A.—4

332

Committee on Arbitration Awards. [15 June, 1911. CHAIRMAN— cont. arbitrator; and it is in particular in regard to commercial matters that you get this question arising between the various parts of the Empire. The other arbitrations which arise in this country may be upon an oral submission, which is not likely to occur where you are dealing with an award which you would have to enforce in a Dominion, and indeed there are other difficulties in that because you cannot enforce an award made on an oral submission as you can on a written agreement. Further than that, there are the particular kinds of arbitration to which I referred just now r , which I do not think ought to be at present considered in the same relation as commercial arbitrations—-that is, arbitrations which take place by order of a judge in the country in an action which comes before him. .For example, if I have a dispute with a builder the judge may say : "I shall refer this to some special arbitrator whom I will appoint " —a person who is not a member of the court and not a judge. That is one kind. There is another kind of arbitration which arises under an Act of Parliament. We have certain Acts oi Parliament which say that any dispute as to a certain matter shall be referred to arbitration. That, again, does not stand quite in the same category as these commercial arbitrations, which rest entirely upon agreement between two business men to have their dispute settled outside the court by a person either to be agreed upon or nominated. I will take it that we are all agreed upon this Resolution. Dr. FINDLAY : Yes, we agree. (The Resolution was agreed to.)

TENTH DAY. Friday, 16th June, 1911. The Imperial Conference met at the Foreign Office at 11 a.m. present: The Right Honourable H. H. ASQUITH, K.C., M.P., President of the Conference. The Right Honourable L. Harcourt, M.P., Secretary of State for the Colonies. The- Right Honourable D. Lloyd George, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Right Honourable Sir E. Grey, M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The Right Honourable Sydney Buxton, M.P., President of the Board of Trade. The Right Honourable H. Samuel, M.P., Postmaster-General. Canada. The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, G.C.M.G., Prime Minister of the Dominion. • The Honourable Sir F. W. Borden, K.C.M.G., Minister of Militia and Defence. The Honourable L. P. Brodeur, K.C., Minister of Marine and Fisheries.