THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8409, 25 April 1907, Page 5

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

Received April 24, 9.1 a.m. LONDOiN, April 23. The Imperial Conference resumed. Mr Haldane Minister for War, moved: "That the conference, without wishing to commit the Governments represented to immediate action, recognised the need of developing throughout the Empire the conception of a general staff to be recruited from the Empire forces, becoming a means of fostering the study of military science, collecting and disseminating military information, and undertaking the preparation of a scheme of defence on a common principle without in the least interfering with questions of command and administration; such staff being capable of advising the/ various governments regarding the direction of war and military organisation throughout the Empire." The resolution was carried.

Received April 24, 9.30 p.m. LONDON, April 24. Mr R. B. Haldane, addressing the conference, urged the desirability of the organisation of the military forces of the Empire upon a broad and not a rigid pattern for common purposes. He suggested that the newlycreated general staff should be given an Imperial character, and be at the disposition of all local governments or commanders-in-chief for furnishing advice or supplying intelligence of an expert description. He did not desire that such a staff should, in the slightest degree, suggest that the autonomous colonies mus ■. accept any direction from Home; in military matters, but trained advice should be at their disposal. Mr Haldane furnished the conference with papers dealing with the strategical conditions of thd Empire from a military standpoint, emphasising three great principles:— Firstly, obligation of the self-governing colonies to provide their own local security; secondly, the duty of arranging for mutual assistance in case of a supreme common need; thirdly, necessity of maintaining our sea supremacy. Great B"itain, said Mr Haldane, was organising a territorial army for Home defence, and also an expeditionary striking force. The navy and military were designed to assist any part of the Empire. He emphasised the .importance of assimilating the war Organisation throughout the Empire and the adoption of a uniform system of nomenclature. The value of the colonial help to the Motherland would be much increased if their system readily fits into the war organisation of the Imperial Army.

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