IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3187, 12 August 1930, Page 5

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

DESIRE FOR REPRESENTATION. BENEFIT FOR WHOLE COUNTRY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Monday. The spirit in which the Prime Minister will enter into the Imperial Conference deliberations was explained in the speech in the House this evening, when he was replying to the debate on Imperial affairs. “ I wish that I had not been called on to attend the conference at a time like the present,” said Mr Forbes. “I would have liked the conference to have been two or three months later, so that I could have seen the work of the session through. That would have been more satisfactory. However, there is a feeling throughout the country, as far as I can ascertain the position, that the Prime Mininister should go to the conference, and if I did not go, I realise I' would be failing in my duty. Ido not go to represent a party. Igo to represent New Zealand, and I will do that to the best of my ability. “ In regard to the decisions to be made there, it has to be remembered that those decisions are not binding on the Parliaments concerned, but at the same time a delegate requires a certain degree of freedom. I desire to thank the House very much for the congratulations extended to me and for the very helpful suggestions made in this debate. Anything that may suggest itself to members in the interval before I depart I will be very pleased indeed to give consideration to, and to see whether the desires of members on such points can be given effect.”