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sincerely believe that this great gathering is going to be for the good, not only of the Empire as a whole, but also for the good of that little Colony which I have the honour of representing here this morning. General BOTHA : My Lord, may I express myself in Dutch, as I find it a little difficult to express myself in English. {The following statement was made by General Botha through an interpreter.) The circumstances under which I am present here this morning are somewhat different from those under which the other Prime Ministers are here. They have all been long in the saddle in the Colonies which they represent. I have just got into the saddle and lam not firmly seated yet. When the invitation arrived to attend this Conference my Government did not hesitate to express the opinion that the invitation should be accepted at once. Of course always having been the leader of the Boer population there, and because the Government have now received great privileges from the Imperial Government, it was a source of great pleasure to me to attend this Conference on behalf of the Transvaal people, and to prove by such attendance at the Conference that the old Dutch population of the Transvaal would work equally loyally with the English population for the welfare of the Transvaal and of the whole British Empire. lam very grateful for the sentiments expressed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in his address. I am here with an open mind on the various points raised, and with a fixed purpose of assisting my colleagues as far as I can, to forward the interests of the various portions of the British Empire. CHAIRMAN : Gentlemen, the rest of the business which I have to lay before this meeting consists of arrangements which the Conference will have to make in order to carry out their business at the further meetings which it will hold. Amongst those of course will be the subject to which Mr. Deakin has referred, namely, the question of the publicity which will attach to our meetings. I only refer to it just now to make one observation, that it was understood between some of us who met last week—and I think I explained it also to Sir Wilfrid Laurier and General Botha afterwards — that as far as regards the proceedings of this meeting they are being recorded verbatim, and will, as soon as it is practicable, be put in the hands of the Press. The rest of that subject, it is perfectly understood, is one for the decision of the Conference itself and not in any way for His Majesty's Government. The rest of this business, I take it, would, therefore, be of a nature which the Conference would consider, if I may so express it, in Committee, and I imagine that some of those present will not desire to be detained. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : May I suggest that the Conference should adjourn now, and that the other subjects as to publicity and the future sittings of the Conference should come up for discussion at a subsequent meeting ? At the present time I wish to move a vote of thanks to the Prime Minister for his attendance. Mr. DEAKIN : I have pleasure in seconding that. Sir HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN : Gentlemen, I am much obliged to you for your kindness iv moving this vote of thanks. I think that I should rather like, although I do not know that it would be quite in form, to move a vote of thanks to the Conference and to Lord Elgin for allowing

First Day. 15 April 1907.

(Mr. F. R. Moor.)