AN INCONCLUSIVE CONFERENCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 129, 17 June 1937, Page 4

AN INCONCLUSIVE CONFERENCE.

t The Imperial Conferenee, after praetically cqntinxious sittings for a full month— — it opened on 14th May :has been dissolved. It- must be said. that, so far as we have been let into its deliberations and conclusions, it has failed rather badly'to fulfil the great ekpectations with which it Was heralded. Possihly it may be that those expectatio^is were cast alotgether too high or, oii the other hand, that we are not yet in a position to appreciate wbat may have been quietly accomplished. At the moment, however, the former inferenee would seem to the more likely oue, and unless and until we have evidence to the contrary there must be a feeling of distinct disappointment at the apparent lack of concrete results. The new British Prime Mirtister, who sinee his elevation to that office has presided over the proceedings, is certainly reported as speaking of the Conferenee having been an "unqualified success/' It may well be doubted, however, whether this was anything more thaii a courteous farewell and a soothing salve to. those who had come so fa.r to achieve so little. It may have been intended also for f oreign consumption, witb the purpo'se of tfying to impress outsiders with the solidarity of the Empire, of which there was certainly no very convincing proof in. the published proceedings. The only other deduction to be drawn is that Mr. Chamberlain himself had not - at any time- entertained the high hopes with which others had been imbued. At any rate, as matters have gone, onlooking f oreign Governments will have seen but little to support the hoasts of complete unity of purpose with which the Conferenee was ushered in, while probably General Ludendorf would no doubt firid in it all confirmation of his recent propliecy of the Empire 's rapid decay and early dissolution. At the outset we Were told that the m.ain subjects for discussion were Imperial defence and foreign policy. As to neither of these does there seem to have been any definite understanding reaehed. On the question of defence Canada's chief delega.te at once imposed a wet hlanket on the discussions by declining to make any commitment towards taking part in any general scheme, preferring rather to rely on the protecting wing of his big republican neighbour. The Conferenee has thus dispersed apparently without any really Imperial plans having been even submitted let alone seriously coxjsidered. The position would appear to be much the same so far as concerns foreign policy, so that on the two main points matters are left very much as they Were, with perhaps the added disadvantage of having exposed to potential enemies the lack of much needed cohesion among the memher nations of the Empire. So far as concerns economic questions and so far as they were discussed, tliere would appear to have been no much greater unanimity, As well as can be judged here, none of the oversea delegates, and perhaps least of all our own, seems to have approached this subject with any broad outlook. Each has apparently kept in stea4y and almost exclustve view the reaping of advantages for his own country. There was certainly some pious talk of the need for a revival of international trade as a means for promoting more friendly relations and preserving peace. None, however, would appear to have been ready to contribute anything towards the breaking down of the barriers that stand in the way of that much to be wished consummation, our own Prime Minister being content to give a little lecture on his own Government-'s lofty socialistic aims. In the end we are told that pretty well all that is of real practical moment has been left for "bilateral discussion," which in plain language means two-sided understandings to be arrived at among the various Governments, and particularly as between the Government of the United Kingdom and that of eaeh of the self-governing Dominions. So here, again, it is very much a oase of "as you were." The most that may be hoped for is that probably no great harm has been done and that perhaps our own delegates on their return may tell us of better things of which we have not yet heard.