The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1926. THE FAMILY TALKS

Southland Times, Issue 20015, 1 November 1926, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1926. THE FAMILY TALKS

It has always been difficult to understand why the Imperial Conference should be regarded as a place where none but formal statements should be accepted as material in the discussion of Empire problems, but evidently this weakness has been present, awaiting complete destruction under the hand of Mr Bruce, the Prime Minister of Australia. His declaration that the Prime Ministers should be left alone and permitted to chat over things struck home forcibly and in one stroke took the Conference into the realm of the family talk, where it undoubtedly should be placed. For the ceremonial initial meeting the exchange of views in a formal manner is an excellent method of placing before the public a general idea of the opinions of the various representatives on the subjects to come under review, but the basis of the Conference is co-operation to secure a common

understanding on questions of Imperial significance, and if nations entirely unrelated one to the other can obtain mutual advantage from informal discussions, surely the members of the Imperial family can gain even more from a gathering shorn of publicity, and rules of debate. It may be argued that publicity is desirable, that there must be no secret treaties within the Empire. Actually there can be no treaties without the cognisance of the various Parliaments, who have to ratify by legislative Act any undertaking given at the Conference, and the publicity required need only concern itself with the findings of the Conference, not the routes by which they were reached. It has been announced that contact by the representatives of the various members of the family has dissipated any suggestion of disagreement on the questions involving Imperial unity and the status of the Dominions. Some little time ago we were informed by a writer with a sharp Liberal accent that these Imperial Conferences were valueless, that they provided opportunities for Prime Ministers to travel and banquet at their countries’ expense, and that the Mother Country treated in cavalier fashion any country which happened to have anything but a Tory Party in power. Party bile has been responsible for no more foolish perversions, for no expressions of opinion more ludicrous, and fortunately this Conference has shown how absurd they were. The gathering, having brought General Hertzog into personal contact with the leading Ministers of the Motherland and of the other Dominions, has resulted in the dissipation of the cloud created by his forceful utterances on South Africa’s demand for a definite admission of her “national status” in terms strongly suggestive of a right to secede from the Empire when she elected to take that step or to remain a full partner with reservations. That has gone by the board, and it is now stated that the Conference has assisted in modifying the stand taken by the Irish Free State on similar issues. If this Conference does nothing else the meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Imperial family will have justified itself. It has been made clear, too, that party politics have no standing in the Conference, that the various delegates meet their fellows only as representatives of the units of the Empire and now that the “family talk” idea has been captured the last of the sneers born of party prejudice will fall away. In spite of the pessimism of a few weeks back, the Imperial family is more firmly knit than it has ever been before, and this has been secured without anything more elaborate than a frank exchange of views. The Empire moves forward with the understanding that in matters involving foreign policy there are to be consultations as free and as frank as possible, but also unity of action, in which there will be no room for dissension in the face of a Power outside of the Empire. Dominions may make arrangements for the advancement of their interests in other countries, but agreements with foreign Powers, where they may involve other countries, must be made through the British Foreign Office in which will be centred the major authority in these matters. No Dominion can partake of the advantages of the Imperial Family without assuming its share of the responsibilities. This understanding is now general, and it means the establishment of unity on the family basis. There will be room for family talks and even disagreements within the family, but where the rest of the world is concerned the old unifying cry of the musketeers is to be retained: Each for all, and all for each. That. is the secret of an Imperial solidarity that leaves the units room enough for the control of their own domestic affairs.