Imperial Conferences Research Articles

Empire Broadcasting

IN the field of radio communication, the last few weeks of the year 1932 were conspicuous for the inauguration of a regular broadcasting service between Great Britain and the various portions of the British Empire. The developments which took place in this connexion during 1932 are somewhat striking, and they are recorded in some detail in the B.B.C. Year Book for 1933. From the previous edition of this Year Book, it appeared that little progress was likely in connexion with the Empire broadcasting scheme drawn up by the British Broadcasting Corporation owing to lack of support by the Colonial and Imperial Conferences of 1930, and the responsible authorities in the overseas countries concerned. In November 1931, however, the B.B.C. announced its intention of developing the Empire broadcasting scheme on its own initiative, and the rapid progress made during the ensuing twelve months is illustrated by the fact that the regular service from the new station erected at Daventry for the purpose began on December 19.

The Imperial Conferences, 1926-1930: The Statute of Westminster

"The Imperial Conferences, 1926-1930: The Statute of Westminster." Canadian Historical Review, 13(4), pp. 199–200

Standardisation at the Ottawa Conference

THE question of industrial standardisation will again come before the Imperial Conference when it meets in Ottawa at the end of this month, and Mr. C. le Maistre, director of the British Standards Institution, has been appointed adviser to the delegation from Great Britain on British standards. It will he recalled that at the last two Imperial Conferences very great importance was attached to the development of inter-Empire standardisation, and to the preparation of national industrial specifications by national standardising bodies. In order to fulfil the recommendation of the last Imperial Conference, the British Engineering Standards Association recently widened its scope, and is now known as the British Standards Institution. Since last November, Mr. le Maistre has been touring the Dominions in connexion with the development of this work.

<sc>Macmillan Committee</sc>. Committee on Finance and Industry: Minutes of Evidence and Statute of Westminster. A Bill to give effect to certain resolutions passed by Imperial Conferences held in . . . . 1926 and 1930

<sc>Macmillan Committee</sc>. Committee on Finance and Industry: Minutes of Evidence and Statute of Westminster. A Bill to give effect to certain resolutions passed by Imperial Conferences held in . . . . 1926 and 1930

The Imperial Conference and the Constitution

I Would like to preface what I have to say this evening by one deprecatory remark. I should not venture to tax your patience or reveal my own ignorance by attempting to speak of the Imperial Conference of 1926 as a whole. It was, probably, the most important of the striking series of Colonial and Imperial Conferences which have been held; and it covered an enormous area. It may be that the aspect of it with which alone I propose to deal is not the most important side of its many-sided labours, which included such matters as Inter-Imperial Trade. Defence, Air Communications, Nationality, Overseas Settlement, and Economic Resources. But it is the only one on which I am even moderately competent to speak; and therefore I beg to draw your attention to the fact that I am going to speak of the Imperial Conference only on its constitutional side.

Stanford's Compendium Geography and Travel

ONE of the characteristics of the age of synthesis in which we live is a desire on the part of the people of Great Britain for a better knowledge of the Britains beyond the seas. Hence spring Imperial conferences and schemes for reciprocal education; hence, also, a crop of volumes dealing with the geography, history, and conditions of the colonies. Among these not one has been written with a deeper insight into the problems which confront a young nation than Prof. Gregory's work on Australia and New Zealand. It is too much the custom for writers to judge the measures of a new country by old-world standards, and to commend or condemn them according to the degree of their correspondence. But a moment's reflection will disclose the fallacy of such a criterion. If the problem of colonial administration could be satisfactorily solved by imitating ancestral patterns, what is the reason for the frequent failure of nations which systematically follow this course? why should it be thought necessary to utter warnings against the attempt to import Berlin into Uganda? and how is the success which attends the experimental and empirical methods of Great Britain to be explained? Stanford's Compendium Geography and Travel. (New issue.) Australia. Vol. i. Australia and New Zealand. Second edition, re-written. By Prof. J. W. Gregory Pp. xxiv + 657. (London: E. Stanford, 1907.) Price 15s.