sort .of discussion, or that what-> ever discussion has tfcken place : has been; of too informal a character for publica-. tioh. . .■ / The most important of these-general subjects is the probleto of the organisation .of the Empire after,the war. Hitherto the Empire has been governed in regard to its external affairs and its common interests by an Parlianient which represents the United^ Kingßbm alone, and is subject to. all the *vag;w:ies of its domestic poilitics. A more representative body«Jias come into existence once in every four 1 years/ but its'duration has on each occasion been brief/, its power insignificant, and its achievement inconsiderable. In the speech whiteh is fully reported' in to-day's Post,; Mr. Massey even goes so far as to say that "the results of Imperial Conferences in the past have been, practically nil." Ib is certainly beyond dispute that it (eitherthe performance nor the promise aof the Imperial Conference is such as to ; justify the hope that the solution of tb c Im- | perial problem or any material cot itribution to its solution is to be found along these lines. The best help that tl le Imperial Conference could render Ho the Empire would bo by showing howj a per- [ mansnt body could ha gpt up; to i'jf^genj,

the with power not lherely to talk; but to act. The Imperial Conference ; has been doomed to practical futility/because it has had no more executive pftfwer than a debating . society. ' Its vc owning service would, be to debate the E emedy for this futility and indicate the .'best means of providing the Empire with a representative and effective body.

In the speech to which we have referred, as in several of his previous speeches to British audiences, Mr. Massey avows much more clearly than he ever did in New Zealand his faith in the ultimate triumph of the idea of theImperial Federationists. "Whatever may be done now as a result of the coming Conference," he said, "I am quite certain that it is going to lead up to an Imperial Parliament." It is true that he qualifies the natural meaning of this declaration when, ho proceeds to add: " I do not propose a federation of States. Rather is it a union of nations, which is a different thing; separated by the ocean, but united in sentiment." We cannot see that this rhetorical • flourish helps matters along. It serves rather as a hindrance by clouding the issue. If it is merely a union of nations, a eo-op"era-tion of independent States, that Mr. Massey has in view, he should not disguise his idea by professing his faith in an Imperial Parliament. A Parliament that cannot legislate is surely i-obbed of its most essential function. A Parliament that can only recommend is no more a Parliament than the Imperial Conference, is an, Executive. A plain heart-to-heart talk round a, table would clear up the vagueness in the Prime r Minister's present ideas, and enable him i to see that the sovereign power hitherto exercised by the British Parliament cannot be broken without either breaking up the Empire, or providing some other body'to take the power over. :' Such a discussion would also help to give practical shape to the proposal for an Imperial Counctt, mth something more than advisory powers, which, like Sir James Allen, Mr. Massey desires to see e3tabi lished at once.