DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 8 June 1909, Page 1

DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

THE NAVAL CONFERENCE. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S ATTITUDE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE HOUSE. ' STATEMENT BY THE PREMIER [TJnitsd Pbbss Association.] j WELLINGTON, .Monday. 1 ' The informal meeting of members o Parliament to consider the representa tion of the Government at the Imperia Naval Conference, and whether Par liain in t should adjourn to enable thi Premier to attend, opened at 3 o'clock Every seat in the House and the gal . leries was occupied by members of bott Houses. Having stated that he would not ask for the appointment of a chairman, but would himself preside, Sir Joseph Ward explained that he had called members together ir. the only way possible under the circumstances. The members of the Upper House had been invited; to be present, but not to take part in the general discussion, but to near what had to be said, and then consider the matter separately. Until a decision was arrived at as to" an adjournment of the session, it would be impossible to inform the British Government whether the Dominion would be represented. He was glad lo see Mr Massey present, as he was always desirous to recognise the position of the Leader of the Opposition. Realising that he could only act with the general co-operation of members, he felt it was better that he should come before them and make a general statement, and be guided by the general sense of the members assembled. He explained that if the representation of New Zealand was to be by the Prime Minister, and Parliament was to adjourn, the necessary steps would be taken to get an extension of supplies, and the Speech from the Throne would be a short one. If the House decided that the Government was not to be represented, then his Exrellenr-y would have to be advised differently. If the invitation were refused the Government would lay itself open to a charge of indifference. The Confer-me was an epoch-making one-. Mr T. E. Taylor asked hr.w it waa that the Commonwealth had accepted the invitation without taking the course Sir Joseph Ward had done? I Sir Joseph Ward said he would answer questions later. Continuing, he said the time had arrived for Parliament to say whether it would uphold the offer of the Dreadnought, or two Dreadnoughts to the British Government, and he would ask Parliament to say aye or nay ; also to say whether the Dominion should be represented at the Conference. He intimated that a despatch ' which was expected had not reached his Excellency, as apparently the Home Government was awaiting' the result of this conference. The Prime Minister then read voluminous correspondence which had passed respecting the Dreadnought offer and various despatches between the British and New Zealand Governments, the substance of ill of which has already been published. He estimated that the necessary loan could be raised at 3 per cent., which, withi per cent, sinking fund, would amount to £80,000 a year, a not too heavy insurance on our commerce. Cabinet had entirely concurred in the whole proposal, and his Excellency was asked to submit it to the British. Government. A despatch had also been received in which the New Zealand Government was asked to be represented at the Imperial Conference to be held in July, and a further one ex- , pressing the hope that Sir Joseph Ward, as Minister of Defence, would 6ee his way to be present. , ' Continuing, the Premier said the Government could not agree to the sugges- ■ tion that someone not a Minister of the : Crown should represent the Dominion j at such an important conference, which ( the Secretary of State had intimated j had among other things to consider the offer of a Dreadnought or .two from . New Zealand. The Home Government ' desired representatives of the oversea' j Dominions to be present, and the re- j sponsibility was on Parliament- to say whether and by whom New Zealand should be represented. The Conference j was of an unprecedented character, and ( the Ministry was unanimously of- opi- ( nion that at such an important gather- . ing the head of the Government ought to represent the Dominion. (Applause.) . He referred to what he described as an indecent suggestion that he had sent a ( telegram to editors of the press and had not seen fit to send a similar telegram ] to members. : Mr T. E. Taylor : Read the telegram. ( I will do so if you don't. •, Sir Joseph retorted that Mr Taylor ( could do so. The telegram was' marked , "Strictly Confidential," and he had sent J it to the editors of the press. It had re- ; mained for one editor in New Zealand . to refer to the message. He had never 1 once in his whole career disclosed the contents of a confidential telegram, j (Hear, hear.) He had found the editors ■ of the press reasonable men "without ex- ' ception. He had intended at the cen- . elusion of the meeting reading the telegram if members wanted it, aft*sl' l.c ■ had removed the words- "strictly conn- , dential." If a member of the House , who was in possession of such a t- le- , gram saw fit to read it he could do so. , ] Mr Taylor : At your invitation . ] Sir Joseph: No; you threatened lo j read it, and I said you could do so. ( Sir Joseph Ward said that in conne:- , tion with this offer he had declined to , look at this matter from i party; point j of view, as he thought thii in such a ( question they ought to rise above jaity. ( At the time that the offer was m>.de, the Government knew something which , had n^t then been i.iale public, and ] which they then thougnt justified them , in making the offer that wns now being '. discussed throughout tra country. Ihe action of the Government had been confirmed and applauded as being in the ! interests of the Empire. Sir Joseph , quoted from a speech l ilivered by lord j Charles Beresford in which hes stated : . "If the country knew the true portion i there would be a panic. ' j Mr Taylor: He made other 'afterdinner" speeches. ' Sir Joseph: The one I refer *o was not an after-dinner epeech. f Continuing, the Premier maintained that it was not a fair proposition io ask the House to go on in Parliament , ) without its leader .especially with new members and new Ministers; He (iid not believe that Mr Hall- Jones, if isiwd, I would accept the position of representative at the Conference. . He proposed to ask the House to resume on *,he 30th September. I .___ '

' Mr Ma66ey afiked for a specific >«&• lution. i -'..* . -f . i Sic Joseph Ward fiaid all the buntness could be got through. in the time. ; He had asked Mr T. Y. Duncan to move a resolution. Mr T. Y. Duncan moved to the effect that the Premier should represent the Government at the Conference, and • that Parliament should adjourn until September 30th. ;■- . i On the suggestion of Mr Masaoy tSa meeting adjourned at 5. IS until 7.30 to allow the memoranda to be printed. lf - On resuming at 7.30 p.m., „ The Premier called upon Mr Mas- ( j sey to Speak to the motion. Mr Massey said he did not intend to c speak at great length, but would make his points clearer than the Premier's. j' He had no objections to the proceedings Ij being in "Hansard," but" objected to..,.tne meeting being treated a*: £ part ~6i What was being t done now. waJ in no way binding; upon / I the members of Parliament. ■All-knew . the important events which had taken , place in Britain recently, and all knew j that it would necessitate an ijjtoortant , change id "the defence' policy, of the^coloj nies, but there wbb no need I f6r' v h'erbica . and a theatrical display. He would like | . to know What was the defence policy- Of ( the Dominion! No country in Hse^iiri- , lis I) dominions had spent so JaflcL oo deteilce to 6« little effect. It was an im- , portant question to be considered' by , Parliament how the defence of the l Dominion should be put in a proper condi- ; tion. All were agreed that New -Zealand should be 'properly represented at the Defence Conference. (Opposition members : Hear, hear.) It appeared that the Premier had made up his mind' to go Home; well, let him go. Theresas' no analogy between the position of 1897 and the present one. In 1897 it was a unique occasion, the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen. When the Premier want Home to. previous Defence Conferences he left a eusbtitute to carry on the business of the country. The Premier now said that no one but himself could represent the Dominion. What a compliment to his colleagues! (Opposition laughter.) The fact was ho did not wish business to go on in his absence, became he could not truEi his own party. Air Massey' observed that no man_was indispensable, and if the. Premier, Mr Massey, and others were out of Parliament the business of the country would • still go on. It was the duty" of the Premier to have consulted the Leader of the Opposition, who represented nearlyequal to a-half of the inhabitants, if he did not want a party cry_ raised;: but ho did not do it. He pointed to .the financial position of the country, to the necessity of providing for public -works a:id other matters without delay. This was one of the most important, sessions in the history of the country.'-aad- it ought to be proceeded with. ThelCßrelrier 6hould go to the Conference, jrat it was not to be held that every .time :i conference was held in London that Parliament was to be postponed, lie hoped before the Premier went he -woulil give an indication as to the line of action he intended to take up at the Conference. After having assistedAthe Umpire, we should look to our" own defence. He advocated a proper, subsidy to the Imperial Navy as a better method of assistance than the gift of a Dreadnought. He hoped the motion would be divided into two parts to allow the meeting to decide whether the Premier should go Home, and, if ' «• o, whether Parliament should be adjourn-: cd. Keplying to- Mr T. E. Taylor, Sir J. G. Ward declined to answer questions. Mr T. E. Taylor said there was no need for warmth in connection with the discussion: Referring to the question previously -asked by him in regard to official communications, he protested against them being marked confidential and not buing disclosed. Members should have had the whole despatches read to them. He did not believe the Imperial authorities would accept the Dreadnought offer. The tone of the despatches received by the Government did not indicate that it was necessary for the Dominion to be represented by the Premier. Mr Taylor contended ■. lhat the Conference was not 'more simportant than the business of New' Zea-. land. The PremierVpereonaldesire-to figure on the Imperial stage wa«~largely responsible for his attitude.! -TheVe -was absolutely no reason for postponing j the business of the session; 'and a--subse-quent session of two months ~would necessitate important business being deferred. Sir J. G. Ward consented to divide the motion, and the first portion authorising the jPremier to attend tte Conference wss agreed to. - ' -•■ - ' The second part— That the Parliament, after making necessary .arrangements to enable the business of the country to proceed, adjourn, was -put, when Mr James Allen moved an amendment to the effect that it was essential that the business of the session should proceed without interruption. The reason for the Conference was the action of Canada in deciding to undertake her own defence. He strongly opposed the motion for the prorogation of Parliament. He urged that had the Premier really • looked . upon* the matter from a non-party point of view he would have trusted his party and Parliament to carry on the work during his absence. The action of the Premier in refusing to go unless Parliament adjourned was an attempt to coerce members. Sir J. G. Ward- said Mr Allan should have given notice of his amendment. He denied that the personal equation had entered his mind in connection with the conference. Ho denied that there were several thousands unemployed. The Government had decided'fto acquire land in both Islands with a view to assisting the civil servants retired under the retrenchment scheme. Mr Fisher complained that the despatches had not been published earlier, bo as to give members more time to con- ■ sider them. He gave at length his views on defence matters. •■ Messrs Herdman, Malcolm, atid' Lang all opposed" the prorogation "of ippariiament. ■ '■'•■' ' -f