13 AUGUST 1921, Page 1

In 1917 the Imperial War Conference suggested a Consti- tutional

Conference to be summoned to work out what almost amounted to a Constitution for the Empire. The present Conference reports, however, that " having regard to the Consti- tutional developments since 1917, no advantage is to be gained by holding a Constitutional Conference." They continue, however : " The Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Dominions, and the representatives of India, should aim at meeting annually or at such longer intervals as may prove feasible." This, we suppose, means that the Premiers are of opinion that it is better not to attempt to frame some definite, dogmatio written Constitution for the new world-wide State which we call the British Empire, but rather to follow tho traditional English practice of allowing the moulding force of circumstance to play unhindered upon the new body.