EMPIRE AFFAIRS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 July 1924, Page 9

EMPIRE AFFAIRS

EXTRA EDITION.

' FUTURE CONFERENCES. A PRELIMINARY GATHERING. BY CABLE—PBESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received JuLy 4, 10.5 a.m. LONDON, July 3. The Daily Express lobbyist states that Mr Thomas’s conference will be concerned with the constitution of future imperial conterences and their relations to the '.respective Governments and Parliaments. The form of tiie conference has not been settled, but it will be in the nature of a committee. Efforts are being made to meet in the coming autumn. The first task will be the devising of machinery by which the , change of any Government will not affect the resolutions of the regular Imperial Conference. In this regard a suggestion will be considered that future delegations should be the representatives of the Opposition as well as the- Government. Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. UNITY OF EMPIRE. FOOLISH TALK. Received July 4, 10.5 a.ny. LONDON, July 3. Lord Derby, presiding at a banquet to the. Congress of the Empire Chanik hers, at which there was a distinguished political and commercial gathering, said be regretted that the Imperial Conference resolutions had not been ratified. Momentarily, Britain had decided in favour of free trade, but where any new duty was imposed for the purposes of revenue, it was their duty to give preference to their own kith and kin. W Whether taxes existed now or in future it should be remembered that the Empire could be serf -contained, and everything should be done to facilitate such a desirable end. Mr Thomas, after declaring that Imaffairs sholuld know uo party, pointed out that the majority of those •who attended the last Imperial Conference were already out of office, but the talk of losing the Empire was hum- • bug. Foolish folk who were not possessed of confidence, asserted after the elections in South Africa: that secession , was inevitable, yet the first - message received from the Union was that the - change -of Government would make no difference in regard to the- great fundamental question of unity of the Empire.—Reuter.