A.—2

44

For informal or private dinners at an Embassy or Legation, when an Ambassador or Minister does not wish decorations to be worn, the Ambassador or Minister will be asked to make a notification to that effect on the invitation card. 3. On official occasions at the house of the Lord Lieutenant of a county within his county, and at all parties and dinners given by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House and Guildhall, riband, stars, and miniature decorations and medals will be worn. 4. At all parties and dinners of an official nature given in the houses of Cabinet Ministers, ex-Cabinet Ministers, Knights of the Garter, Knights of the Thistle, Knights of St. Patrick, or Great Officers of the Household, stars, not riband,* will be worn. 5. At all official dinners and receptions, including those of the city livery companies and city corporations, regimental dinners, official naval dinners, and all public dinners given in aid of charitable institutions, stars, not riband,* will be worn. 6. At unofficial dinner parties or evening receptions in private houses, Knights of the Garter, Knights of the Thistle, or Knights of St. Patrick should wear a star only. 7. These are the only occasions on which decorations and medals will be worn with evening dress. Lord Chamberlain's Office, St. James's Palace, S.W., 13th June, 1912. * The expression " stars, not riband," means—For Knights Grand Cross, stars, no riband; for members of the Order of Merit, badge and riband round the neck; for Knights Commanders, stars, no badge round the neck; for C.V.O.s, badge and riband round the neck; for all classes, miniature medals and decorations.

No. 62. New Zealand, No. 197. My Lord, — Downing Street, sth July, 1912. With reference to previous correspondence as to the Dominions Royal Commission, appointed in pursuance of the 20th resolution of the Imperial Conference, 1911, I have the honour, at the request of the Commission, to state, for the information of your Ministers, that three meetings of the Commission have been held to consider the question of procedure. There were present the representatives of the United Kingdom, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, and Newfoundland, named in the Warrant, of which copies are enclosed. Owing to continued illness, Sir David G-raaff, the representative of the Union of South Africa, resigned, and Sir Richard Solomon, High Commissioner for the Union in London, was nominated in his place, and attended the meetings. Sir Joseph Ward, the representative of New Zealand, also resigned, and the nomination in his place of Mr. J. R. Sinclair, member of the Legislative Council, was made too late to admit of his attendance at the meetings. 2. The question of the arrangements to be made to enable the Commission to perform its duties effectively is not free from difficulty. A Commission with headquarters in London, but requiring to do a great part of its work in the selfgoverning dominions, is a new departure, and this consideration is one of many which cause special interest and importance to attach to its proceedings. In inviting a generous degree of co-operation from your Ministers, the Commission trust that it will, as anticipated by its oversea members, meet with a ready response. 3. Enclosed in this despatch are printed copies of the minutes of the meetings, which indicate sufficiently the general conclusions reached by the Commission as to the procedure for carrying out its work, which may be defined shortly as an inquiry of the widest possible character into natural resources and facilities for the production, manufacture, and distribution of articles of commerce in the dominions, and into the food and raw-material requirements and trade of the dominions and the United Kingdom, with the object of offering suggestions for the development of those resources and the extension of that trade. 4. In the execution of this task the Commission proposes—(l) To compile statistical information, so far as it is available, as to existing and potential development of natural resources, production, &c, of articles of commerce, food and raw-material requirements, and trade ; and (2) to make a general inquiry into existing conditions of trade, and a special inquiry into the question of migration from the United Kingdom and settlement in the dominions. The question of migration obviously has a very close relation to the development of natural resources, and such development may be expected to follow as a consequence of well-grounded suggestions for improvement of trade-conditions.