§ SIR G. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Representatives of the Mother Country and the Colonies at the approaching Conference at Ottawa are empowered to bind their respective Governments to any decisions at which that Conference may arrive, or whether the Conference is merely for purposes of consultation and discussion; and, if the the latter, whether the Government will make such arrangements as may enable Parliament in the present Session to consider and determine any reference from that Conference which calls for immediate consideration?
§ MR. S. BUXTONLord Jersey's duties will be to hear and report what passes at the Conference and to give information, but he is not empowered to bind Her Majesty's Government or to express views on their behalf, and we have no information as to the powers conferred on their Representatives by the various Colonial Governments. It is impossible to give any such undertaking as the hon. Member suggests in the last part of his question.