The sittings of the Imperial Conference on Thursday and Friday
in last week were devoted to a discussion on the Declara- tion of London. Mr. Fisher, the Commonwealth Premier, moved a resolution expressing regret that the Dominions had not been consulted prior to the acceptance by the delegates of the terms of the Declaration, and criticizing the provision making foodstuffs conditional contraband and the provisions permitting the destruction of neutral vessels. Mr. Batchelor, the Commonwealth Minister for External Affairs, followed, and amplified these criticisms; but both speakers made it clear that they did not ask the Government to decline to ratify the Declaration, and that they attached more importance to the principle of consulting the Dominions than to the modification of the terms of the Declaration.
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