Naturally enough, tho strain of “generous cominonThc place ” has been much Impend in evidence in tho LonCcnferenco. don newspapers during the last few days in relation to the gathering of tho Imperial delegates and tho prospective work of the Conference. This preliminary eloquence is edifying in its way, no doubt, and conventional generalities have had their use in furthering the development of Imperial sentiment; but practical minds may bo pardoned for feeling some anxiety lest tho deliberative energies of tho statesmen from the five seas should evaporate in rhetorical nothingness. The dominant thought in practical minds is that this Conference ought to make an appreciable advance on the work of its predecessors, in tho direction of definite decisions and recommendation, capable of being promptly brought into operative effect. ‘ Tho Times ’ truly observes that sentiment alone will not solve the difficult problems with which the statesmen of the Empire arc confronted, and it may be questioned whether more harm than good is not done at this stage by vague magniloquence, such as is indulged in by the ‘ Daily Chronicle ’: —“ No parchment “ binds tho Motherland and her daugh- “ ters. They are united as by hoops “of steel by ties of race, language, “ common ideals, and community of interest.” Yes, but the provision of more specific, palpable, visible binds and hoops is the Imperial need of the hour, and the ‘ Chronicle’s ’ tone tends to encourage tho notion that the need does not exist. This morning’s cablegrams anno unco tho actual opening of the Conference, -and if (like the ‘ Daily
Mail’) wo dealt in omens wo should regard tho exclusion of tho Press as a most inauspiciousness. Wo do not yet know whether tho exclusion has a permanent force, applicable to all the sittings from start to finish; but there is too much reason to fear that tho traditional prejudices of Downing Street have once more been exercising a malign influence. Tho so-called reports officially issued to tho newspapers during the Conference of 1907 were shockingly inadequate, and it was hoped that Press representatives would be welcomed this time—of course, with due restrictions regarding tho publication of confidential matter. Wo may bo sure that tho motion for exclusion would not bo canned without a strong appeal for loss obscurantist methods on tho part of the Now Zealand representative. On the eve of his departure from tho Dominion Sir Joseph Ward expressed a strong opinion in favor of a virtually open Conference.
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Evening Star, Issue 14574, 24 May 1911, Page 4
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407Untitled Evening Star, Issue 14574, 24 May 1911, Page 4
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