OPUNAKE TIMES Speaks for the District. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1932. OTTAWA

Opunake Times, 23 August 1932, Page 2

OPUNAKE TIMES Speaks for the District. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1932. OTTAWA

.*. For several days the messages from Ottawa indicated that something akin to a deadlock had occurred at the Conference between the British delegation on the one and and the New Zealand and Australian representatives on the other. Meat was the bone of contention and the correspondents emphasised and reiterated the assertion that failing a settlement of the meat question all other agreements would practically become non-effective. Admittedly the meat interests are large and important, but to assert that they were sufficient to wreck an Empire (this according to prominent public men practically was what the failure of the Conference would have meant) was surely Gilbertian, and those who kept a level head and decided to patiently await the close of the Conference before pronouncing judgment upon its achievements have been fully vindicated. They felt that the interests of the Empire were in safe keeping whilst they were entrusted to Ministers who were fully cognisant of the importance of their task, and the cable messages indicate that the confidence has been justified. It was recognised that at Ottawa the delegates had to deal with realities as well as emotions and a modicum of bargaining was inescapable. "We feel convinced, however, that when the whole is known it will be found that whilst mutually advantageous arrangements have been reached between the Dominions and Britain, the fact that the Empire does not comprise the whole world has not been overlooked. There will also be indirect as well as direct benefits, for participation by representative men in such a gathering cannot fail to have a mellowing and beneficient influence in all spheres of contact, and as Mr. Coates aptly expressed it while "probably no delegation has received all it desired the conference has laid permanent foundations for a more united and stronger British community of nations." The proceedings at Ottawa have set influences in operation which will be felt as long as Britain endures.