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A—s

CHAIRMAN : You cannot commit them. Mr. HALDANE : I doubt very much whether these words are necessary. Dr. SMARTT : I do not think we need them in at all; you might take out all the words after " Conference " down to the third line. Mr. DEAKIN : I agree, but as they have been put in let it stand as it is. Sir W T ILFRID LAURIER : I think it better to let them stand as they are. CHAIRMA N : If we adopt the suggestion of using the statement of the Secretary of State, ought we not to put that in some form into the Resolution, " That the Conference welcomes and cordially approves the exposition of " general principles embodied in the statement of the Secretary of State for '• War." Sir JOSEPH WARD : lam quite agreeable, it is part and parcel of the motion, really. Mr. DEAKIN : Will you put the whole Resolution, sir ? CHAIRMAN: Then the Resolution would run: ' The Conference " welcomes and cordially approves the exposition of general principles " embodied in the statement of the Secretary of State for War and " resolves : That this Conference without wishing to commit to immediate " action any of the Governments represented at it recognises and affirms " the need " Mr. DEAKIN : Is "atit " necessary ? CHAIRMAN : No, I should think not —" recognises and affirms the need " of developing a General Staff recruited from the forces of the Empire as a " whole, which shall be a means of fostering the study of military science in " the various branches, shall collect and disseminate to the various Govern- ' ments military information and intelligence, and undertake the preparation "of schemes of defence on a common principle and without in the least ' interfering in questions connected with command and administration, shall " at the request of the respective Governments advise them as to the training, " education, and war organization of the military forces of the Crown in " every part of the Empire." Dr. SMARTT : " Advise " alone is better. CHAIRMAN : " Advise." That is the Resolution of the Conference. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : I think I would like to defer this and have a third reading of this Resolution also, as we had with the former one. I see nothing to take exception to, but I would like to think it over. CHAIRMAN : May I have the attention of the Conference ? Sir Wilfrid Laurier would like to have what we call a third reading of this Resolution also, that is to say, that it should not be published until the next meeting, after it has been seen again.

Fourth Day. 20 April 1907,

Military Defence.