The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1921. THE EMPIRE CABINET

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 265, 3 August 1921, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1921. THE EMPIRE CABINET

Amongst other claims to notice, the Imperial Conference now drawing to an end is perhaps destined to be the last known by thab title. It seems very probable—all the more no in view of the turn taken by the discussion this year of the subject of constitutional relationships—that the designation of Empire Cabinet may henceforth be adopted and come into common use. Due recognition would thus be paid to the new status of the Dominions, and there is no need to boggle over the fact that the members of the Empire Cabinet are severally responsible to autonomous Parliaments. The Conference has been sitting for more than six weeks, and as far as can be judged from the bare and incomplete reports of its proceedings as yet made available, it iseems to have achieved results which very much more than balance the delay and inconvenience it has occasioned here and in other countries of the Empire so far as the treatment of their local affairs is concerned. Although its deliberations and their outcome are for the most part treated for the time being as confidential, it is already plain that, the Conference has dealt with affairs of capital importance, and that it has done so in a manner to strengthen the Empire. The most satisfactory individual pronouncement yet made upon the work of the Conference is that of the Canadian Prime Minister (Mn. Meighf.n), who said, a day or two ago: “I go home satisfied with the progress made. We did not all come to London with the same vjews, but common ground was found. I was impressed with the British statesmen’s fair disposition . . . and the spirit of unity and equality manifest in all discussions.” At its face value this means that the results accomplished are of great practical value as they bear upon the unity and future security of the Empire. Before the Conference opened it was recognised that not a little difficulty might be experienced in bringing the views of Canadian representatives into harmony with those' of representatives of other parts of the Empire, more esoecially on the question of naval defence. There is no suggestion of any general inclination on Canada’s part to plough a lonely furrow. On the contrary, her responsible representatives have consistently declared that she. is. above all things loyal to the Imperial tic. Mr. Meighen himself, in a speech he delivered in Canada a. month or two ago, observed that it was the true heart of Canada which responded to the call of Empire in 1914, and it might be depended upon to do the same in future. There were occasionally in Canada (he added) movements which would relegate the Imperial links to oblivion, and these were allowed to go some length; but when they became serious they ran counter to the British sentiment of the country, and it was not British sentiment that went under.

The movements to which Mr. Meigiien referred arc nevertheless to be reckoned with, and it is a familiar fact that important sections of. the Canadian public regard the problem of Imperial naval defence from a different standpoint than the people of Australia and New Zealand. It is correspondingly significant and gratifying to find the Canadian Prime Minister declaring spontaneously that the Imperial delegates were able to find common ground and manifest a spirit of unity. t From the standpoint of immediate urgency, naval defence was by far the most important question with which the Conference dealt. Definite assurances have been given, though in general terms, that deliberations on this vital subject were carried to a point of effective agreement. Mr. Massey, for instance, is reported to have said that the arrangements made in regard to naval defence “were the z J>c.st that ever existed in the history of the Empire.” In existing circumstances these arrangements must be to an extent provisional. The naval needs pf the Empire in the immediate future will be governed largely by the outcome of the forthcoming Washington conference. It is plainly necessary, however, that whatever naval force is required to make the Empire secure should be maintained henceforth on a basis of equitable co-operation between its constituent countries, and such comments as Mr. Meigiien and Mr. Massey have made are presumably to be read in light of that fact. Nothing in the work of the Conference is more noteworthy than the decisive fashion in which the Imperial delegates condemned and rejected the idea of attempting to frame a written constitution for the Empire. It was intended this year to- prepare an agenda for a Constitutional Conference to be. held next year, but as information stands the project was abandoned, a majority of the delegates believing “the present system to be more elastic and more capable of improvement than any form of federation or written constitution.” Several of the delegates to the Conference have spoken so decidedly on this question that the position is not at all in doubt. It is manifest that the statesmen responsible for conducting Imperial affairs, or most of them, fla.tly reject the theory thtit organic federation is the alternative to the ultimate dissolution of the Empire. Now that it has been cast aside by those who arc most, intent on promoting and strengthening the organisation of the. Empire, this theory presumably will die a natural death. It has never been convincing. except to the members of a limited school, and any attempt to carry it into practical effect would have encountered impassable obstacles. It is enough for practical purposes that the present elastic organisation of the Empire affords scope for the partial, but serviceable, adjustment of questions with which it would bo impossible to deal successfully on a basis of organic federation. Apart from its extended consideration of defence and foreign and constitutional relations, the Conference has dealt with many problems of great importance to the. Empire, amongst others those of wireless and transport communications (the latter including bqth air and sea transport), reparations, some aspects of

Imperial citizenship, cheaper news services, inter-Imporial immigration, including that of Asiatics, and patent law. Probably it has dealt also with various questions which have not even been mentioned in the cablegrams. As regards most of the/ subjects mentioned, the information published is too incomplete to give any real idea of what has been accomplished, but definite prospects are raised of a scheme of wireless communication which will mark a very considerable improvement on existing facilities. Prospects of an early establishment of airship services, on the other hand, appear to bo dubious. This is to be regretted, for the reason, amongst others, that swift airship services would considerably modify the disability under whichi New Zealand and some other Dominions labour in providing for effective participation in Imperial consultation. As the Empire is developing, facilities for frequent and convenient consultation between its responsible statesmen are supremely important, and unless it is found possible in the near future to improve greatly upon existing facilities of this kind, the question may have to be revived of providing for Imperial representation without prejudice to the normal conduct of local affairs. Some of the published reports rather suggest—the suggestion is possibly misleading—that the Conference has made little headway towards providing for an improvement in the existing state of interImperial shipping services. Mil. Massey has stated that although the whole question of ocean freights and shipping services was taken up by the Conference of 1918, with every indication that it would be considered as urgent, “apparently nothing was done.” There will be good reason for serious disappointment and dissatisfaction should it appear that the present Conference has failed to provide for an early and material improvement upon this poor record. It has been well stated that the means by which the substantial unity and advantage of the Empire can be best advanced are those of economic development, transport, and communication of all kinds, and that it is in the extension of reciprocal trade and enterprise under the flag that the Mother Country and the Dominions alike will find infinitely their best and most hopeful method of remedying what is unsatisfactory in their existing economic state. This is the true line not merely of economic, but of political, development, and it will be correspondingly a. matter of regret should fuller information show that the Conference has failed to deal in practical fashion with the problems of shipping transport, on the effective treatment of which the extension of inter-Imporial trade so vitally depends.