NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8783, 10 April 1907, Page 2

NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

Australian Conditions for Colonial Trade Only. Press Association—Copyright. 1 Losdon, April 0.

The conference discussed the classes of voyages to which tho Australasian conditions should bo applicable, and Ultimately Mr Hughes' resolution was carried unanimously, rendering liable to Australian law vessels *registered;in the colonies while trading therein, also vessels wherever registered while engaged in coastal trade,, vessels to be deemed traders, if they take cargo or passengers to any coiohiai port for any other colonial port. ■ Mr Hill believed that if the Commonwealth applied Australasian conditions to oversea vesssls doing incidental coasting trade some British services might be compelled to withdraw. Mr Thomson, Commonwealth delegate, dissented from the attempt to shut out British oversea vessels from incidental coastal trade, which is chiefly passenger traffic

Sir W. Lyne denied hostility towards oversea shipping, and said the Australian proposals were merely part and parcel of the contracts law preventing the importation Qf workmen at a lower rate than locally paid. Definition of Coastal Trade.

The colonial delegates refused to accept Mr Hill's rider suggesting as a matter of expediency that oversea vessels only engaged in the colonial coasting trade to the extent of taking passengers and cargo froni one colonial port to another should not be deemed to be engaged in the coastal trade. After Mr Lloyd Georgo had consulted the Australian delegates the Conference resolved that a vessel engaged in oversea trade shall not be deemed engaged in coasting trade merely because she carries between Australian and New Zealand ports (1) passengers holding through tickets to or from some.'oversea place, (2) merchandise consigned on a through bill of lading to or from some oversea place. The Conference next discussed tho question of the limits within which Australian wages regulations were applicable. Sir Joseph Ward's motion was Carried recognising the riglit of Australian Governments to provide that crews shipped from Australia and New Zealand to Fiji and the Pacific Islands should reeeivo such wages ' as their respective Goverments fixed. I Sir Joseph Ward/ contended that Australian steamship owners were entitled to b9 ( protected, and that it was unfair to iheni and to tho officers and .seamen if other ships were allowed to compete by paying lower wages.

Si William Lyne argued that crews picked' up in Australian ports by foreign ships trading with the Islands ought to come under the Australian wages conditions.

Mr Hughes strongly urged the application of Australian conditions tb any vosscls trading from the Commonwealth to Fiji and tlio Pacific Islands.

The Colonial Office legal delegates question the right of the Commonwealth to apply Australian conditions to oversea vessels touching an Australian port and then proceeding to Fiji; . . Sir William Lyho called their attention to lhe;legal decision referring to ' the breaking of -sealed stores outside territorial waters and the fining of tiie vessel at the next Australian port of call. The question was not sßttled.-

Sir Joseph Ward gave notice to urge the British Government to secure the recognition of the right of the Commonwealth and New Zealand to representation on the Suez Canal. He also moved that the British, Commonwealth, and New Zealand Governments be asked to legislate to give effect totho resolutins of the Conference.

Opinion of the Timas

Los bos, April 9. The first of a series of articles entitled the Conference and Imperial Unity appears in the Times. The writer contends that the key and universally applicable solution of existing difficulties must bo sought in the constitutional position. The colonies, which now feel themselves so be nations, have been brought into the arena of world "politics, hence tho monopoly by the United Kingdom of political power and privilege in all foreign and Imperial questions, natural enough in the infant days of the colonies, has now become intolerable. The writer predicts that the industrial development of the colonies will call for an extension of their influence over the tropics and for the sea power necessary to maintain it. Imperial unity, the keystone of the arch enabling the Empire to withstand all dangers, can only bo preserved by tho admission of the colonies to partnership, on the lines suggested in Lord Miluer's speech cabled on December 14, based on equality of political status.