111

A.—s

all require to do the same, and in conclusion 1 wish to say I am exceedingly glad of the opportunity of having heard from the Secretary of State for War his views upon this matter, and I hope the publicity Mr. Deakin has suggested can be done. Ido not know whether we are to regard matters relating to defence as confidential. Some of the matters we are dealing with necesaiily should be confidential, but if upon such points as we are discussing here we could give out (I am referring to anything I am saying mvselc of course) such portions or all of the speech of the Secretary of State for War, educationally it would be valuable to the people in our country, certainly. The expression of opinion of a gentleman occupying a position of such grave responsibility as the Secretary of State for War will be of intense interest to the public of the self-governing Colonies. If the principle of what is given out in a debate in the House of Commons could be applied in this instance it would do good, but howfar the confidential can be removed from the discussion which has taken place lam not quite prepared at the moment to say. lam animated, as I am sure every one of us- is here, with the desire to see the system made as valuable as possible for the Old and the New Worlds, and without giving away any portion of it to those who want to know what we are doing, other than is absolutely necessary. I wish again to express my personal appreciation of the information furnished to us and of the value of this contained in the official reports submitted. I believe a great deal of good will come, and the great organization which the responsible authorities here are trying to bring about will be hastened forward. Speaking on behalf of my country, lam only too glad to assist my colleagues representing the other countries in improving as far as we possibly can. Dr. JAMESON : I would ask my colleague, Dr. Smartt, who is specially qualified to deal with this subject, to speak upon it on behalf of our Government. Dr. SMARTT : Lord Elgin, I am not desirous of unnecessarily taking up the time of the Conference, but while not, as yet, having had an opportunity of reading the Defence papers—which only came into my hands this morning—l should like to express to Mr. Haldane how much we are indebted to him for the able and lucid manner in which he has brought this matter forward, because it makes us realise that the Secretary of State for War and his technical and scientific advisers are prepared to profit from the experience of the past, and to do the best they possibly can to allow us to meet any contingencies that may possibly arise to the detriment of the Empire in the future. So far as the Cape is concerned, I think we thoroughly indorse everything that has been said by the Secretary of State for War with regard to the General Staff and the interchange of officers. As the Secretary of State knows, some short time ago a conference was held between the various Colonies in South Africa, under the presidency of the High Commissioner. There the obligations which rest upon the individual Colonies, not alone to provide for their own local defence, but also to provide for the defence of the whole of South Africa, were fully recognised. A tentative arrangement was come to —naturally subject to the approval

Fourth Day. 20 April 1907.

Military Defence. (Sir Joseph Ward.)