Secretary, Mr. Eddison, has been a tower of strength to the whole organisation.

Would you allow me to go a little further along this line, and to say that I think we who come from overseas owe a great debt of gratitude to the people who form the Government Hospitality Fund? We have been looked after in a very enthusiastic and cordial manner, not only in the way of entertainment, but in the carrying out of little minor duties for us that it would have been very difficult for us to have carried out ourselves.

I want to join in expressing my thanks, as far as Canada is concerned, for all these things, and hope that great good may result from this gathering. Of course, after all, the foundation of success lies in the fact that we have been able to meet each other and talk frankly across a table in language in which we could not have indulged had we been carrying out diplomatic correspondence.

Mr. Innes: I should like, very briefly, to associate myself with what has been said by the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia, and also by Mr. Graham. I am afraid that the representative of India was possibly one of those "other" persons to which Mr. Graham referred! It is true that in the case of one or two matters which I considered of vital importance I had to take a line of my own. I am sure everybody in this Conference will agree that it is much better to be honest. It is better that I should have stated frankly the difficulties that I felt, than that I should have agreed to resolutions which I knew perfectly well I could not carry out. I do hope the Conference will realise that I took the course which I knew in the long run would be of the best interest, not only to India, but also to this country itself. In all my difficulties I have met with the greatest consideration, not only from you, Sir, but from members of the Cabinet and also from the oversea Prime Ministers, and I am very grateful for that consideration.

Sir William Macintosh: South Africa joins very heartily in the expression of thanks and appreciation.

Sir Patrick McGrath: May I say, Sir, that our Prime Minister expected to be here this morning, but was doubtful whether he could be present owing to some engagements he had? But on his behalf and my own, I would like to join very cordially in and endorse all that has been said by the representatives of the Dominions.

Appreciation of the Spirit in which Oversea Representatives approached the Conference.

The Chairman: Gentlemen, I am very grateful to Mr. Massey, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Graham, Mr. Innes, Sir William Macintosh and Sir Patrick McGrath for the far too kind things they have said. It has been a real privilege to be associated with you all in the work of this Conference, and I would like to say at once that I would associate myself most whole-heartedly with the appreciation

which has been expressed of the work of the Secretariat, and I include in that, as I know the members of the British Secretariat would, the consistent help which they have received from the oversea members of the Secretariat in their work. I am not sure that the rapid working at any rate of any Conference does not depend as much upon having an efficient Secretariat as upon anything else, and we certainly have been extremely fortunate in that respect.

It has not been at all a difficult Conference to preside over, although many of the subjects have been difficult, and some delicate. It has not been difficult to preside over the Conference because of the men we have had to work with, and because, I think, of three other things. In the first place, we have approached this Conference with the intention of working in a thoroughly business-like way, and I think we have all done that; we have also approached it with the knowledge that on every subject that has come up we could speak perfectly frankly to one another, and if we did not feel that, and had not done that, half the value of the Conference would have gone; but above all, everyone who has taken part in this Conference, as has been clear from the deliberations and from the conclusions, has approached every subject, while rightly expressing the individual interests which he had at stake in the matter, with the great overriding common purpose that in everything we did we should try to promote the object of this Conference, namely, the development of Imperial resources and the promotion of Imperial trade. I think we have done a good deal, but the work has only begun, and I am perfectly certain that this Conference has laid foundations upon which we shall build much more in the future. Thanks to Mr. Davidson and the Press.

May I also say what I know all of us would feel; that is, the obligation we are under to Mr. Davidson for the very difficult task which he took up at the outset and has carried on throughout? I know that the Press themselves have already expressed to Mr. Davidson their appreciation of the way in which that work has been discharged. We all felt it most desirable that the fullest publicity that was consistent with the public interest should be given to the work of this Conference day by day, and that could not have been done if we had not had somebody as competent and as zealous in the discharge of that duty as Mr. Davidson. I must also say that I think the Press has responded most completely to the efforts which we made for publicity, and I think our thanks are due to Mr. Davidson and to the Press for the fact that the public has been fully informed throughout our deliberations of all that we were doing.

On behalf of all my colleagues I thank you again. We could have had no greater pleasure or privilege than to have been associated with you in the work of the Economic Conference.

(The proceedings of the Conference then terminated.)

[10995]

U 3

INDEX.