Miscellaneous No. 175.
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سلسلسا
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
CO 8859 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Circular Despatch to the Governors of the Self-governing Colonies.
My Lord, Sir,
Downing Street,
April 20, 1905. I HAVE the honour to invite your attention to the following observations, and to request that, after conferring with your Ministers, you will furnish me with the views of your Government on the subject to which they relate :-
1. The Colonial Conference which met in the spring of 1887 was summoned by a despatch from Mr. Edward Stanhope, 'Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated the 0.5091 of 25th November, 1886. The subjects suggested in that despatch were defence and 1887. postal and telegraphic communications. But the Conference, when it met, also discussed other questions, such, for instance, as those relative to the Pacific Islands, the adoption by the Colonies of similar legislation to that proposed in the United Kingdom with regard to merchandize marks and patents, the effect of foreign bounties upon colonial sugar production, and questions as to bankruptcy, wills, and the investment of trust funds in colonial securities. Many of the subjects were raised without notice at the last moment,
2. In the case of this Conference, the Colonies were not specially invited to send their Prime Ministers. It was said in the despatch of the 25th November, 1886: "The Conference will necessarily be purely consultative, and it will not, therefore, be material that the Colonies should have equal or proportional representation upon it. The desire of Her Majesty's Government would rather be that its constitution should be sufficiently comprehensive to include, in addition to the Agent-General or other specially-deputed Representative of each Government, any leading public man who may be at liberty to come to England next year, and may be specially qualified to take a useful part in the deliberations."
3. The Representatives of the Colonies who attended this Conference did, in fact, include three Prime Ministers of self-governing Colonies, but were for the most part, as was suggested in the above-mentioned despatch, leading public men who happened to be in London in connection with the Jubilee celebrations, together with the Agents-General and many Governors and other officials of the Crown Colonies.
4. No definite arrangement was made at this Conference for the holding of further meetings, but at the close of the proceedings Sir Henry Holland (afterwards Lord Knutsford), then Secretary of State for the Colonies, said that he looked forward hopefully to future Conferences."
5. The second Colonial Conference, which met in the year 1897, was convened in the following manner: In his despatch of the 28th January, 1897, conveying to the C. 8485 of Premiers of the self-governing Colonies the invitation to be present at, and take part in, 1897. the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Her late Majesty's accession, Mr. Chamberlain expressed the "hope of Her Majesty's Government that their presence here might afford a valuable opportunity for the informal discussion of many subjects of great interest to the Empire." Accordingly, on the 24th June, 1897, the Prime Ministers of C. 8596 of Canada, New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, Queensland, Cape Colony, South 1897, p. 4. Australia, Newfoundland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Natal assembled at the Colonial Office for the discussion of certain Imperial questions with the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
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