Much the most important speech on Tuesday was that of
Mr. J. H. Thomas, who made some important state- ments. First of all he announced that the Government would leave the House free to vote as it pleased, though the Government, as such, would vote against Mr. Bald- win's resolutions. Secondly, he admitted that the present position of the Imperial Conference was unsatis- factory, and that it urgently needed improvement.. Thirdly, he expressed the willingness of the Government to consider the creation of some sort of Imperial Com- mittee if the Dominions unanimously desired it. The debate was continued on Wednesday, when little new light was thrown on the subject. The voting, however, was most interesting. On the first of the ten resolutions the anti-Preference majority was only six. Three other resolutions were beaten by scarcely larger majorities, and the rest were not voted upon. Mr. Lloyd George, who took no part in the debate, had paired in favour of four of the resolutions.
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