EMPIRE MEETINGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24879, 28 April 1944, Page 3

EMPIRE MEETINGS

SESSIONS NEXT WEEK SUBJECTS FOR DECISION (Eecd. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 27 The conference of Dominion Prime Ministers will begin next Monday or Tuesday. Although no formal agenda has been drawn up, the Associated Press understands that the United Kingdom and the Dominions have already agreed that the preliminary discussions should fall under the following main headings:— The immediate war situation; the future conduct of the war against Germany and Japan; arrangements for the post-war world settlement and security organisation; inter-Imperial policies on | transport, including civil aviation, migration, education, defence, welfare and betterment of colonial peoples. No Statement of Decisions It is most unlikely that the conference will announce formal decisions on I any of these questions, because some I which are of an international character I will be subject to future consultations | between the United Nations. Others will be remitted for examination by experts in the Dominions. The British Government attaches the most profound importance to the conference for the reason it will afford it an opportunity to learn the views of the Dominions on post-war settlement, including the occupation of conquered enemy countries, so that Britain will be enabled to enter into subsequent international discussions with a policy commanding the support of the whole Empire. One purely Imperial subject on which Britain hopes the conference will progress toward a decision is migration. The British Government believes that migration, subject to Dominion approval, should begin in the immediate post-war period, when thousands of servicemen will be making a new start in life. Colonial Administration The Government is also anxious to exchange views on the possibility of the Dominions more closely associating themselves with colonial administration, preferably on the lines of the regional agreements for which the Canberra conference gave a lead. Mr. Churchill is not expected to submit to the conference any specific proposals for improved Imperial machinery, out he is keenly interested in the conflicting views of Mr. Curtin and Mr. Mackenzie King on the subject, and is prepared to make such changes in the present consultative system as will meet the requirements of all Dominions. Only the tour Dominion Prime Ministers, Mr. Churchill and Viscount Cranborne, Dominions Secretary, will attend the regular sessions of the conference, w*hich is not expected to last longer than three weeks, but the_ Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, Sir Godfrey Huggins, and Indian representatives who are visiting London will be called in during the discussions affecting their respective countries.