THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 246, 23 February 1911, Page 5

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

SPEECH BY SIR JOSEPH WARD. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Bluff, Wednesday. In the course of his address Sir Joseph Ward said he was not in a position to discuss the' resolutions which some time ago he gave notice that he would move at the Imperial Conference, as it would scarcely be fair to the other members of the conference. He sincerely hoped the press would be admitted to the conference, and his first resolution was in that direction, because he felt that was the only way to get public opinion in the different interested countries of the Empire focussed on the matters discussed, and the only way to get public attention fixed on important matters, and the only way to get a practical issue from the publication of the views of the different individual speakers at the conference, in order that the people in different parts of the Empire could thoroughly understand the subjects, and for that reason he hoped the press would be admitted to the conference. The questions would doubtless .be decided by a majority vote. Of j course, there were some matters, stw*-as defence, on which the conferehoe > would go into committee and the discussion be regarded .as .confidential.

The rapidity with jcountries of the world had gone ahead during the last ten years had made vast changes necessary in some matterss/The great advance of other «t well.as our own, and keen commercial rivalry, and in some cases envy, had been met by changed conditions in our vastly scattered Empire, so that, while each part existed as a separate entity, the whole would be bound together on matters of Imperial importance. There wag a great deal for the conference to do in the way of providin'g machinery for Imperial organisation in times of difficulty or of peace that would work effectively. Referring to New Zealand's Dreadnought contribution, Sir Joseph Ward said that a sinking fund was provided, so that the cost of the vessel would be completely repaid in, 15 years, and the annual cost meantime Of the interest and sinking fund was under £BO,OOO. In reply to critics, he emphasised- the great moral effect of the contribution, and pointed out that the only alternative to bearing a share of the cost of the British Navy and ensuring its protection, was to build a navy at our own cost, and that would be ruinous. We should have to provide right from the jump ten millions in one act, and then Have to pay a million a year for maintenance, and, further,' in 15 or 20 years the vessels. would be obsolete, and we should have to begin de novo. He dwelt for some time on the unique position of New Zealand as a country with a purely European population, and on the question of the preservation of race purity, which would be one of partcular importance at the Imperial Conference. At this conference and the next one (four years hence), valuable work could be done in the direction of preserving European countries (outside parts of the Empire such as India) from the invasion of Eastern races. Sir Joseph Ward touched also on the necessity of a new system of defence in consequence ,of the altered world conditions, and claimed that the action taken was not the result of any jingoism, but was merely a necessary measure to make the men of the country as efficient as the men of any other country in case of a raid.