IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 42, 13 November 1926, Page 9

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

EFFORTS TO FINISH WORK BY NOVEMBER 2 5

CHARACTER OF DEFENCE COMMITTEE

DOMINIONS’ SHARE OF NAVAL BURDEN

The committees ,of the Im= perial Conference are.. pushing on. with their .work, it being desired that the Conference shall conclude on November 25.

BY Telegraph.—press association. ' Copybight. ■

London, November 11.

No plenary session of the Imperial Conference will be held till Monday or Tuesday. To-day only ’ two’ committees sat, namely; Imperial Defence and luter-Impenal ■ Relations. Seven Com-, mittees will sit to-morrow. . The Conference delegates •on Satur? day will go to Camberley ' t'o view' a demonstration- -of- the ■ postwar ■ development in military tanks and tractors. With the desire that the Conference should be concluded by November S 3, all committees have , been • summoned for to-morrow to give the finishing touches to reports on the . less contentious subjects. J It is gathered that the form of future treaties will emerge from the Legal Committee early next week,, and .will then go to the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee to be embodied in a memorandum setting out 'the Empire’s posi- - , tion. This is likely to be agreed to at the Plenary Conference. INTER-IMPERIAL RELATIONS. The inter-imperial Relations'-Commit-tee can be regarded as out of the wood as far as “malcontents” are concerned. The earlier suggestion of dissonance shown by some delegates has complete-' ly disappeared. The committee is-uow-busy finding the language in which to clothe the. entirely amicable decision which has been reached. It is understood that the present difficulty is 'to adapt the wording to one Dominion delegate’s, insistence, on plain and unambiguous terms, the meaning of which will be unmistakable to the man in-the street, but even this stickler for plain language in contradiction to ‘Tawypr’s language” admits that an entirely satisfactory formula is practically withinsight.’ There is every indication that the committee will very soon -report .to the Plenary Conference. . Chief interest to-day, centred on .the - Prime-Mitiistefs’'presence at a meeting of the ; Imperial • Defence Committee,■where it was made elear -that-theie iS'-iio-intention to chdtige the ■ committee’s-’-ad- - ' visbry And consultative ’character. •• Sev-' eral of the Prime Ministers - paid, tribute to its immense value for those purposes. ................ Though both naval and military matters cropped up at the Imperial Conference to-day, the Australian Press' Association understands that the Singapore Base question was pot discussed. BURDEN OF NAVAL DEFENCE. ; Considerable progress was made -on.the question of the Dominions’ acceptance of an increased share of the burden of the Empire’s naval defence - . Both the extent and the/nature of the /Dominions’ ■_ increased co-operation., is. practically decided upon. The Australian Press Association learns that 1 though the details of the finances -- are still unsettled, Mr. Coates is satisfied that New Zealand will have no cause to complain of the additional responsi-bilities-she will be called upon to shoulder. ACCELERATION OF STEAMER SERVICES. ' It is likely to be some days before the Empire Communications Committee at the Imperial Conference is able to issue a report on the acceleration of steamship services, because the Imperial Shipping Committee has been,asked, to bring the 1923 report on the matter . up to date for joint consideration with Sir James Connolly’s and.other schemes.