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Union op South Africa. Mr. W. C. du Plessis, Department of the Prime Minister and of External Affairs. Irish Free State. Mr. J. V. Fahy, Secretary to the Delegation. .Mr. J. A. Belton, Department of External Affairs. Commandant D. Bryan. Department of Defence. PRESS OFFICERS. Mr. D. Caird, C.B.E. Mr. C. Beckett Platt, Dominions Office and Oversea Settlement Department. Mr. G. F. Steward, C.8.E., Foreign Office. Mr. A. Ryan, Empire Marketing Board. The opening and closing plenary meetings of the Conference were held in the Reception-room of the Foreign Office. In order to economize the time of delegates, however, the general direction of the work of the Conference was conducted at meetings of the heads of delegations held at No. 10 Downing Street, and in the room of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the House of Commons. These meetings were normally attended by the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, and Newfoundland, the Minister for External Affairs of the Irish Free State, and the Secretary of State for India as head of the Indian delegation, accompanied by other delegates and ndvisers according to the nature of the subjects under discussion. On the motion of the Prime Minister of Canada, seconded by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was asked to take the chair at the meetings of the Conference and of the heads of delegations. In his absence the chair was usually taken by one of the Dominion Prime Ministers. Committees and sub-committees were appointed both by the full Conference and by the heads of delegations. In former Imperial Conferences it has been the usual practice to devote some time to general statements and discussion on such matters as foreign affairs, defence, and questions relating to colonies, protectorates, and mandated territories ; on the present occasion, having regard to the large number of specific subjects relating to inter-Imperial relations and economic questions arising on the agenda and the time required for their discussion, it was thought desirable to replace this procedure by the circulation of general memoranda, from which particular questions were selected as subjects for consultation. The total number of meetings was: Plenary Conference, 3; heads of delegations, 28 ; committees and sub-committees, 163. 11. OPENING STATEMENTS. Opening statements were made by the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, the Minister for External Affairs of the Irish Free State, the Prime Minister of Newfoundland, and by His Highness the Maharaja of Bikaner on behalf of the Indian delegation. Tributes were paid to the memory of the late Earl of Balfour. Mr. O'Higgins, Sir Joseph Ward, Sir Neville Howse, and the Earl of Birkenhead. In the course of the opening meeting the Conference was informed of the arrangements made for representation of the interests of Southern Rhodesia— namefy, that the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs should be advised on matters affecting Southern Rhodesia by the Hon. P. D. L. Fynn, Treasurer of Southern Rhodesia, and Sir Francis Newton, High Commissioner for Southern Rhodesia in London. It was agreed that special arrangements should be made for the representation of Southern Rhodesia on committees which might be set up to deal with questions affecting the interests of Southern Rhodesia, more particularly those concerned with the economic side of the agenda of the Conference.

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