EMPIRE PROBLEMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18321, 11 August 1921, Page 5

EMPIRE PROBLEMS

LONDON CONFERENCE. REVIEW OF THE WORK. MR MASSEY’S VIEWS. Preai Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, August 10. (Received Aug. 10, at 7.35 p.m.) Mr Massey, reviewing the conference, said that several misunderstandings had been removed. The representatives had learned much of each other and of the different viewpoints of the several countries within the Empire. At the commencement there seemed to be an idea amongst a small section of the public in the dominion that the United Kingdom representatives yitended to interfere in some unexplained way with the autonomy of the younger nations. There was not the slightest truth in this. The AngloJapanese Treaty was thrashed out. He thought he was justified in saying that the weight of opinion was that the peace of the world was most likely to be secured by a continuance of the present arrangement, unless a tripartite arrangement could be agreed upon by Great Britain, America, and Japan. He had no hesitation in saying that something in that way would be the best thing that could possibly happen. He trusted that what the conference had done regarding the most important question of Empire communications would be followed by tangible results. Airships should be exploited, cables cheapened, and wireless developed. There was also need for faster shipping services with lower freights.—A. and N.Z. Cable.

SWIFT AIR TRAVELLING.

COMMENT BY THE TIMES. LONDON, August 9. (Received Aug. 10, at 7.35 p.m.) Tile Times, editorially referring to complaints from the dominions of the inconvenience entailed by the absence of their Prime Ministers in London, says :»‘There is a substantial danger of a reaction in the dominions, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, but meetings for consultation are indispensable, and a way must bo found to reconcile them with local pre-occupation. The Prime Ministers might possibly experiment with a meeting in Canada, or even Capetown might be tried next year, but at beet speh a change would be no more than an expedient. The real hope lies in the development, of swift air travelling.”—Times.

BRITAIN, AMERICA, AND JAPAN.

A TRIPARTITE ARRANGEMENT. MR MASSEY’S ADVOCACY. LONDON, August 10. (Received August 10, at 10.50 p.m.) Commenting on the Empire Conference Mr Massey says : ‘‘Much work which naturally was confidential cannot be disclosed. The representatives learned much from each other, and saw more clearly the tremendous possibilities of Empire as a whole. They realised the corresponding responsibility of those entrusted with the management and control of its different parts, so they may be able to work together as one great power for the good of the citizens and all the peoples of the world.” He believed the conference would tend to hasten the restoration of normal conditions to British countries. If the Washington Conference could bring about a tripartite arrangement between Great Britain, America, and Japan, much progress would be made towards the millennium. —A. and N.Z. Cable.