§ MR. BLACK (Banffshire)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether it is contemplated by the Government that, at the projected Colonial Conference, the delegates should be invited to consider the establishment of a Council of the Empire, in which the Motherland and the Colonies should be suitably represented, as a method of cementing the Empire alternative to the adoption of any scheme of unity founded on the taxation of wheat and flour in this country.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.In the opinion of the Government, the Colonial Conference is in itself what the hon. Gentleman describes, a Council of the Empire, and I think that that description of it is a very good one. So much for the first part of his Question. As regards the second part, I have to point out that the establishment of machinery for making recommendations to different pares of the Empire can hardly be regarded as an alternative to some special scheme which the Council itself might propose.