THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1921. CONFERENCE OR CABINET?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18349, 13 September 1921, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1921. CONFERENCE OR CABINET?

It is not perhaps unnatural' that the Prime Ministers of the dominions should occasionally find some difficulty in accurately describing the place which Imperial Conferences fill in the constitutional fabric of the Empire. Mr Massey is reported to have quoted in an address at Vancouver the speech delivered by 'Mr Lloyd George at the conclusion of the recent Conference of Prime Ministers and to have said concerning it that it “made it plain that the conference was now an Empire Cabinet vested with the powers of a Cabinet.” This view of the recent conference, as also of any of the preceding conferences, must be rejected whether the test that is be that either of fq£t or of practicability. Actually, an Imprial Conference, as constituted in existing circumstances, is a consultative gathering or Prime Ministers, each of whom expresses his opinion on the subjects that are submitted for consideration without, however, possessing the power of committing the Parliament to which he is responsible to any course of action that may be advocated by him. None of the Prime Ministers who has ever represented any of the dominions at an Imperial Conference has done so upon terms that admitted of his absolutely binding his country to the acceptance of the resolutions of the conference. Very serious objections would inevitably and justly bo urged against any suggestion,that a representative at an Imperial Conference should bo furnished by his country with a “carte blanche.” In our own experience in New Zealand, Parliament is not presented with an opportunity of expressing, in advance, its views upon the questions which may engage the attention of an Imperial Conference, and the representative of the dominion at such a conference cannot be absolutely certain of the opinion which the majority of the members of Parliament may entertain with respect to these questions. The Imperial Conference is accepted throughout the dominions as a consultative body which is both necessary and useful. An Imperial Cabinet, on the other hand, would be open to the objection that it might usurp an authority which rests in the dominions themselves, that it might therefore be subversive of the principle of dominion autonomy, and that it might be utilised by Ministers as a measure of evading their responsibilities to their respective cpustituencies. The practicability of an Empire Cabinet is doubtful. Moreover, it is certain that the proposal for the creation of one would not escape opposition in some of the dominions. That in itself would be harmful as tending to the destruction, or at least the weakening, of the spirit of Imperial unity, and if an Imperial Cabinet became an accomplished fact its decisions—for a Cabinet must make decisions and must possess some authority for the enforcement of its decisions—would 1 be subject to continuous and possibly disturbing discussion. Those who support the establishment of an Imperial Cabinet usually cite the existence of the Imperial War Cabinet as at once a justification of their views and as a proof of the practicability of the institution they favour. It is only necessary, however, to point out in this connection that the’imperial Cabinet had one ideal which was backed up by an almost unanimous nation. That ideal, of course, was the achievement of victory. With this aim kept steadily before it, its decisions, based upon information of which it was the exclusive possessor, were necessarily accepted with the loyalty that the Empire gave to its leaders in a time of unprecedented gravity. A general measure of confidence was reposed in that Cabinet at such a period which could not * bo' expected by an Imperial Cabinet under normal peace conditions. The success of an Imperial War Cabinet by no means warrants a belief in the successful operation of an Imperial Peace Cabinet. Changes in the constitutional machinery of the Empire will come whenever, in the process of political evolution, they are found to be necessary, but it can hardly be imagined that any project for the creation of a circumscribing Cabinet will meet with a great deal of favour at a time when the dominions are being flattered with a new sense of nationhood.