EMPIRE DEFENCE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 101, 15 May 1937, Page 19

EMPIRE DEFENCE

Imperial Conference Meets To-day LENGTHY AGENDA (BriMah Wixelesa.) ■ . ' BU6BY, M I The' first mee'ting of th® Imperiali Conferenee will be held tO-morrow. It iis seven years sincfe StateSmOn of the , Comanonwealth have formally eonferred' ' in London, and, in the realm of foreign affairs and dofence, which subjects will' rank first in importance on the agenda, the situatiOn has nndergone many changes even since the qnformal discussions which took plaee between the Prime Ministerg assembled iji Lopdon' for the Jubilee in 1935. The prfesence Of Sir ThpmaS Inskip in the United Kingdom fielegation,i which is representative of all sections1 forming the National Government, has indicated that the co-ordiBatien aspeets> of the defence problems will not be neglocted. The constitution and trade matterS' for disc'Ussion, while importaht, are] : xather of a routine eharacter, and willj ' npt hrouse the same pnblic interest fcsi •these aspeets of Imperial affairs have inl the past. It has been agreed that questions arising from the agreements made' -at the Imperial Economic Conference at. , 'Ottawa in 1932 can best be dealt with !in discussions between Ihe individual Empire Governments cencerned. The Conference & not .expected io. •last for mere than fonr weeka. Burma. Will be making its first appearance at, an Imperial Conference table as aj ' :separate entity, On the other hand,: ithe Irish Free State Will be absent ' jfrom this year's diseusSioB*, I '