V. THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE OF 1907 INTRODUCTION The fifth and last of the Colonial Conferences took place in London and lasted from April 15th to May 14th, 1907. There were fifteen sitting days. The names of the Members of the Conference are listed in the Minutes of Proceedings which follow this introduction, however it is interesting to note that, as in 1902, not only the prime-ministers but certain other ministers had been invited to attend and take part in the deliberations. On the other hand only the prime-ministers voted so that the voting was by Colonies and not by individual heads. Eighteen Resolutions were unanimously agreed to by the Conference relating to the Constitution of the Conference, Defence, Emigration, Judicial Appeals, Commercial Relations, Treaties, Trade Marks, Statistics, Company Law, Postage, Naturalization, Communications, etc. Three other Resolutions relating (a) to Preferential Trade, (b) to Navigation Laws and (c) to Coastwise Trade did not receive the same unanimity, as indicated in the following excerpts. The proceedings of the Conference and the Papers laid before the Conference were published in two separate volumes and laid before the Imperial Parliament. The first Volume "MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE, 1907" contains over 600 pages and is prefaced by a Table of Contents, an Index and the list of Resolutions. This list of Resolutions is given immediately after the introduction. It will be seen in the first Resolution that it was agreed: that in future an Imperial (not a Colonial) Conference should be held every four years with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as President and the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions as members. This Resolution also provided for the establishment of a system of communication and information during the periods between Conferences and for subsidiary Conferences if and when required.1 Other questions discussed at the Conference were also of great importance. For instance the matter of Colonial Representation on the Committee of Imperial Defence and the adoption of the principle of the establishment of a General Staff for the Empire. 1 "In 1909 the first subsidiary Conference under the resolution of the Conference of 1907 was held to deal with the question of military and naval defence. The conclusions resulted in the decision of Australia and Canada to establish auxiliary fleets, and of New Zealand to contribute a cruiser, besides a subsidy of £100,000 a year to a squadron of the new Pacific fleet, to be composed of three units, one in Indian waters, one in New Zealand and China seas, and one in Australian waters." "Keith, Responsible Government in the Dominions, Vol. III, p. 1483. The Conference was of the opinion that it was "desirable to encourage British emigrants to proceed to British Colonies rather than foreign countries." Australia proposed a Resolution to the effect that it was desirable "to establish an Imperial Court of Appeal". The Imperial Government, after long discussion, could not find its way to accept this proposition. In lieu thereof a resolution submitted by the Cape Colony was finally accepted. This last proposal was to the effect that the practise and procedure of the judicial Committee of the Privy Council "be definitely laid down in the form of a code of rules and regulations". Also it was agreed: "That in the codification of the rules regard should be had to the removal of anachronisms and anomalies, the possibility of the curtailment of expense and the desirability of the establishment of courses of procedure which would minimise delays." Finally the Cape Colony Resolution adopted suggested the extension of uniform rights of appeal, equalising the conditions which gave right of appeal to His Majesty and "that much uncertainty expense and delay would be avoided if some portion of His Majesty's prerogative to grant special leave to appeal in cases where there exists no right of appeal were exercised under definite rules and restrictions." Other Resolutions, presented to the Conference by General Botha, were agreed to the effect that it should be competent for the Legislatures of the Colonies to abolish any existing right of appeal from the Supreme Courts to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, that the decision of the Court of Appeal should be final, but leave to appeal from such decisions could be granted by the said Court in certain cases prescribed by the statute under which it was established and finally "that the right of any person to apply to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for leave to appeal to it from the decision of such Appeal Court shall not be curtailed." As to preferential trade the situation remained unchanged from what it had been five years before. The Members of the Conference reaffirmed the Resolution of the Conference of 1902, "with the exception of His Majesty's Government, who was unable to give its assent, so far as the United Kingdom was concerned, to a reaffirmation of the Resolution in so far as they imply that it is necessary or expedient to alter the fiscal system of the United Kingdom". Further Resolutions were adopted relating to the advantages of uniformity in the privileges and obligations granted or imposed by commercial treaties, in Trade Marks and Patents, in Statistics and Company Law. As to Penny Postage the Conference recommended the advisability of obtaining further reductions of postage rates with a view to a more general, and, if possible, a universal adoption of the penny rate. The Conference recommended further enquiries into the question of naturalization to consider "how far and under what conditions naturalization in one part of His Majesty's dominions should be effective in other parts of those dominions." This question was to be discussed at much greater length at the Imperial Conference of 1911. Volume II of the Colonial Conferences 1907, printed separately from the Minutes of Proceedings, contains the Papers laid before the Conferences. It was presented to the United-Kingdom Parliament in May 1907. The first ten pages consist of the "Notes as to action taken in pursuance of resolutions and results of the Colonial Conference of 1902". These, as we have seen relate to political relations, communication prior to treaties, naval and military defence, preferential trade, government contracts, shipping subsidies, coasting trade, the metric system, mutual protection of patents, purchase of cables, postage on newspapers and periodicals and the Queen Victoria Memorial. The questions dealt with in the correspondence and memoranda tabled, referred to Defence, Emigration, Naturalisation, Double payment of Income Tax, Judicial Appeals, Preferential Trade (Fiscal), Preferential Trade (Treaty Questions), Imperial Cable Communication, and other subjects in connection with the Universal Penny Postage, Patents, Statistics, Laws, etc. COLONIAL CONFERENCE, 1907 MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS of the COLONIAL CONFERENCE 1907 RESOLUTIONS The following Resolutions were unanimously agreed to by the Conference; except where otherwise stated: I CONSTITUTION OF THE IMPERIAL CONFERENC April 20. That it will be to the advantage of the Empire if a Conference, to be called the Imperial Conference, is held every four years, at which questions of common interest may be discussed and considered as between His Majesty's Government and His Governments of the self-governing Dominions beyond the seas. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will be ex officio President, and the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions ex officio members of the Conference. The Secretary of State for the Colonies will be an ex officio member of the Conference and will take the chair in the absence of the President. He will arrange for such Imperial Conferences after communication with the Prime Ministers of the respective Dominions. Such other Ministers as the respective Governments may appoint will also be members of the Conference—it being understood that, except by special permission of the Conference, each discussion will be conducted by not more than two representatives from each Government, and that each Government will have only one vote. That it is desirable to establish a system by which the several Governments represented shall be kept informed during the periods between the Conferences in regard to matters which have been or may be subjects for discussion, by means of a permanent secretarial staff, charged, under the direction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, with the duty of obtaining information for the use of the Conference, of attending to its resolutions, and of conducting correspondence on matters relating to its affairs. That upon matters of importance requiring consultation between two or more Governments which cannot conveniently be postponed until the next Conference, |