Royal Air Force. Invitations were extended by the Minister in person and the following gentlemen accepted from Canada: C. F. Crandall M. R. Jennings J. S. Douglas W. A. Buchanan, M.P. W. C. Nichol J. H. Woods W. F. Kerr E. H. Macklin R. L. Richardson, M.P. Hon. Smeaton White Hon. Frank Carrel F. D. L. Smith John Weld W. R. McCurdy J. F. B. Livesay Montreal Star. Ottawa Journal. Kingston Standard. Chatham (N.B.) World. Toronto News. Farmers' Advocate, London. Halifax Herald. Winnipeg (Secretary). Lord Atholstan of the Montreal Star was unable to attend and The Globe and The Star of Toronto, The Chronicle of Halifax, the Victoria, B.C., papers and Le Devoir of Montreal sent no representatives. Prominent journalists, newspaper proprietors and editors from other parts of the Empire arrived later in the summer and included the following from Australia: Sir William Snowden, Adelaide Register; Messrs. J. O. Fairfax, Sydney Morning Herald; H. Campbell Jones, Sydney Sun; S. H. Prior, Sydney Bulletin: J. J. Knight, Brisbane Courier; G. Syme, Melbourne Age; A. C. Mackintosh, Melbourne Argus; A. Carson, West Australian: W. H. Simmonds, Hobart Mercury; J. T. W. Heaney; F. Ansley, M.P., Labour Call; Major W. A. Whitehead. New Zealand and South Africa sent G. Fenwick, Otago Daily Times; W. J. Geddes, M.L.C., N. Z. Times; F. Pironi, Fielding Star; C. W. Earle, Dominion, Wellington; R. M. Hacket, N. Z. Herald; M. L. Reading, Lyttleton Times; Ward Jackson, Rand Daily Mail; G. A. L. Green, Cape Argus; David Pollick, Natal Advertiser; T. W. Mackenzie, The Friend, Bloemfontein; R. H. Douglas, Rhodesia Herald; and Dr. F. V. Englenburg, Volkstem, Pretoria. The Canadians arrived in England on July 10th and their experiences in the main were those of the Delegates from other Dominions. Only a few of the British functions in their honour can be mentioned but they included an official reception by Lord Beaverbrook and a luncheon at the Savoy Hotel on July 12th to discuss proposals for a better News service in the Canadian press; attendance at a Lord Mayor's dinner to Sir R. Borden and the Overseas Ministers in London; a dinner given by Lord Beaverbrook 1 to meet Mr. Lloyd George and other prominent men; a Sunday visit to the Minister of Information's home at Cherkley, Surrey; an inspection of Woolwich Arsenal, and visits to various Canadian. Military camps; the presentation of three Canadian journalists to the King, by command, at Lords on July 13th-J. H. Woods, W. C. Nichol and Oswald Mayrand; visit to various Departments of the British War Government; a luncheon by Sir Edward Kemp at Witley Camp to meet Canadian officers, with Fernand Rinfret of Montreal and Norman Smith of Ottawa as the chief speakers. Lord Beaverbrook was a central figure in these arrangements and his pleasant, able personality made an obvious impression upon the Delegates. The speeches at the various functions provided food for thought. C. F. Crandall, for instance, at a press luncheon in London declared that: "We ought to do more and must do more to encourage the exchange of ideas and information between the various corners of the Seven Seas. We must make the man in Melbourne better acquainted with the man in Montreal and both better acquainted with the man in London-what each does, how he works, his ideas, his dreams; and London should be the great clearing-house of Imperial ideas and thought." On July 13th at a dinner addressed by Mr. Lloyd George, the Premier made a great impression upon the visitors and in his speech referred to the power of newspapers in time of war: "They can strengthen the resolve of the nation, they can unite, they can divide, they can distract, they can consolidate. Let them unite, let them consolidate, let them strengthen, let them use their power to give increased might and strength to the arms of their country.' J. H. Woods, Chairman of the Delegation, who spoke for the press, made a marked impression on his audience by an eloquent, impressive tribute to what Britain had done and to the British quiet, yet determined, war spirit. Sir Robert Borden and General Sir Richard Turner also spoke on this occasion. On July 16th a Press Conference opened with some representatives present from the United Kingdom and other Dominions and Lord Burnham, Sir George Riddell, Percy Hurd and Robert Donald as the chief British members. The vital topic of discussion was the question of an improved Empire news service and the scheme which Lord Beaverbrook was formulating at the instance of the Imperial War Conference. It became clear, almost at once, that the restrictions of Censorship and war-time had affected the minds of nearly all those present, had aroused hostility to what someone termed the "barbed wire entanglements" of the British Government in this connection and had emphasized the instinctive desire for freedom of the press to secure and manage its own news without Government interference. As Mr. Donald put it, with the assent of all present, including Sir Roderick Jones of the Ministry of Information: "A free Press is the sheet anchor of our liberties. We went into this war with a clean and independent Press; let us guard that precious possession." A Resolution was adopted unanimously welcoming "better, quicker, and cheaper facilities for the dissemination of news throughout the Empire from British sources," and declaring that "such co-operation as the Government may give should be limited to assisting in the provision of facilities." The general nature of a tentative British plan was a British press and cable agency instead of an American one as now, organized with the British newspapers represented by their recognized organization, the Newspaper Proprietors Association and, on the other hand, by an independent Press organization in each Dominion. Mr. Donald of The London Chronicle put the views of the Conference in words which supplemented its Resolution: "Let the Government assist us with improved cable facilities, let it reduce cable and wireless rates to the minimum; let it do so by subsidy, if it likes, from public money, but let it leave the collection, supply, distribution of news to the resource and enterprise of individual newspapers and agencies." Sir Roderick Jones, Lord Burnham and others declared that there was not the slightest idea of Government interference with an Imperial Press Agency; it only wanted to assist and support the project. The visit to the Front began by arrival in Paris on July 17th where the Canadians met fellow-journalists of a pre-war time in Maj.-Gen. Sir David Watson, K.C.B., Editor of the Quebec Chronicle in 1914; Brig.-Gen. E. W. B. Morrison, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., of the Ottawa Citizen; Brig.-Gen. V. W. Odlum, C.M.G., D.S.O., of the Vancouver World; Major Henri Chassé of Quebec L'Evenement and Major Olivar Asselin of Montreal Le Devoir. They were received at British Headquarters by F. M. Sir Douglas Haig and at those of Canada by General Currie; they visited Vimy Ridge, toured the Forestry, Railway Construction and other camps, saw something of the Hospitals, and were welcomed at the French and American battlefronts. They were presented to the French President and Premier and explored the Front from Ypres to Verdun. On July 31st the Editors were back in London and on Aug. 3rd were received by the King, Queen Mary and Princess Mary at Buckingham Palace-His Majesty speaking in French to the journalists from Quebec. Visits to Edinburgh, Glasgow and other centres of war production (shipyards, munition factories and explosive works) followed and in one night they passed through hundreds of miles of towns, where night was turned into day by the rush of war-work. The glare of blast furnaces illuminated the sky, and lighted facories and foundries stood out in the blackness. A visit to some Canadian hospitals followed and then they were privileged to see the Grand Fleet. W. C. Nichol summed this period up as follows (Aug. 13th): "We have seen that which we came to see-the heart and soul of Britain's war efforts. No such effort has or could have been made through all the gaunt ages of the storied past. It is unlikely that any such effort will ever be made again in the ages yet to come. "In succeeding days F. D. L. Smith, E. H. Macklin, W. J. Southam, M. R. Jennings, and others flew over London in aero planes; the guests were dined by Lord Burnham and lunched by Lord Northcliffe and given a farewell dinner by Lord Beaverbrook. The address of Lord Northcliffe on Aug. 16th was made to a gathering which included Australian and New Zealand editors, and representatives in London of the American and Allied press, and involved a strong denunciation of the Censorship and its attitude toward the publication of news. Shortly after this the Canadian journalists returned to their homes and a part of their press contained interviews-all eulogistic of Britain's wonderful wareffort and of the sights they had seen and courtesies they had received. The best contributions on the subject were the series of articles in the Toronto Daily News by F. D. L. Smith and in the Halifax Herald by W. R. McCurdy. Following the Canadians' departure the Australian and New Zealand and South African representatives, who had just reached England, went through similar experiences. At a Conference on Aug. 30th a News Service Resolution was passed similar to that of the Canadians and urging the formation of an Empire Press Union, in order to secure better, cheaper and quicker facilities for the dissemination of news throughout the Empire. Whatever co-operation the Government gave should be limited, it was added, to the providing of better facilities. An invitation was presented by the Australian Government to British, Canadian and other Overseas editors to visit the Commonwealth during the first year after the War. A visit to the Western front followed and then a series of experiences in Great Britain of a useful and interesting nature. In Canada, on Sept. 25th, J. H. Woods told the Calgary Canadian Club that Great Britain in 1917 had spent $5,000,000 in propaganda but in 1918 had decided that, so far as the Empire was concerned, the best publicity for the Motherland was through its Press. Hence the invitations and the visit. The Irish Ireland was never so prosperous and never so discontented as in 1918; never so near the establishment of a Parliament in Dublin and never so indifferent to the realization of its past dreams; never so anxious to revolt and yet never so far from having the means or power to do so; never so much in need of conciliation and never further from realising the principle or finding the leader who could unite its factions or ameliorate their antagonisms. The Protestant or Ulster minority in Ireland and a great majority of the English in England agreed and saw alike in racial, religious, economic and minor matters; three-quarters of the Irish people and a small English minority in England appeared to agree. The British Government could apparently do nothing constructive in Ireland without fighting the majority in England or the majority in Ireland. It tried to do something through the Irish themselves and appointed an Irish Convention with a free hand-short of separation from the United Kingdom-to make its own constitution, create its own Parliament, construct its own system of administration; but the members could not agree and divided again on the old lines. Neither the Home Rule majority nor the Sinn Fein party which, in 1918, took its place, would accept Home Rule without Ulster; they would not admit of coercion or government by a United Kingdom majority but demanded the right to coerce an Ulster minority; they demanded self-government and self-determination for them. selves but would not grant those principles to Ulster. The latter section was equally obstinate and self-centred but it was loyal to British connection and, whatever the Home Rule party of the past may have been, the Sinn Feiners of 1918 certainly were not loyal to anything British. The Irish Convention of 1917-18. Created in 1917 by the Lloyd George Government to try and find some course which would be agreeable to a majority of the Irish people; composed of all parties except the republican Sinn Feiners who declined representation-from all sections of the country; with Catholic and Anglican Bishops sitting beside Presbyterians from the North, much was hoped from the deliberations of the Convention. Taken as a whole and despite the secrecy of its proceedings, opinions became fairly well known to be divided as follows: (1) a moderate group, largely from the south and west, who were inclined to Federal views and the creation of a federated United Kingdom to include Ireland; (2) the Ulster group which stood for things as they were in relation to Great Britain or, at most, for the exclusion of six Ulster counties from any Home Rule constitution; (3) the extreme Nationalists who wanted a Dominion status and powers which, under Sinn Fein control, might have meant separation. So the discussions proceeded until January 1918, when it was found that anything like a united decision was hopeless; a series of meetings followed with representatives of the British Cabinet in a broad effort to find some basis for agreement; finally, on Feb. 25th Mr. Lloyd George wrote to the Chairman, Sir Horace Plunkett, a letter which formed the basis of the subsequent majority Report. After promising immediate Government action and legislation upon the presentation of any solution, or settlement of the situation, by the mutual agreement of all Parties in the Convention, the Premier dealt with the question of Customs and taxes, which had proved the crucial issue, and then proceeded: 1. The Government are aware of the serious objections which can be raised against the transfer of these services to an Irish Legislature. It would be practically impossible to make such a disturbance of the fiscal and financial relations of Great Britain and Ireland in the midst of a great war. It might, also, be incompatible with that Federal re-organisation of the United King dom in favour of which there is a growing body of opinion. On the other hand, the Government recognise the strong claim that can be made that an Irish Legislature should have some control over indirect taxation as the only form of taxation which touches the great majority of the people, and which in the past has represented the greater part of Irish revenue. *Note. For members of the Convention, etc., see The Canadian Annual Review for |