IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 32, 6 August 1921, Page 5

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

MOMENTOUS DECISIONS *

ARRIVED AT

MAKING FOR UNITY OF EMPIRE,

(BNITIB PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPIRIOHT.)

(AUSTRALIAN - NETT ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received August 6, 10 a.m.)

LONDON, sth August.

The Imperial Conference niet to-day. Mr. Lloyd George presided. The only absentees were Mr. Meighen and Mr. Hughes. The report of the proceedings was agreed to, and it was also decided to send an Address to the King. The report points out that a conference comprised thirty-four plenary sittings, besides eleven meetings limited to Prime . Ministers, and eight meetings at the Colonial Office. The report States that the greater part of the proceedings, especially' in relation to foreign affairs and. defence, was highly confidential, comparable with the work of the Imperial War Cabinet of 1917; The other parts, although not secret, were intermingled with confidential matter, therefore only indications can be given of the general tenor. ■ Mr. Massey," interviewed by the Australian Press Agency, said : " I regard the conference as being far and away the most important gathering of representatives of the Empire that has ever been held. A great deal of the work had_been essentially work which usually is~dealt with by Cabinet rather than conference. Apart from the Imperial War Cabinet, this conference was epoch-making, inasmuch as it has marked the first occasion that representatives of th« Dominions have joined the Government of the Em- , pire as a whole. Very important matters have been dealt with, and momentous decisions arrived at, which will have a far-reaching effect in the direction of Empire* unity. lam very strongly of opinion that we have laid the foundations of a system which will in years to come develop into a satisfactory* form Government for the British Empire."