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16 June, 1911.] Treaties. [10th Day. Sir E. GREY : I am not sure about that, but in any case those are two of the countries with which we should proceed with negotiations simultaneously. Mr. BUXTON : The Austria-Hungarian Treaties are of 1858 and 1876, and the Italian Treaty is of 1883. The PRESIDENT ; I suppose, from your point of view, those are the two most important countries. Mr. FISHER : It would not be a great advantage to have the one without the other. Sir E. GREY : To show how inevitable it is that this question must have come up Sir Wilfrid mentioned 12 countries —he did not go all through them by name — with which there were treaties which he felt to be restrictive to Canada. Amongst those 12 countries that are included in the list I have Denmark and Sweden. One of the treaties with Sweden, I believe, was made by Oliver Cromwell, and the treaties with Denmark were made in the time of Charles 11. I only give that as an illustration of how inevitable it is that the question should arise. The PRESIDENT : It was not possible then to safeguard Canadian interests. Commercial Relations and British Shipping. Australia. " That this Conference, recognising the importance of promoting fuller development of commercial intercourse within the Empire, strongly urges that every effort should be made to bring about co-operation in commercial relations and matters of mutual interest. " That it is advisable, in the interests both of the United Kingdom and of the British Dominions beyond the seas, that efforts in favour of British manufactured goods and British shipping should be supported as far as it is practicable." Sir WILFRID LAURIER : Perhaps Mr. Fisher will allow me to make an observation about the two next Resolutions on the Paper to-day, which come from Australia, which are in these words : First, " That this Conference, recognising the importance of promoting fuller development of commercial intercourse within the Empire, strongly urges that every effort should be made to bring about co-operation in commercial relations and matters of mutual interest." Secondly, " That it is advisable in the interests both of the United Kingdom and of the British Dominions beyond the seas, that efforts in favour of British manufactured goods and British shipping should be supported as far as it is practicable." I may observe that, for my part, and speaking for the Government which I and my colleagues here represent, we are in complete sympathy with the object which it is sought to attain by these two Resolutions. The only observation which I have to make at the present time is that unless they are supplemented by something more tangible I am afraid that they would not lead up to such immediate results as we would hope for. The commercial relations which exist to-day between the different parts of the British Empire, the Mother Country, and the Dominions, have been very much the result of haphazard, and never the consequence of any initial movement on the part of anybody or of a regular review of the situation as it exists in the different countries. We are all pretty well familiar with the condition of things as it exists in the United Kingdom on account of its great prominence in the world at large, and especially its commercial prominence, but we are not so familiar with the conditions of things which exist in the young nations which are represented at this Board, and it is difficult to proceed to an improvement in the condition of the trade relations between the Dominions and the United Kingdom, and between the Dominions themselves, unless we have, I submit, more information than we have at the present time. The legislation which has been passed in the different parts of the British Empire by all the