THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 554, 8 July 1909, Page 7

THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

CABLE RATES. SUPREMACY AT SEA MEANS ALL THE SEAS. (By r Tolcgraph.-PreßO Aesoclation.-Copy rlsbU Sydney; July 7. The Sydney "Daily Telegraph" pnblishes An interesting account from its special correspondent of the' opening session of the Imperial Press Conference in London. The writer says:— It was a atriking gathering, called for memorable reasons at a portentous time., and it was held in a placo of great associations. Here at last was Downing Street, the home of splondid. dreams, of incredible misconceptions and mismanagement, but' still unrivalled in its achievements. Every editor present had tilted at it, ridiculed its importance, condemned its follies, torn it to shreds. Hore, too, .was its director for the moment —Lord Crowe—with courtequsness, halting and bidding them welcome, inviting them to stand up to him and say their worst. It was a strange, significant meeting, which surely would make history. Lord crewe's Weak Opening. •Both.sides wore painfully self-conscious. Lord Crewe (Secretary of State for the Colonies) halted and halted—threatened repeatedly to die entirely in tho middle of a sentence. Hβ realised in: the full:the critical nature'of his'audience. In a sense it was a bad start for tho t Mother Country to have to put up Lord Crewe, and perhaps his weak opening will go far' to convince all the Government of tho fact so nobly appreciated by Mr. ChamberlaiD that the colonies are tho strong end of'an Empire of the very near future, and worthy of tho administrative talent not of one .of the weakest, but one of the greatest men any Ministry con command. Not Lord Crewe strikos one as a weak man, but he is far from brilliant—not tho sort of man to consolidate an Empire. Ho stumbled along, sayingMhings which read much hotter than they sounded, and set tho conference open and on its legs. But he 'had failed to spark it as the occasion demanded, and the 'wheele on the first day went heavily. , To Know the Empire. Aft«r welcoming the delegates, the Secretaryl for tho Colonies got to business by declaring that ho thought cable facilities should-be placed first of all. There were countless prescriptions for bringing the various parts of the Empire closer, yet whatever their form cheap communication lay behind all. What the Empire needed almost above all other things was an increase of what in private life we should call ease and intimacy. Important as frequent communication; between the Mother Country and tho oversea: Dominions was, intercommunication between the various Dominions was equally important. , In his opinion the Empire would.not be really united until tho average citizen in Australia was in a position to learn easily all'about the development of our great protectorates each as the two~Nigerias; and form the point of view of the British Government that absence of easy communication has its serious side. It was extremely difficult as matters now stand for really accurate, accounts of what was said and done ovor here and overseas -to be reported* at once nil over the Empire. ( V Disproportion of Sport News. ! ' ( , After discussing the limitation of codes and their liability to break down on great occasions. Lord Crowe wont on to refer to the Pacific Cablo. It had, he said, had a real and very beneficial effect. In a technical sense it did not pay, but 'they certainly, wero not going to forget in its favour , that it had both instituted and caused elsewhere a very substantial reduction of rates. Touching on the question, of press messages,' with Incidental' mention 'of the large increaso when a cricket team'was touring, the Secretary for ,the' Colonies declared that, though ho ( would be very sorry to see thenum-' bor of wofds 'devoted 'to a report of an! interimperial cricket match diminished by one, he; would be very glad to seo the number ©f'Nvords on a subject of even more serious importance multiplied by many hundreds or even ■ thousands. ' '

cblourlng'oj Cablegrams.'• ■;• .' . Mr., senior partner of. ■> the/Adelaide ''Register,", after- , thanking Lbrd.jCrewe for his/welcome,/ justified the , /■ newspapers in.theremote,parts of the EmV: ,pire.;:They spared, , no expense, in obtaining . riewsVof, matters- of;'great importance,,and ■ •■: the'iews would be given in a much more extended -way, if , the rates" v were, cheapened. He/defended. the, papers from the charge of ■■ •* extensive colouring of 'cablegrams; to suit party, ■purposes.' Dtiring hisi long, experienc ■ .< w/'Australia, he had never been able to-dis- ■■';..■ cover; any suoh;. prepossession ".shown,,whatever.thb politics of .the' paper which- inter- /.' preted .the cables/ . : : '■■ ■'■■'.?■ . ,'"v iMr. Stanley Reed, editor of the ''Timea of India'.' (Bombay), in moving the first resolui tibn--—in favour of a cheaper and improved- ■ cable., service—painted .an amusiDg picture^ ■ /of"the"mutilation of Indian, cables. . Jour- ' i Ealiste;Jn India never dared to express an /■-..;■;•'•■ opinion on a cablegram, because it was prac- ;, .;tic"al!y'certain ,to.require correction, when. ;-. -'": fuller new 3 came.'Lord Roaebery had asked ;. the Indian delegates to give some guidance in dealing with India, but ..'•-.'.-; -; hdw-could they guide the democracy, in re-/-igard.to Indian affairs with" cables at/a shil- ;:■ ,; ';.,/- / ■■ ; ■...■ ,•-, ; J- Aj;ppst'Office view. \ '';:•/!;'! ■■ .. y; ■;/ f .v-/'THe J'ostmaster-Qeneral (Mr. Sydney Biix- '; V:;ton),' in> a happy speech, cleared Australia ;:V' l; from^; : Lord Crewe's reproach about cables on ;■.'■.;■■- cricket.' A large number\of messages were :/;'-. > ; .devoted .'to cricket, but that, was due, not / >/ ■ >nly/tb" its prodigious popularity, but to the ; ; ■ factVthat an important message on cricket /r would;;& into a very b'rie'f space. If the i .;. Prime -Minister . niado ' a speech , about a •;>., Dreadnought it could not be'condensed in the : ; Bame.way as information about Trumper get- :, ting ,a: hundred runs. -The British Post ■■'-': ./Office-.had shown its sympathy as regards : "cables,', and that sympathy had been on a ' : ...- cable'basis. Hβ was inclined to think'that, , as; regards the' British press, the Post Office / had "been rather too liberal, because it carried their goods at a loss. ; He concluded by fflreshadowing a reduction of rates. <A general discussion on Mr. Reed's mc- ' tion-iellowed.-.':....' / , , . . . .'.'•'■ ' A'Word for Cable Companlos. ' .'.i.MT.V.'Aueten Chamberlaiu had a great re-1 '.. ception.' -When he mentioned the. name of his father the. cheering jasted, several min- ' , utes.-' Jn the oonrsa of his speech, Mr.^Austeri Chamberlain dwelt on tho iliecessitv for the co-operation of instructed public opinion throughout' tho Empire. , All the Govern- : menb!:,; and the ■' existing cable companies; hoped'was. that, whatever was decided/the cable companies which had been pioneers in the; work would not be ungenerously'treated. The cable companies must, however, make up/- ; their minds that times were changing, an!d fresh needs arising, -and they would do » w^ll,to study how to meet the new neccssi- ■'■ ■• ties. :/v ' ■■ ■..:; ■-.'..■ ■,■ ■■■';: /...,. '■■■ :' ■ ■ . i "The first day ended with the appointment of. a committee to evolve some definite pro- ■ .' ■ ' pb'sal.,./.. ? ...... '■; -. ■ ]■■ ;•■..; ■. ■" 1- ■■ see-Transport Rovolutlori. The scoond sitting of.the Press Conference was presided over by Mr. M'Kenna, First Lord of tho Admiralty, feho,, in open- , ing,-said:—"lf only from a defensive point of view we should ever consider our-posi-tion in regard to other nations. Our great object in the maintenance of the Navy .'8 to ke«p open tho high road of i the seas. So long m we can keep that high-road open, our.'.difficulties of mutual, defence and mutual assistance in 'common defence are not so great ae those weich years ago confronted the Government of any great European country which had the. problem of local traespert to encounter. _ The remotest Dominien is nearer: to British shores to-day than the north of Franco was to tho south of. Franco a century ago." NaVal Spirit Must begin at Home. Dealing with local differences in regard to'defence nchemca for the ■ various Domjniona, tho First Lord said:—"We recognise that-in the development of the naval idea

in every Dominion it is essential that the mainspring ehould come from the Dominion itsolf. Wβ cannot force our strategical ideas upon you. We will assist in every way in our power, whatever bo the method by which we aro asked to assiet., We are sure that in tho' long working out of this process of solf-dovelopment, every Dominion' will como ultimately to the same'conclusion —that the naval problem of defence is one and the'same the whole .world over, and that the maintenance of Britain's • supremacy at sea means the maintenance of her supremacy in all seas alike." (Rec. July 7, 5.20 p.m.) Foreign Office and Dominions. Tho special correspondent of tho "Daily Telegraph" refers to tho speech delivered on the second day of tho conference by Sir Edward Grey (Secretary for Foreign Affairs) as a most tactful deliverance.' Touching on the question of press criticism, the Foreign Secretary said: "Within tho Empire let our criticism of each other bo always that criticism which mako3 clear that it takes no ; pleasure in finding fault. I would deprecate very much any idea that the . Foreign Office is more ready to compromise with foreign countries where the interests of the colonics are concerned. Though now and then the self-governing dominions boyond the seas may think that in somo settlement with a foreign country tho British Office has not been stiff enough r in upholding British interests, if we were to exact the extreme letter and once hold that we ought to get'everything which we claimj the British. Empire would become impossible. I do not mean for a moment that we should give up what we have got. You will find in every part of the world that our interests are so great that when any changes are in prospect we are to havo the greatest share."'