BRITISH POLITICS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8359, 15 February 1907, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS.

INDENTURED LABOUR. Received February 14, 7.42 a.m. LONDON, February 13. In the House of Commons, Mr Winston Churchill, Under - Secretary for the Colonies, sketched the negotiations with France with regard to the New Hebrides. He declared that the best possible bargain had been made. He was quite certain that colonial interests had not suffered. When the convention was sent to the colonies, no ultimatum was presented/ The Government only wished them to know its contents, after wasting months with the French delegates in a vain attempt to obtain further concessions. He defended the indentured labour regulations as excellent, and defensible from every point of view, constituting a great and undeniable advance towards a humane system of labour, in contrast with the state of anarchy they replaced. The convention did not prevent a kanaka working on any island after the termination of his contract. He twitted Mr Balfour with rambling off on antipodean archipelagoes, only to discover a homely mare's nest. The Hon. A. Lyttelton, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies under the Balfour Government, said that the Government, in sanctioning the labour conditions in the New Hebrides, had done what they denounced the late Government for doing in the Transvaal. The debate was adjourned. GOVERNMENT'S PROBABLE ATTITUDE. Received February 14, 8.47 a,.m. LONDON, February 13. It is generally inferred from Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman's speech that the Government seeks to diminish the constitutional powers of the Lords and will not attempt reconstructive reform of the Upper Chamber.

SLIGHTING THE CONFERENCE. Received February 14, 7.42 a.m. LONDON, February 13. The Times says the Government deliberately ignored in the King's Speech the Imperial Conference, which involves the most vital interests of the Empire. Such contemptuous indifference is strange on the part of those affecting to believe that sentiment is the only possible bond of Imperial unity. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ought to be aware that the 1897 conference was not pre-arranged when Parliament was not sitting. It only arose incidentally out of the presence of the colonial Premiers at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Mr Chamberlain only suggested the 1902 conference a week after Parliament assembled. The King's Prorogation Speech adequately recognised the Imperial significance of that conference.