IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Otago Witness, Issue 3801, 18 January 1927, Page 76

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

SIR FRANCIS BELL’S RETURN.

, WELLINGTON, January 10. The Right Hon. Sir Francis Bell, who, with the Prime Minister, represented New Zealand at the Imperial Conference, returned to Wellington by the Corinthic today. He made a statement in regard to the unanimity of the Prime Ministers upon important constitutional questions, and indicated the great difficulties involved in the problems dealt with. “The Imperial Conference,” ''said Sir Francis, “sat in full session only intermittently, and the business was referred to separate committees, the committees in some cases being assisted by experts, such as the Economic Committee and the Research Committee. The most important and serious matter relating to the status and separate rights of the dominions was referred to, and considered, by a committee consisting exclusively of the Prime Ministers, and, together with President Cosgrave, of the Irish Free State, and the Secretary of State for India, that committee arrived at unanimity in the statement which was published in the press. That statement was a distinct advance in the definition, and to a certain extent the limitation of the theories which had been advanced by the Governments of the various dominions in recent years. I think that possibly the • subject of the authority to be exercised by the Home Government in matters relating to the dominions had given rise to a greater difference of opinion among the Governments of the dominions than any other, and it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the unanimity of his Majesty’s Government and that of the several dominions in the resulting statement that the Governor-General was to be regarded as the representative of his Majesty and not of the Imperial Government, and consequently to act to the extent his Majesty does on the advice of the Ministers of the dominion without the right to seek direction or to be required to accept direction from the Secretary of State.

“Another difficult matter, that relating to treaties entered into by Great Britain, or by the dominions, produced evidence of the large difference of opinion, but another committee to which tl.ijs question was referred, and which sat practically during the whole period of the conference, also arrived at a unanimous agreement that every treatv should be made in the name of his Majesty upon the advice of his Majesty’s Ministers of Great Britain, or of the dominion entering into the treaty, as the case might require. That is the main point, and I do not desire to enter into the minutae of the details plating to separate treaties wßfeh were also fully discussed, and a final agreement arrived at. “A third question of some difficulty was not decided, but was referred to a committee of experts to be later appointed. That question is the power of the GovernorGeneral to reserve for his Majesty’s assent statutes conflicting with the principles established by the legislation of Great Britain—for example, laws relating to shipping, marriage and nationality. The right of reservation involves the existing right of his Majesty on the advice of his Government of Great Britain to refuse assent to an Act passed by a Dominion legislature. The general principle that each dominion has complete autonomy was fully conceded by the representatives of. his Majesty’s Government, but the obvious advantage in some limited subjects of the absence of conflict in the legislation of different parts of the Empire made it necessary to postpone any conclusive decision which would involve the exclusion of his Majesty’s final power to require further consideration by a dominon of such legislation before final assent should be given. There is involved in this consideration the question of the extra-territorial authority of a dominion legislature, such, for example, as is involved in legislation affecting ships on the high seas or the extradition of foreign offenders.. “I do not think it right for anyone but a Prime Minister to speak more definitely than I have done on the subject, matters considered by the conference or to comment upon the results of their probable effect, and, indeed, I have no direct knowledge of what results were taken into consideration by the committee of Prime Ministers when they arrived at their agreement upon the most important of the subjects which the Imperial Conference dealt with. Besides, not only has the Prime Minister generally the sole right to speak on such matters, but specially in the case of the Prime Minister of New Zealand who, from the outset, obtained and throughout held in exceptional measure the respect and attention of the whole In his own unassuming but determined way he gained the confidence of all the other Prime Ministers.”