A.—6

4

New Zealand. Commodore A. G. Hotham, C.M.G., R.N., Naval Adviser to the New Zealand Delegation. Irish Free State. General Scan MacMahon, Chief of Staff, Irish Free State. Major-General J. J. O'Connell, Assistant Chief of Staff, Irish Free State. Mr. 0. Esmonde (acting for Mr. McGilligan). India. Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Cobbe, V.C., X.C.8., X.C.5.1., D.5.0., Secretary, Military Department, India Office. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Wolseley Haig, K.C.1.E., C.5.1., C.M.G., C.8.E., Political Secretary to His Highness the Maharajah of Alwar. In addition to the meetings of the full Conference, there were eleven meetings of committees, and. technical discussions on defence questions at the Admiralty and Air Ministry. 11. OPENING STATEMENTS. In opening the proceedings on Ist October Mr. Stanley Baldwin, as Chairman, extended a welcome to the representatives of the Dominions and India, and referred especially to the enlargement which had taken place in the circle of the Imperial Conference by the constitution in 1922 of the Irish Free State. Mr. Baldwin then made a general statement on the Imperial and international situation, in which he reviewed the chief events which had taken place since the Conference of 1921, and outlined briefly the agenda of the Conference and the main problems which would come before it. Speeches were made in reply by the Prime Ministers of Canada, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, and Newfoundland, by the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, and by the Maharajah of Alwar for India. The cordial greeting extended by Mr. Baldwin to the representatives of the Irish Free State was warmly endorsed by other speakers, and Mr. Cosgrave expressed his deep appreciation of the welcome which he and his colleagues had received. These opening speeches were published in full immediately afterwards.* The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia was not present at the opening meeting : he was unable to reach London until sth October. 111. MESSAGE TO THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN. The first official act of the Conference, in accordance with the practice on previous occasions, was to send a message of greeting to Their Majesties the King and Queen. The words of this message were, — " The Prime Ministers and other representatives of the British Empire assembled in Conference, at their first meeting and as their first official act, desire to express their respectful greetings and fidelity to the King, and fervently hope that His Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen may be long spared to strengthen those ties of love and devotion which unite the peoples of the British Commonwealth." His Majesty's gracious reply was read aloud by the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the meeting on sth October, and was in the following terms :— " I sincerely thank the Prime Ministers and other representatives of the British Empire for the generous terms of the message which they have addressed to the Queen and myself on the occasion of the opening of the Imperial Conference. I sincerely trust that their deliberations will lead to a solution of those many and grave problems the settlement of which is so essential to the future welfare and prosperity of the Commonwealth of the British Nations.—George R. 1."

* See Appendix I.