IMPERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 162, 3 August 1909, Page 3

IMPERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE

IMPRESSION OF MR. BALFOUR. Rightly or wrongly, one had 'been led to picture Mr. Balfour as simulating the appearance of being rather tired and bored and indefinite, bin on seeing him and hearing him talk one unreservedly wishes to delete the lirst two words of this sentence, lie is quite a charming and winning personality. At any rate, that is how he showed himself at this gathering. He was bright, alert, genial, ;.nd witty, and yet when he came to some important point which he desired to emphasise he was intensely earnest and forcible. He has a beautifully clear voice and a most pleasant, convincing manner; and as to matter, he has at command a vocabulary which enables him to perfectly express every play of thought and every shade of meaning. Afte r hearing hiin speak one can very easily understand thati he is a sad stumbling-block to the man who always insists on "a plain answer to a plain question, sir!" It is quite evident that to a man of Mr. Balfour's mental temperament and keen thoughtfulness some questions, perhaps many questions, have more than the proverbial two sides, and that to him it would be dishonesty to pretend that there was only one. It is true that on this occasion he did not indulge in much refining, but one could not help being struck with the fact that when he was dealing with the difficulties colonial statesmen .must always have to contend with in discriminating between local conditions and Imperial action, he showed a very great capacity for grasping various possibilities in oversea views of matters apparently simple. On the general question he spoke with great earnestness and force. The following extracts give a very good idea of his attitude: •"The fate of the Umpire depends on naval superiority in home waters.

"The German Ocean, the Channel, the neighborhood of these islands, possibly the Mediterranean these are the theatres in which, if there is to he m Armageddon, the Armageddon will take place.

"And it is folly for us to attempt to dissipate these fleet constituents, so that when the time of crisis arrives we shall not do able to have that concentration on which our Imperial destinies and the defence of a large portion of the Empire really and substantially depend. lApplausc.)

"The fate of Australia, tin- fat" of New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India—that is not goiug to lie decided in the Pacific nor in the Indian Ocean; it is going to be decided here. ''Everybody who attempts to read the signs of the times -will agree that the weighty words which fell from Lord Rosebery less than a week ago, and Sir Edward Grey yesterday, will recognise Hint no man can now speak of this subject of Imperial defence without some note of anxiety in his voice.

"Not panic, there is no question of panic, but we all have to look round us at gathering forces, the arrangement of possible foes. '•We have to look, not with a frightened, but with a careful eye.

''So looking at them, everybody, T think, will be prepared to recognise that the .language of the Foreign Secretary, unusual in the mouths of Foreign Secretaries, docs not go beyond the necessities of the situation. "Do not suppose that I am going to say to this nr any other audience that we in this island are less prepared to face the dangers and responsibilities of Empire than were ojir forefathers be;ore us. (Applause.) "It has even been a peculiarity of our race, for some reason which 1 am quite unable to explain, to be announcing to the world at large that we are not the men we were, that national spirit has, decayed or is decaying, that even the physique of the race bears a very poor comparison with that of its progenitors. "I am no pessimist on these subjects —(applause)—and I am Utterly sceptical about the value of such criticisms. "I am certain that when -the moment arrives the national spirit will be equal to anything that it may be called upon to face, but we must give that national spirit its chance. (Applause.) "The patriotism, the courage, and the spirit of the great self-governing members of the Empire will lie utterly inadequate unless we ourselves arc prepared in these days of rapidly-moving invention to' give to our people the weapons with which they may effectively meet any danger that may be brought against them. "The responsibility is great, but that it will be faced this very assembly provides an adequate and sufficient proof. "T therefore look forward—not without anxiety, not without some feeling of concern, but still with a high and cheerful courage—to all dangers that may menace the Empire in the future."During his speech, as in that of Sir Edward Grey, there was again quite a dramatic episode not conveyed in the printed report. When he used the words

"without some note of anxiety in his voice," Mr. Balfour paused for, I should say, three or four seconds, and thoa added the words, "nut panic!" tt had a very remarkable effect on the audience. Titer was no cheering as we o;i (iinariiy use the word, but just lowto;ied "Hear, hears" from all round which expressed a very complete appreciation of the distinction Mr. Balfour drew between anxiety and panic.— W.A.P.. in TTnwera Star.