The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1921. THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10822, 11 February 1921, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1921. THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

The interest in the agenda of the coining Conference is increased from day to day by the news cabled from Europe. Everyone wants to know the list, and is spurred on by the announcement made of urgency. Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., shares this feeling to the full, a“nd has demanded the secret from the Prime Minister. He has exercised his right as a Parliamentary party leader, and has done his duty as such. No Liberal leader, official or otherwise, having moved,’ the Liberal party may, at this important juncture, be described as dumb by choice. The Reform party, which has made no Sign, is, of course, dumb by compulsion. Mr Massey, who has declared why t‘he cause of urgency is kept secret, can he complimented on th§ discipline he has established in the party which not very long ago flouted him vilely. That the Leader of the Labour party' has done the right thing is beyond question. Nevertheless, Mr Holland may as well be put right on one point. He has demanded that “what is shown to certain jpressmen every member.of Parliament is entitled to know, and, over and above either pressmen or Parliamentarians, the people have a right to know,” etc. The error here is the assumption that certain journalists have been “let into the secret-.” Now, as far as we can judge from our own experience, no pressman has been shown the reason for the urgency of the summons to the Conference, though the Press has been informed of the urgency. Mr Massey, in his reply to Mr Holland, says that hie enforcement of secrecy was only in obedience to the Imperial Government, whose communication to him had been “secret and confidential,’’ adding his opinion that “in all probability I shall get permission to publish it later.” This is not too fencouraging. The Prime Minister cannot, of course, publish anything without the permission of his Imperial correspondent. But the public, nevertheless, is entitled to the publication, if, ‘as we have said before, the publication is in the public interest. But this condition requires to be properly considered and. understood. It is from the fundamental point of view, necessarily of limited condition. In war the limitation is obvious enough nothing that can possibly be useful to the enemy can be published. In peace the limitation is narrower, necessarily, and requires definition. For example, a transaction impending—like Disraeli’s famous purchase of four millions’ worth. of the Suez Canal shares— cannot be published from the housetops, and under circumstances, easily conceivable, may he completed with all the attaching responsibilities —we are speaking of a transaction requiring the assent of more authorities than the Imperial Government—before it is publicly announced. Another class of transactions may comprise things strategic, which, in peace-time, may be frustrated by the action of rival Governments. In such matters as these secrecy is as necessary as it is in ordinary transactions of business firms, which do not deliberate about their enterprises* in public. On the other hand, there is a class of transactions which cannot he allowed secrecyon any account. Things binding on all parts of the Empjre in permanence constitutionally must be public from their’inception. No resolution of such a character ought to he sprung upon an Imperial Conference. Every Parliament of the Empire should know what is afoot before the Conference, so that it can instruct its representatives at the Conference in accord with its own views. As there cannot, without such information, be adequate discussion at any Conference, so no resolution of any insufficiently-notified Conference can be ratified by the aforesaid Parliaments. It can be held even that no oversea Parliament should permit resolutions passed by any Conference, under such circumstances, to be even laid on its table for consideration. As we are entering a period of considerable constitutional difficulty one already marked by much confusion and clash of thoughts and interests—a period, moreover, in which the stability of the Empire may easily he endangered by rash dogmatism ‘and ill-informed optimism, it is necessary to have the protection of a,

very firm understanding, such as we have indicated, of the conditions on which Imperial Conferences do the business of the Empire. From Mr Massey's personal opinion, that the permission to publish will in all probability soon be given, we may fairly conclude that the urgency which the ’lmperial Government has treated as “secret and confidential’’ is not in anv of the categories of the “if possible” proviso. We hope, therefore, that the necessary publication will be presently allowed; that there will be nothing secret, silent, or surreptitious about the coming Imperial Conference. As to the matters to come before that body, we have guessed from published facts, with strong probability that naval defence of the Empire will he among them. Since we did so, Mr Lloyd George has publicly declared that “gigantic events are in the making,” and has referred very' pointedly to the great difficulties of post-war reconstruction. At the same time, various newspapers are drawing attention to the activities of the reactionaries in Germany, supported by vast funds—accumulated by German profiteers of a certain class who during the war were notorious for their huge profits—which ought to be very useful in the payment of the indemnities. There is in the air also the question of the overseas shares in the German indemnity. These, things add to the interest which is growing in the Conference, which has been officially described as about to deal with matters of great urgency.