CO885-(16-18) — Page 637

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

2

at all, but proceed on a plane above the ebb and flow of domestic politics.

It ought not to be forgotten that a Liberal Government has to encounter in Colonial affairs the steady and malignant. detraction of a most powerful press service. Every action or inaction is represented in the Colonies-and, I think, particularly in Australia-in the most odious The worst light by the press telegrams. excesses of partisan opponents at home are cabled to the newspapers of every Colony as the opinion of patriotic England upon this or that particular event. By these agencies a great volume of prejudice has been excited in the past, and is still being aggravated. But His Majesty's Government have now a fine opportunity of dispersing these unhealthy vapours, which, however contemptible in origin, are a positive hindrance to the smooth working of the Colonial Of We have the chance, and

perhaps it will not recur, of meeting face to face, in circumstances of hospitality and friend- ship, many of the principal persons with whom we have to deal; of doing them honour, which they court, and according them recognition for which they are eager.

3. It is therefore submitted that it is an object of State policy good in itself to invite as many of the Colonial Premiers as possible, and to make the amenities of British hospitality effective throughout the widest possible circle. Arguments should be sought not to exclude but to include within reasonable limits prominent Colonial Representatives, even if, as is disputed, a severe logic or some strict rule of precedent or etiquette appeared to stand in the way. But still less should Colonial Representatives be excluded when their exclusion means not only the not securing of an advantage, but an actual cause of offence for that would make our Conference positively harmful-a costly and elaborate func- tion resulting in a net balance of ill-temper and misunderstanding.

4. The political situation in Australia has altered considerably since the Commonwealth Act. However desirable that measure may have beer in principle, it was plainly premature. A reaction-natural and inevitable, serious, yet not probably lasting is in full progress against Federation, Amid other cleavages in Australian politics, and cutting transversely through them,

3

is the growing controversy of State rights against Federal authority. I cannot pretend to measure the force or direction of this dispute; but no one can read the Australian despatches from the State Governments without observing the bitter jealousy with which they regard any. thing in the nature of an encroachment by the Federal Power on their residuary prerogative.

5. It is obvious that the position of the Australian State Governments is funda-

mentally different from that of the Canadian provinces; for whereas the Canadian Provincial Parliaments only enjoy their powers in virtue of devolutions from the Federal Government, the exact reverse is true in Australia, and the powers

or

of the Commonwealth are composed only of those functions of which its various Sovereign States have voluntarily divested themselves. Without entering into an elaborate argument upon the exact constitutional position occupied by an Australian State at the present time, attempting to measure whether that position reaches the status of a self-governing Colony, or, if not, by how far it falls short, it must be conceded that appearances strongly favour the State claim. Especially is this the case in all matters of ceremonial usage, where, indeed, the distinction between the Australian States and the Canadian Provinces is strikingly marked. Governors, chosen often from the lesser nobility, the Aus- are appointed by the Crown to tralian States; Lieutenant-Governors of local origin are selected by the Governor-General in Council for the Canadian Provinces. The former enjoy the privilege-if privilege it be of direct correspondence with the Colonial Office; the latter have no relations with this country. Thirdly, the laws passed by the Canadian Provincial Parlia- ments are assented to by the Governor-General, and are not referred, as is the legislation of the Australian States, to the Secretary of State for the approval of the Sovereign. These important dis- tinctions, in themselves of a ceremonial character, apply with especial force to the calling of a Con- ference, the ceremonial aspects of which are so important.

6. It may pertinently be asked why, since these things are so, did the Australian States not protest against their exclusion from the Con- ference of 1902 ? To this they reply that the invitations in this case were to the Coronation of

B 2

[221]