EMPIRE COURT.

Wairarapa Age, 5 November 1930, Page 3

EMPIRE COURT.

REPORT OF LORD SANKEY’S COMMITTEE. NEW TRIBUNAL WITH WIDE POWERS. ONLY FOB DISPUTES WITHIN COMMONWEALTH. United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, November 3. Lord Sankey’s Committee of the Imperial Conference has submitted to the heads of delegations for adoption the Dominions Legislation Conference report practically as it stands.

It has likewise submitted for adoption details of the proposed Commonwealth tribunal. It will not be a permanent Court like The Hague, but an entirely voluntary one, both parties having agreed to submit disputes for arbitration, and one party therefore having the power of veto. It is for disputes between the Governments of the British Commonwealth which do not involve individuals. With individuals the Privy Council will deal. Justieeable or political disputes, such as tariffs, need not necessarily come before the tribunal, though the question of submission is left entirely to the disputants to decide.

The tribunal consists of ffive members, the first two selected, one by each party, from anybody regardless of qualification; the second two, one by each party, from persons holding or having held high judicial office or being distinguished jurists, the only all-bind-ing qualification being that all members must be British Commonwealth citizens.

The above-mentioned four will confer and appoint a fifth as chairman from anybody in the British Common wealth. It is resolved that if me parties agree, they can appoint assessors with special knowledge of the question in dispute. The tribunal can sit in any place mutually decided on It should be understood that the main purpose of the Tribunal is to deal with disputes between members of the British Commonwealth, which cannot be submitted to The Hague International Court because everybody, excepting the Irish Free State, has signed a reservation that inter-Commonwealth disputes shall not be referred to The Hague. (Another message states that the methods whereby the degree of consultation between the Dominions may be strengthened have also been considered by heads of delegations, in the light of recent experience, and it is felt that value would attach to a free exchange of views and impressions on general current international questions. This tendency might be stimulated by measures of personal contact and the presence in London of an Australian liaison officer and the presence of United Kingdom officers in Ottawa and South Africa, indicative of the process which it is considered might advantageously be developed between the Dominions in a manner which each could choose for itself. Information thus calculated need not necessarily be confined to foreign affairs. As to the question of Dominion communication with foreign countries when the question of emergency arises, it will be permissible for the Dominion Government to communicate direct with the British representative accredited to the Foreign Power and also to make arrangements through him on commercial and various other matters which affect expressly the Dominion and the Foreign Power concerned.)