The House of Commons had an interesting debate on the
Imperial Conference on Friday, June 17th. Sir John Davidson said that with the Dominions, who put into the field a million troops of unsurpassed quality, we could do anything if we worked in close co-operation. The nature of our co-operation must be defined, especially in regard to defence. As a soldier, he urged that the competition in armaments should be checked before it• reached a dangerous height. He thought that the Japanese Alliance should be upheld until the Conference had reviewed the Tar Eastern situation. Sir Samuel Hoare empha- sized the supreme importanee of friendship with America, and reminded the Howie that grave doubts were expressed—in America if not here—es to the precise bearing of the British- American Treaty of 1914, which was not technically a treaty of arbitration, on the British-Japanese Alliance, which does not relate to-any Power with which either party has an arbi- tration treaty; Mfr. T. P. O'Connor andother members suggested that the Conference should discuss the Irish question.
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