§ MR. SOARES (Devonshire, Barnstaple)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the nature of the instructions to be given to the British representatives at the Colonial Conference to be held in 1905 will be settled by the Government during the present session; whether he will undertake to inform the House at the earliest possible opportunity after such instructions have been decided upon; and whether, if the present Government should be in power at the time of the Colonial Conference, he will undertake that such representatives shall have no power to deal with the fiscal j question in any manner.
§ MR. CROMBIE (Kincardineshire)At the same time may I ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in the event of a Colonial Conference being called together by the present Government, and any question of fiscal reform being delegated to it, each of the Colonies will have the same representation and voting 974 power, or whether each will be represented proportionally to its population.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.I think I have already intimated to the House that in my opinion all questions with regard to next year's Colonial Conference are premature at the present moment.