THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE IN 1970

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3391, 5 December 1911, Page 8

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE IN 1970

AN IMAGINARY SCENE

[We gather that the scene of the imaginary conference- described below by cur contributor, “Futurus,” is laid in Ottawa. It has been suggested by no less an authority than Earl Grey that Canada must become the centre and predominant partner of the Empire.] The opening of the Imperial Conference for the first time by the Emperor in person marks a notable departure in the history of this great gathering. His Imperial Majesty was supported by the King of Canada, the King of Australasia, and the Grown Prince of South Africa, and his opening speech was full of profound significance Ho referred at the outset to the tremendous changes that had taken place since the open, ing of the first of these conferences in the reign of his illustrious ancestor, Edward VII.

From a small and semi-official gathering, with no executive powers, this great Parliament had developed, and now ruled and guided the destinies of the mightiest group of kindred nations that the world had ever seen. Then the daughter nations, though vast in area, were relatively small in population and importance, and Britain was the dominant partner. Now her children had five times her population, and overshadowed her in wealth, in power, and in greatness. Then the fears were that the Dominions might break away from the Empire. They had seen how groundless were those fears. Equally groundless, he felt assured, was the fear now sometimes expressed that the Motherland might some day assert her independence. How could such a thing be ? The people of the Homeland were as loyal to the Empire as any Canadian or Australian, and her statesmen contemplated no such retrograde step as separation. When he thought of the glorious traditions that our Federal Empire had accumulated in the half-century of its existence, how soldiers from the Old Land had supported the Imperial Army on many a hard-fought field, and carried the Federal flag to victory; how Britain’s sailors had turned the tide of battle in favor of Australia’s fleet on that memorable day in the South Pacific; he felt that the day was far distant when the Union. Jack, the historic emblem of .Britain, would disappea i from the corner of our Imperial fiag. If the Empire lost the Motherland it would lose the strongest link that hound it, and what would Britain gain? A barren independence, with no possible increase of liberty or prestige. Britain was not bound to the Empire by force. If she chose to leave it, no li an cl would lie raised to prevent her. Much as the nations of the Empire valued their bond of union in the common possession of the Motherland, they realised that its greatest value lay in the voluntary character of that bond, and no attempt had ever been made, or was ever likely to be made, to place it upon a basis of compulsion. The nations had of their own free will stood together in adversity, and were now united in peace and prosperity. In domestic matters all the legislation of the last session, with the exception of a few minor amendments which would now become before them again, had been ratified by each of the National Parliaments. The benefits of uniform legislation within the Empire in respect of weights and measures. coinage, radio-message rates, aerial shipping were already widely felt and appreciated, and testified to the soundness of the work of the preceding session.

With every confidence that the members would show during this session an equal devotion to their high and responsible duties, and that they would decide wisely and well the many important questions that were before them, lie now declared the conference open.—Futurus, in “Standard of Empire.”