HL Deb 08 November 1921 vol 47 cc212-3
LORD VERNON

My Lords, in the unavoidable absence of Lord Strachie I desire to put the Question which stands in his name on the Paper— namely, to ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the Report of the proceedings of the last Imperial Conference as a Parliamentary Paper as they did in the case of the Imperial Conference of 1917.

THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (THE EARL OF CRAWFORD)

My Lords, in connection with the Imperial meetings which took place last June and. Judy, it is not proposed to publish anything beyond what has already been given to the Press—namely, "The Summary of the Transactions of the Prime Ministers and Representatives of the United Kingdom, the Dominions and India, June, July, and August, 1921," a Paper which was approved by the Empire representatives for publication, and issued to the Press on August 5 last. This Summary was also published by the Colonial Office in Command Paper 1474, together with various appendices giving the opening speeches of Ministers, Mr. Balfour's statement on the League of Nations, the Report of the Air Committee, and memoranda on such things as Oversea Settlement, Empire Patent, Nationality, and so on.

Although in many quarters the meetings last summer have been referred to as the Imperial Conference, it was not strictly speaking an "Imperial Conference" such as has been held previously, and was more in the nature of an Imperial Cabinet. The term "Imperial Cabinet" was, however, objected to in some quarters and was consequently avoided, the designation generally adopted being "Imperial Meetings." At the previous Conferences, which have been called "Imperial Conferences" (as opposed to the "Imperial War Cabinet" which was held during the war), there has been really nothing confidential about the questions under discussion, and in many cases it has been an advantage rather than otherwise to publish the records of the discussions. This was not the case with the recent Imperial meetings, when most of the discussions were of a very secret and confidential nature, dealing as they did with questions of foreign policy, defence, and the like, the publication of which would not be in the public interest.