have no wish to deal with the substance of the great speech 
which appeared to-day in the Press which was delivered by 
one of our distinguished colleagues, General Smuts, (Cheers.) 
It is sufficient for my purpose to say that I am profoundly 
thankful to General Smuts for having made that speech. He 
emphasized a point that I wish to make. It is possible—(I 
do not think it is probable, and I do not know that it matters 
very much if it is)—that General Smuts may be hauled over 
the coals when he returns to South Africa (Laughter), but he 
spoke last night as a member of this Conference, making 
a material contribution to the greatest problem which we have 
to face to-day, and no doubt with full responsibility as Prime 
Minister of South Africa. He spoke with full responsibility 
as a member of the Imperial Conference. Yet he took that 
responsibility on himself, and I am confident that when the 
representatives of the great Dominions know that they can 
come here, that they have full liberty of thought, and of 
speech and are able to take such steps and use such powers 
as they in their own judgment think desirable, it is indeed 
emblematic of the conditions under which we are governed. 
It is indeed, I believe, the only way in which We, as an 
Empire, can approach the solution of these great problems if 
necessary—although we trust it never will be necessary—in 
time of war, and equally we believe that we shall be able to 
approach those problems in times of peace in the same spirit, 
—that while we fully recognise that we, each and every one of 
us, have our share of responsibility to our own Parliament, 
we also have our own individual share of responsibility and 
are bound to contribute our best to the well-being and welfare 
of the world. I am giving ‘away no secrets when I say 
that in the historic Conference room in Downing Street 
we are to-day dealing with various questions in that broad 
spirit. We may not see eye to eye on every point, but 
undoubtedly it is to the benefit of the whole that we should 
frankly and freely state our views and be able to approach the 
solution of these great problems with the single-hearted and 
sole desire of working for that one great object which we 
all have in view. (Cheers.) I observe that some of our 
colleagues, who are not so accustomed to Imperial Conferences, 
as other members of the Conference, have not been able to 
stay the course, for one reason or another, and are not able to 
be here to-night. (Laughter) I notice the Toast to be pro- 
posed by my Rt. Hon. friend, the President of the Board of 
Trade, is now to be responded to by the Prime Minister of 
New Zealand, who was originally intended to reply to the 
Toast that I now have the honour of proposing. Nevertheless 
I am not going to allow my Rt. Hon. friend to bar me from