§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, in reference to a statement of the Secretary of State for
† See (4) Debates, cxli., 1462.941 the Colonies, that a Colonial Conference i will be held in April, at which it is the desire of the Government to promote measures for closer unity of the Empire; whether that Conference is to be confined to representatives of His Majesty's Government and of the self-governing Colonies; or whether India and other portions of the Empire will be represented, with due regard to the importance within the Empire of their population, trade, revenue, and expenditure on Imperial purposes.
§ MR. REESI beg also to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether at the Conference to be held in April, 1907, at which the Colonies will be represented, the different provinces of the Indian Empire will be represented by official and non-official representatives, in order that a reasonable and properly preponderating representation may be accorded to our greatest foreign possession.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, Stirling Burghs)The invitations to the Colonial Conference of 1907 have, as in the case of the previous Colonial Conferences, been made to the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Colonies. His Majesty's Government do not intend to propose that the Crown Colonies should be specially represented at the next Conference, but we are of opinion that India should be represented.