THE PREMIERS AT HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 4 May 1907, Page 3

THE PREMIERS AT HOME.

London, May 2. At a Chamber of Commerce banquet I the Premiers and 000 others were present. Sir ,1. (!. Ward, replying to trie toast •Parliaments of the Empire," said that every great national community should have a voice in'the management of the Empire. ''ls it not worth impressing ;hose who don't see eye to eye with us in preference? We should carefully consider the possibilities and potentialities if our great Empire.'' Mr. Deakiu, replying to the toast, 'Consolidation of the Empire,' 1 promised •ommercers the hoartie.,t welcome to Australia in l!)l)'.l. The voyage would soon dispel apprehension a- to the ntti:ude of Australia and her sentiment and sympathy with the Motherland. Trade had made the Empire, and trade mu-t continue to maintain it; therefore the voice of the trader should he the first to receive public attention. "Can you tot trust yourselves to make bargains ivith your own kin?" London, May i. There were nearly a thousand present it the Austral Club's reception to the Premiers. The Victoria League, Lady Jersey pro iiding, presented the Premiers at the lm>erial Institute with an address of wel:ome, signed by 120(1 members. Mr. Deakiu, in acknowledging it, referred humorously to the interfercner vith the conference by hauijuetting and pieties, which departmental salirists night almost be supposed to have care'ully planned with a view to distracting 'rom the business of the Empire or preventing a better understanding. He ldded, in a half-cheery vein, that despite such snirrouudinga', "we will not he •rushed. (Cheers.) tf we seek in vaiu for some things in official circles, for sympathy and assistance, for the helping hand extended out to us in our renotc countries, and for the action here so all-important at the centre, we can ook to leagues and voluntary organist) - :ions of citizens to fill the place ollieial -■irclcs are inclined to leave empty. (Cheers.) The leagues will receive the ■ordial thanks of peoples in the outer ICmpire, even if you receive less than Kour meed of recognition here. If the ■old shoulder is turned to, (he league, as it is to us, remember there arc warm hands on the other side of the globe grasping yours. After all, this country has been created as much without its jovernments— sometimes despite its j'ovrrnuicnts—as with them.'' Sir -I. ti. Ward was equally applauded m referring to the teaching of the Empire's history in Xcw Zealand and the uoys' u.'e of the ride. Mr. Winston Churchill started to attend, but wrote regretting that he bad been called to the Colonial Ofliee on urgent business: