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sth Day.] Standing Committee. [8 June, 1911. Sir D. de VILLIERS GRAAJbT : We have them in part of the Dominion. Sir JOSEPH WARD : How can it be expected that in an informal way the Secretary of State for the Colonies, conferring with the High Commissioner of your country, can bring about anything like uniformity without legislation? Sir D. de VILLIERS GRAAEF : That is a point which is going to be discussed further on some later day. That very matter is on the Agenda. Sir JOSEPH WARD : Yes; but after that is discussed, in my judgment, little can be done, knowing as I do the intricacy and the difficulties and the complexity of the position from the standpoint of individuals in our respective countries, the whole matter being made perhaps more difficult by one trying to co-ordinate between the Old Country and the newer countries. So that I fail to see how we can have anything in the. shape of matter ripe for legislation in any of our countries without the details being fully gone into here in London. Who is going to do it ? You have no piece of machinery in existence to-day that can touch it. It will be observed that it is only such matters are to be dealt with by the proposed Standing Committee of the Imperial Conference as are referred to it by the unanimous consent of the Imperial Conference. So at the very inception of a proposal of this kind any one representative from any one of the countries can stop the reference to the Committee, and stop the consideration of it. You can make it a condition that it should be so. Therefore, if there is any point in the suggestion that there might be some interference with the administration of the respective Dominions by the constitution of such a Standing Committee, which I myself cannot see, it is met by that part of the proposal to which I have referred. General BOTHA : Cannot such a thing as that be settled by a subsidiary Conference ? Sir JOSEPH WARD : With regard to what has been said about a subsidiary Conference, I may say I have listened to the remarks made by Sir Edward Morris with a very great deal of attention. In practice what is the fact? Sir Edward Morris can arrive in England from his country within 10 days. As a matter of fact, a question which had been troubling his country for years was not settled until quite recently, when he found it necessary to visit England a year ago; and, to his credit and to the credit of the British Government, a settlement was arrived at on that important matter. On the other hand, a representative of New Zealand or of Australia wanting to come to this country for the purpose of consultation could not leave their respective places with any hope of being able to carry out anything except by providing for an absence of about six months. In practice it is impossible to consider it with such a lapse of time. Mr. BATCHELOR : The voyage takes at least three months. Sir JOSEPH WARD : Canada is in the same happy position as Newfoundland —it is within a week of England. South Africa is in an equally happy position, because it is within a 14 days' journey of England. General BOTHA : No, 17 days. Sir JOSEPH WARD : The journey is going to be shortened. General BOTHA : Perhaps the journey to New Zealand will be also. Sir JOSEPH WARD : We are only in the position of being able to get here now every four years. Even for the Imperial Conference every four years it is very difficult for the Ministerial representatives to come over here from our