§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether His Majesty's Ministers have given any detailed consideration to the scheme of Colonial Preferences put forward by Mr. Deakin at the Colonial Conference; and whether that scheme has at any time been treated by His Majesty's Ministers as an offer from the Australian Commonwealth, in view of the fact that its author declared that no such scheme of preference as he had been foreshadowing or discussing had as yet been formulated in Australia.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe proposals of Mr. Deakin were fully considered by His Majesty's Ministers, as will be seen by their speeches reported in the proceedings of the Colonial Conference.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDasked whether it was not the case that Mr. Deakin received neither from his Government nor from the people of the Commonwealth any mandate to make any offer whatever.
SIR. GILBERT PARKERasked whether it was not the case that Mr. Deakin did not put forward any detailed scheme concerning preference before the Conference, and that he merely wished to establish the principle which he advocated.
§ MR. CHURCHILLAll the proceedings of the Conference are published in the verbatim Report in the Conference Blue book, and I do not think we ought to go behind anything that was said by anybody at the Conference