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8 June, 1911] Standing Committee. [sth Day. The CHAIRMAN— cont. the Colonial Office—to all agreed questions which may be decided upon by the Conference or by any of its Committees. Where, of course, there is acute difference of opinion between the Dominions as to any proposed settlement, I am only human, and until I get an agreement T cannot carry it out; but so far as I can get any agreement at the Conference, or at any Committee of the Conference, on any question raised, I can pledge the Conference that I will see it carried out through the Secretariat and in communication with the Dominion Governments. Mr. BATCHELOR : Can you tell me whether there has been any effect yet given to the unanimous resolutions of the Conference at different times ? Has any resolution ever resulted in any legislation ? Has anything happened as a result of a unanimous resolution of this Conference 1 The CHAIRMAN : I believe so. Mr. BATCHELOR : The sort of thing I refer to is this : In 19(r2, I think, the advantages of naturalisation and uniformity in certain respects in regard to naturalisation were discussed. In 1907 it was unanimously agreed to. There was no kind of machinery by which that matter could be discussed between one Dominion and another, and in the result nothing happened, I believe. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : It is a matter for legislation, and not for resolution. Mr. BATCHELOR : There was a Bill prepared and submitted to all the self-governing Dominions, and observations were called for on that Bill. There was no opportunity at all for consultation in any way between the Dominions, and, I think, wholly as the result of misunderstanding of some of the objections raised, nothing at all has been done with regard to it. Has anything been done in the case of any other of the resolutions which have been come to by the Conference* ? The CHAIRMAN : I think the resolution about naturalisation is a very good illustration of the difficulties of what are called agreed resolutions. A perfectly general resolution on naturalisation was agreed at a previous Conference, but the moment the individual Dominions were consulted! the most acute differences manifested themselves. I have been labouring at it myself for six months, and my predecessors have laboured for a much longer period, and it has been absolutely impossible to come to agreement. Sir JOSEPH WARD : That is exactly what I say. The CHAIRMAN : It has been absolutely impossible to get any unanimity at all on the question of naturalisation. Mr. BATCHELOR ■ It is due, I think, to the want of machinery on the point. Sir JOSEPH WARD : It is due, in my opinion, to a complete absence of being able to go into the details required as a precedent to combined action by the oversea countries. Without such details legislation cannot be expected. We cannot agree upon uniformity once we get away from here. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : The question of naturalisation being complicated by the question of colour, the Conference cannot carry on upon details when they are not agreed iipon principles.

* See [0(1. 5273]. t See [Cd. 5273], pp. 138-157.

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