Honorary Aide-de-Camp to the Governor-General... Commander Victor G. Brodeur, Feb. 5 Ainé Marchand. Feb. 12 Hon. Charles Archer. Feb. 17 ..... W. L. Bond... Feb. 17 Major A. A. Mulholland. Mar. 31 Eric C. Mieville..: Apr. 1 . Hon. J. H. Lamont. Apr. 2 Hon. P. E. Mackenzie. Apr. 2 W. E. Knowles.. Apr. 2 Apr. 2 Apr. 2 Apr. 2 May 4 May 4 The Triennial of 1926 RELATIONS WITH THE EMPIRE By Hector Charlesworth The most important event relating to the Empire of the past twelvemonth was the Triennial Imperial Conference which re-assembled at No. 10 Downing St., on Oct. 19, 1926. No previous Conference in the thirty-nine years which had elapsed since the first, held at the time of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, had been preceded by so much speculation and anxiety as to the outcome. In two of the overseas Dominions their status as a part of the Empire had become active political issues. Canada's status had been discussed on countless political platforms and in practically every newspaper throughout the country during the Federal General Election campaign of the preceding Summer, and in various quarters an exaggerated impression arose that a considerable section of the Canadian people seriously desired a weakening of the constitutional ties with Great Britain. A more acute condition had arisen in South Africa where the Prime Minister, General Hertzog, and the Nationalist party of which he was the head had asserted the right of the South African Dominion to secede from the Empire whenever a majority of its people should so decide. The world-wide belief that Imperial unity was in the balance, in addition to the many economic problems of Imperial importance awaiting discussion made the Conference the most momentous yet held. Two months before the announced date of the opening of the Conference, Oct. 5., there were fears that Canada might not be represented, owing to the fact that the Canadian General Election was fixed for Sept. 14 and in case of a change of government it might be impossible for a Prime Minister engaged in the task of cabinet-making to attend. It was the general view that a Conference in which the senior Dominion would be unrepresented would fail of its purpose, and to provide against all contingencies the date of opening was advanced from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19. When, on Sept. 15, it became apparent that the Government of Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen had been defeated and that Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King would resume the Premiership, it was obvious that it was the will of all groups of opinion that every facility should be afforded the latter to attend the Conference. Mr. Meighen announced, on behalf of the Conservative party, that every assistance would be given Mr. King in facilitating arrangements and shortly afterward Mr. King won the approval of the public in various parts of the Empire by announcing that Canada would be represented by an effective delegation including himself. The Canadian party sailed for England on board S.S. Megantic in the second week of October. From Belle Isle, Mr. King sent a message to the people of Canada in which he said "Canada's course at the coming Imperial Conference will be a course of good-will. Good-will is what I think we should stress above all things. Then our various problems will not be difficult of solution." The Prime Minister further stated that he felt a programme of responsible self-government should be carried steadily forward, but considered it dangerous to adopt rigid rules or formulas. He held that as the coming Conference was in no sense an Imperial cabinet the work thereat should not go beyond consideration of general guiding principles. He proposed to take a course which would combine full maintenance of British connection on the one hand and adequate recognition of Dominion autonomy on the other. With regard to Great Britain's foreign policy there should be full consultation by the Imperial Government with the governments of the Dominions on matters fundamentally affecting all parts of the Empire. At the same time he held that a single foreign policy was an impracticable theory as applied to questions affecting either one Dominion alone or Great Britain alone. The Canadian delegation was necessarily the last to arrive in London. Arrivals of other Dominion Prime Ministers with their advisers which occurred at various dates in the earlier part of October were the subject of much attention from the press and public. From the Canadian point of view the most interesting of these was a dinner given by the Canada Club at the Savoy Hotel on Oct. 18, the eve of the opening of the Conference, to Lord Byng of Vimy, the former Governor-General of Canada, with regard to whom constitutional controversy had arisen a few months previously. The dinner was presided over by Rt. Hon. Sir Hamar Greenwood, Bart., and was attended by H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught; the Prime Minister of Canada, Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King; the High Commissioner for Canada, Hon. P. C. Larkin; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill; the Secretary of State for the Dominions, Rt. Hon. L. M. S. Amery, and many others who had been connected with Canada in one capacity or another. It was the obvious aim both of Lord Byng and of Mr. King to disabuse the minds of people everywhere of the idea that there had been any serious breach of opinion involving Imperial unity. Mr. King said that there was no one for whom he had a greater personal regard or affection than Lord Byng. With reference to the approaching Conference he said that he believed the constitution of the Empire would develop just as the constitution of the British Isles had developed. It was not a matter of one year or one century, but of centuries to come. It was only the extremists who were mistaken, and those who really held the true view would find no difficulty whatever in reconciling the aspirations of those who had a country of their own and those who had the aspirations and ideals of a great Empire like the British Empire. The complete list of Canadian delegates to the Conference was as follows: Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, c.M.G., Prime Minister, and Hon. Ernest Lapointe, K.C., Minister of Justice, accompanied by the following staff, Dr. O. D. Skelton, Under Secretary of State for External Affairs; Mr. Jean Desy, Counseller, Department of External Affairs; Dr. S. A. Cudmore, Technical Adviser; MajorGeneral J. H. MacBrien, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Chief of the General Staff; Commodore Walter Hose, C.B.E., R.C.N., Director of the Naval Service; Capt. J. F. Cummins; Mr. L. C. Moyer, D.S.O., Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Mr. W. H. Measures, Assistant Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. The other Empire delegations were as follows, the names of principals being given with those of their staffs omitted: Australia. Rt. Hon. Stanley M. Bruce, M.C., Prime Minister, Sir Neville Howse, v.C., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., Minister of Defence and Health, and Hon. J. G. Latham, Attorney-General. New Zealand. Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, M.C., Prime Minister, and Sir Francis Bell, G.C.M.G., Minister without Portfolio. Union of South Africa. Gen. the Hon. J. B. M. Hertzog, Prime Minister, and Hon. N. C. Havenga, Minister of Finance. Irish Free State. Mr. T. W. Cosgrave, T.D., President of the Executive Council, Mr. Kevin O'Higgins, T.D., Minister of Justice; Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald, Minister for External Affairs; Mr. J. McNeill, High Commissioner for the Irish Free State in London. Newfoundland. Hon. W. S. Monroe, Prime Minister; Hon. W. J. Higgins, K.C., Minister of Justice, and Hon. A. B. Morine, K.C., Minister without Portfolio. India. Rt. Hon. the Earl of Birkenhead, Secretary of State for India, the Maharajah of Burdwan, G.c.I.E., K.C.S.I., I.O.M., Mr. D. T. Chadwick, Secretary to the Government of India, (Commerce Department.). All the principal delegates were present at the opening meeting held at the Cabinet Office, Oct. 19, with the exception of Lord Birkenhead, who was represented by the Rt. Hon. Earl Winterton, M.P., Under-Secretary of State for India. Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain presided and the following members of the British Government were also present as active delegates: Rt. Hon. The Earl of Balfour, Lord President of the Council; Rt. Hon. Sir Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Rt. Hon. L. M. S. Amery, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and the Colonies; Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, President of the Board of Trade. The delegates had already before them a provisional agenda submitted by Mr. Baldwin to the House of Commons some weeks previously, embracing a general review of foreign policy and defence, and the questions to which they give rise; as well as the development of existing systems of consultation and communications between the Governments of the Empire on matters of common concern. The chief economic matters for consideration were: (1) Overseas settlement. (2) A general review of inter-Imperial trade, present and future, including a discussion of the work of the Imperial Economic Committee and the position of the Empire Marketing Board. (3) Communications, under which head would be included the work of the Imperial Shipping Committee and the question of commercial air services. (4) Research. (5) The exhibition within the Empire of Empire films. (6) The question of securing agreement as to the liability of State enterprises to taxation. As its first official act the Conference expressed its respectful greetings and fidelity to His Majesty and the privilege of moving this resolution was allotted to the Prime Minister of Canada, seconded by the Prime Minister of Australia. In his opening address, Mr. Baldwin alluded to the fact that for the second time in his career he had the privilege of welcoming Overseas delegates to such a Conference, and reviewed in detail the history of such conferences since 1887. Looking back over nearly forty years he was convinced that their predecessors had been wise to content themselves with gradual and steady progress rather than to attempt to construct some theoretical, written constitution which could no sooner be framed than it would have been superseded by the living forces of growth in their midst. At the Imperial Conference in 1911 Sir Edward (now Lord) Grey had referred to "the foreign policy of this country," but now by universal admission it was no longer only a question of the foreign policy of Great Britain. "The problem before us," Mr. Baldwin declared, "is how to reconcile the principle of self-government in external as well as domestic affairs with the necessity of a policy in foreign affairs of general Imperial concern which will commend itself to a number of different Governments and Parliaments. The Prime Minister also touched on various matters which would come before the Conference. There had been steady, though unobtrusive progress toward improving facilities for cooperation in Imperial Defence should the necessity unhappily arise. The principle of Dominion Navies was not merely accepted but whole-heartedly endorsed by the Admiralty. In the Land forces much had been done toward co-operation and the actual and potential importance of the Air arm had been strikingly demonstrated by long distance flights. With regard to the fostering of inter-Imperial trade, Mr. Baldwin said that the question was essentially one of co-operation not only in actual measures directly concerned with migration and settlement, but also in finance and in the marketing of Empire products. Substantial results had followed from Dominion preferences, and even under Great Britain's very limited tariff system the measure of preference she had been able to afford, supplemented by the operations of the new Empire Marketing Board, had in |