IMPERIAL CONFER.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 May 1937, Page 5

IMPERIAL CONFER.

OPENING ADDRESS SPEECH BY MR BALDWIN. * ■ —• (Per British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. May 14. In Iris opening address at the Imperial Conference, the British Prime Minister (Mr Stanley Baldwin), who presided, mentioned that since the i delegates had last met, Burma had ceased to he an Indian province, and they greeted her chief Minister ns a witness to her separate political existence. They were also glad to have with them, the representatives of Southern Rhodesia, while Newfoundland was being represented by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (Mr Malcolm MacDonald). Commenting upon the constitutional developments which had occurred since the last Coronation, twenty-six years ago, Mr Baldwin observed : No othei quarter of a century of our history has witnessed constitutional changes so profound and far-reaching, and so naturally achieved. ’I he British Empire has never been a static organism. Bearing within itself seeds of development, of which its founders were unmoulded, and by which it has been moulded ' itself it has moulded a political philosophy. Since the last Coronation, there, have been far-reaching changes in status and mutual relationships. In particular, I would refer to the declaration of . the Imperial Conference of 1929, and to the passage into law of the Statute, of Westminster, and in 1935 of the Government of India Act. The selfgoverning communities of the British Commonwealth have become an association to co-operate closely with each other in matters of common concern, and all associated under the Crown.” Mr Baldwin added that they believed in agreement as the mainspring, and in the democratic institution as a method of government, and they had set their trust in them because they thought they were the best means that mankind has devised of preserving those things to which they attached supreme value —liberty and individual freedom of thought, of speech and of conscience ; hut because of this they did not under-estimate the value of that idea to which other governments attached supreme imnortanee—the idea of service to the State.

Referring to the work before the conference, Mr Baldwin said they had ntrreod that the questions of foreign affairs and defences should he their main subjects. Tt was fitting that they should be, for they were met at a time when the international situation was difficult and even threatening and the responsibility rested upon them to sec that their deliberations not only wore of service to themselves, but also 1 that they might help in some measure towards a solution of those international problems which were perplexing the world. With so many of the most (powerful nations of the world expanding' their armed forces, the British Government had decided that it was its duty to put its own defences in order.

MR SAVAGE’S SPEECH * CLOSER ASSOCIATION ADVOCATED. LONDON. May 15. The Prime Minister of New Zealand (Mr Savage), affirmed New Zealand’s warm attachment to Britain. H*e attributed no particular importance to the theoretical basis of the British Commonwealth, as he found no difficulties in conducting Dominion affairs with complete freedom ; but lie would be happy to collaborate in any clarification of the constitutional position if the other Governments desired it, provided the Dominion association was made more fruitful and closer. The influence of the Commonwealth is undiminished, as the greatest force' for peace and justice existing in the world to-day, continued Mr Savage. “New Zealand is confident that, it is possible for all of us to sink our individual viewpoints'to attain a common end. That will be my delegation’s guiding principle. The Conference must resist the temptation to content itself with an innocuous and unhelpful formula. I.- for one, will be most disappointed if, after coming thousands of miles I am unhappily forced to return without effective results.”