The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1911. TWO IMPORTANT DECISIONS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1157, 19 June 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1911. TWO IMPORTANT DECISIONS.

. We cannot help thinking that those critics of the Imperial Conference who have the idea that unless things are busily happening to the Empire during the "gap" the Conference is useless anil a farce have shut their eyes to two important facts. In the first place it is a complete misconception of the purpose of the Conference to suppose that it originated in the idea that there- should be a set Board constantly controlling the Empire. It began, it is maintained, and we. trust ifc will long remain, as a very convenient institution for a periodical stock-taking. Events are not moving to-day so rapidly that a quadrennial meeting of the Conference is not sufficient; the illusion of rapid movement is the triumph of superficial thought about mechanical progress over the historical spirit. Future historians will wonder what there was to meet so frequently about. To long for Imperial Councils, more frequent general Conferences, and a constant "Fizz! fizz! Bang! bang!"—such as Mr. Bottles, in Friendship's Garland, so much admired in Professor Silvorpitmp's Academy—is to overlook entirely the fact that the real machinery of negotiation is going oh all the time, and the still more important fact that' the,. Conference has no power at,all to loose or bind. The second consideration that the SiLVßnrujir- school fail to take into account is the largo amount of spade-work actually clone by the Conference. In every discussion obscure points are cleared up, difficulties removed, morasses surveyed and marked off from solid ground; and every Conference bears its fruit in the direction or re-direction of thought. To-day's cable messages show plainly just what great practical work the "farcical" Conference can achieve. The two main decisions reported are quite the most important that have yet been arrived at.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier did not take Home a portmanteau stuffed with proposals respecting everything he could think of, but he will go back to Canada with the satisfaction of j knowing that ho was in the end responsible for the principal work done. His first proposal, that the British Government negotiate with the several Powers to relieve any Dominion desiring it from the operation of treaties without affecting their application to the rest of the Empire, was first notified by him at the beginning of the month in the discussion of the Australian proposals concerning "commercial relations and British shipping." The original Australian suggestion was that Britain might simply denounce the treaty provisions that stood in the way of preferential treatment of British ships manned by British seamen. Sin Wilfrid Laurier's speech on moving his motion is not given at all fully and the speeches of the other Prime Ministers, who all supported him, are not given at all. The unanimity, it is satisfactory to know, became perfect when Sir Edward Grey accepted the motion, which really will not embarrass Britain. The supreme treaty-making Power is still Britain's and there is no compulsion upon the British Government to do more than negotiate either for modifications or for new treaties. Should her negotiations lead to no result in any case, the colony concerned is not likely to ask Britain to subordinate her great interests to a colonial interest by denouncing the treaty involved. The second of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's motions is of very great importance and value. This is no less than that the Imperial Government should appoint a lloyal Commission representing Britain and the overseas Dominions to investigate the whole question of the Empire's trade.

T!k!_ scope of the Commission, the establishment of which was urged by all the delegates and agreed to by Mr. Asquith, is almost as wide as words can make it. The investigations arc to cover "the natural resources, the development attained and attainable, the facilities for production and manufacture, the distribution of tho trade of cacli part with the other parts and the j outside world, the food and raw material requirements of cacli and (lie sources thereof that are available, and the extent to which the trade between the different parts of the Empire are affected by legislation, beneficially or otherwise." In order to avoid any misunderstandingand perhaps, also, any hurtful controversy in tho disturbed area of "Tariff Reform v. Free-trade"—the motion, before being carried, was amended by providing that the Commission should inquire as to what methods Imperial trade could be improved and extended, "consistent with tho existing fiscal policy of each part of the Empire. No op-

position was raised to this amendment; on the contrary it was made clear that tho colonics have as little intention as ever of falling into lino with any "standard" policy whatever. The curse of controversy over the Empire's fiscal problems since Mit. Ciiajiherlaix raised Ilia "Tariff Inform" standard eight years ago has been the lack of any comprehensive and reliable data covering the potentialities as well as the actualities of Imperial trade. At present the position can only be viewed, so to speak, through the diffractive medium of conflicting viewpoints, with the result that no sincere student can feel sure at any point that he has a true picture even of what is not completely hidden from him. The report of the Commission will be of enormous value, and should it really take the character suggested in the discussion, it will be an excellent investment her share in which New Zealand will not grudge.