THE PRESS CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14579, 19 July 1909, Page 6

THE PRESS CONFERENCE

ARRIVAL OF THE DELEGATES IN ENGLAND. SOME IMPRESSIONS. (Pkoii Oun Own Coebf,spokdent.) LONDON, June 1. The Empress, of Britain, with about a dozen of the delegate to the Imperial Press Conference on board, reached LiverI pool about midnight on Friday. A special 1 train with the passengers left early in '' the morning for London, and arrived at ; Euston just, before 12 o'clock. '. The fatigue of the Canadian festivities \ and travel had somewhat worn oil, but some of tho delegates were .'.till suffer- ; iilg from the effects of colds contracted in Canada. Mr H. Brett was unable to take ; part in the later Canadian ceremonies on ; account of his cold, and he is now taking advantage of the we-kY, respite at the Waldorf to recoup his strength,' Mr Lukili, who also suffered from a cold in Canada, is now in the pink of condition, and is thoroughly enjoying bin first experiences of the Old Land and of London, Mr and _ Mrs W. S. Douglas, of Auckland, who arrived by the Paparoa last week, are at present staying iviLli friends at Westcliff, but are generally in town during the day. Mr Fen wick ,ias positively thriven on his Canadian-experiences, anil Mrs Fenwick, too, cams through scatheless. They have been joined by their san. who is st'udyin? in London, and by Miss Linda Fenwick, _ who arrived by (he Medic a few days ago, Mrs and Miss Fenwick are now busy shopping and weing London, while M.Y hemvick is up to his eyes in business. Mr i and M K Mark Cohen are quietly enjoying the attractions of the London season ' Air s H. M. M'Dnnald, of ChriHchurch, is also busy with his family in and abontLondon , PREPARING FOR THE CONFERENCE. Tho New Zealand delegates decided that , it would be wise to have some "eneral understanding on the course to be followed ' at the conference, and thev met on Wednesday to discuss things. Mr George Fenwick was unanimously elected chairman of the Dominion delegates, and Mr W. S Douglas secretary. Already a good' deal of random hospis wlity has hocn thrust upon the delegate, though the conference programme does - not commence until to-morrow, Thence qnwill'd there will bo almost throe weeks 5 of ""interrupted activity and gaiety. A conference " Who's Who" has been ; published containing biographical sketch^ and port-raits of most of the delegates. ENTERTAINING,THE LADIES. It was not originally intended to include ladies in the conference arrangements, bvt it has been found necessary to do I=o A\j ready some 30 or 40 wives and duwhters 1 of delegates aro being provided for, and a ladies' sub-committee has been iormed as follows :-Miss Balfour, Mrs Godfrey Barnag, Mrs Moberly Bell. Lady Brassey. Mrs Harry Brittain, Mrs Austen Chamberlain, the Countess of Crewe, Mrs Robert Donald, Mrs Hevkrt Gladstone. Mrs H . A. Gwynne, Mrs Kennedy Jones. Lady Constance Hatch, Lady St. Heller, tlm Marchioness of Lansdowne, the Hon Mr« Ham- lawson the Hon. Mrs Alfred Lvttelton, Viscountess Midleton, Lady Northcliff e, Lady Northcoto, Mis C. Arthur Pearson, Mrs A. F. Robbins, the Marchioness of Salisbury, Mrs J. A. Spender, Mrs St. Leo Slrachv. the Hen. Lady Talbot, Lady Clementine Waring. The secretary is Miss Brooke Hunt. .SOME NEW ZEALAND REFLECTIONS. The London papers have been gettiii" a good deal of copy during the last, few days from the press delegates. A few oxtiacts from the remarks of the New Zealand men are interesting. On the defence question our delegates will apparently pronounce solidly for tho Imperial subsidy. Mr G. Fenwick-told a Telegraph reporter that the Cabinet of the Dominion was absolutely unanimous in the desire that New Zealand's offer of a Dreadnought should be made to the Home Government and that the offer had met with the approval of the vast majority of tho people. Mr Brett was more pronounced: "I believe the whole of tlje press (with one or two exceptions), and fully nine-tenths of the people of the Dominion heartily commend the prompt action taken by the New Zealand Ministry. There are, of course, a few dissentients among a very small section of extreme Socialists. New Zealand rccoguu-es that its defence against external foos must, in the main, depend upon the eilieieney of the British navy. Whatever pcwibility there mav be of setting up a local navy for the protection of the Austrahau coast, the long seaboard of New Zealand and its many excellent harbours, where .1 hostile force could effect a lending, renders such a scheme absolutely - futile; as Sir j o?ep |, W ard said latelv, one can only regard any proposal of the 1 sort, as simply silly. Forts, more or less efficient and well-aimed, have been erected 1 at the entrance to the harbours of the four ; chief cities, and these, with submarine . mines and torpedoes, would probably he . sufficient to cope with strav cruisers. The I Prime Minister hesitated 'to enforce any . compulsory system' of military training',, hut there is a strong body of public opinion in favour of the compulsory military training of all young mon bet-wean" the '.iges of I 18 and 2], for a- certain number of days in each year, and I believe that this* will yet b:e:ime the law of the land. There . is a pretty general feeling that a considerable amount of the time, energy, and ' money which arc now devoted to° foot ball and other sports might be applied to military exercises with advantage to the nation and equal benefit physically to these who are now such ardentv supporters of these games. During the Maori war'the entire male population capable of bearing anus was enrolled in the Militia or the Volunteer forces [or active service, so that New Zealand has already had an experience of conscription, which many of the older settlers still remember." Mr Douglas said:—" The majority of the people in New Zealand are against having a home navy, but thoy are' prepared to make as large a contribution as they can afford to the upkeep of the Imperial navy. In Australia the feeling ia favour of a homo navy is very sti'ong. There are. however, many very serious objections. i'V one thing, so long as a man can-earn eight or ten shillings a day on land he is not going <m board it warship for lcis. Another objection is that a number of navies would tend to disunite the Empire," LONDONERS TOO SLOW-" GET A MOVE ON." Mr.DougbG, himself an Englishman is not altogether pleased with some ; m London, and he tells tho people 'so in i plain terms. He considers the physical inI feriority of the Londoners verv' marked. I He says :—" The deterioration is to bo atI trihutodto the habit, of living in large j towns. To the colonial your streets s-iem ! cramped. People cannot'get enough fresh air living crowded together. In New Zealand wo have no streets'*less than 60ft wide. Then there is the c.ueetion of physical training for children. In your public schools, I know, you go in 'greatly for sport, but from all accounts vou do not givo the children in the /elementary schools enough physical exercise. In our State schools''military drill and exercises are compulsory, and the youngster* derive enormous benefit from tiiem. One result is that, the New Zealand youth is taller, broader, and has a deewr'ehwt ilum the Londoner of the earn? age." And you think- we "are rather slowgoing? " Well, I think you want to get a move on you. You are all right—don't tor a moment, think I am disparaging the Londoner—but 1 think you have got into the habit of going a bit, too slow. You are a systematic people, and your lovo of system has Mink deep into your daily lite. Take, for insUiucc, the way you get' on to motor'bites and trams when there are some 20 or 25 of you and only about- half-a-dozen vacant seats. You get on in what wo would, regard as an exceedingly orderly manner, sometimes even waltfll" in queues. You should see the way we hustle on trains; why. sometimes we'mdit like wild beasts. Your traffic is orderliness itself; with us there is but little regulation, each driver cutting along at his I own swa* will. I like your-idea" of sys-. j tern and order; but they'may become ckuI gerotts if carried too far, and I think you .would do we!! to hustle's little more."

IMPERIAL NEWS AGENCY. MR FI'NWICK\S VIEWS. Mr Fenwick is. not at all lukewarm in his attitude on the cable question. Speaking to an interviewer to-day he said hrega.rds it as a question to bo tackled on both patriotic and business grounds, "Tht! delegates from New Zealand will be greatly disappointed if this conference ends without something practical being done. Among tlio questions demanding cur attention 1 know of none more important than, that of the cable arrangements of the Empire, and cue of the first considerations m connection therewith is that of the rates charged. "Cheap cable communication promotes business, helps the interchange of news, and binds the different parts of the Jimpil'O closer together. Oue shilling a word is much tco high a rate for the transmission of news. The charge is so liigl' because the Atlantic cable companies charge M a word for their part in the transmission, and refuse to lower it. Last year Sir Joseph Ward catisfcl the Atlantic companies to be approached :tnd pressed for a reduction of their rates. Had they done fo, other concessions would have brought tin rate dowi to Bid, but the Atlantic companies refused. ". In New Zealand we arc sowed, and on the whole admirably served, by a combination'of .the leading Australian papers, who suppiy us with their daily cable news by special arrangement. But more than this is required. We want fuller news of all aspects of Imperial affairs, and such fuller news cannot be had until tire Kites aie reduced. "■What can the conference do in the matter? It. can; first, clearly show to all interested that in the opinion of the representatives of the puss of the whole Empire the rates now in force arc excessive. j It can, if reduction is refused, urge on the various Governments of the Empire directly interested the early laying down of a Biitish cable to Canada. This is indeed, in my opinion, a step that should be taken in any circumstances, in order to secure an All-red cable line throughout the King's dominions, I have no desire to minimise the difficulties, but difficulties can almost invariably be surmounted."