1902 Colonial Conference

May 2013 October 2022 1902 Colonial Conference 200px Front row left-right: Sir Robert Bond (Premier of Newfoundland), Richard Seddon (Prime Minister of New Zealand), Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Prime Minister of Canada), Joseph Chamberlain (Secretary of State for the Colonies (Chairman)), Sir Edmund Barton (Prime Minister of Australia), Sir Albert Henry Hime (Prime Minister of Natal), Thomas Fuller (Agent-General for Cape Colony) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom 30 June–11 August 1902 London Heads of Government 7 Joseph Chamberlain(Secretary of State for the Colonies) 1897 1907 Imperial Conference Imperial defence, imperial council, customs union, Imperial Preference The 1902 Colonial Conference followed the conclusion of the Boer War and was held on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII. As with the previous conference, it was called by Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain who opened it on 30 June 1902.The Conference of Colonial Premiers 1 July 1902 6 36808Kendle J.E. John Kendle 1967 The Colonial and Imperial Conferences, 1887-1911: A Study in Imperial Organization https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/74/3/999/91500 Imperial Studies XXVIII London Longmans for the Royal Commonwealth Society B0000CO3QA 10.1086/ahr/74.3.999 Chamberlain used the occasion to resubmit his earlier proposals made at the 1897 Colonial Conference for an Imperial Council made up of colonial representatives which would act as a quasi-Imperial Parliament and make decisions for the colonies on imperial policy. This proposal, along with Chamberlain's idea for a unified imperial defence scheme, was rejected by most of the colonial prime ministers. While New Zealand proposed that each colony provide a special force for imperial defence in the case of war, Canada and Australia both believed this idea undermined self-government.Historical dictionary of European imperialism 1991 Greenwood Publishing Group 0313262578 138 https://books.google.com/books?id=uyqepNdgUWkC&q=colonial+conference+1897&pg=PA138 Chamberlain also proposed an imperial economic union or customs union with free trade within the empire and tariffs against goods from outside of it. The colonies, however, passed a resolution rejecting imperial free trade. A resolution in favour of imperial preference as proposed by Canada was approved and Chamberlain agreed to bring the idea to the British government. However, this plan was not implemented until the British Empire Economic Conference in 1932. Britain had more liberal trade policies than the colonies, making it hard for the British to adopt imperial preference policies without undermining its trade agreements with foreign states.Boggs Theodore H. 1916 The British Empire and closer union https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055400013277/type/journal_article American Political Science Review en 10 4 635–653 10.2307/1946822 1946822 0003-0554 subscription Theodore H. Boggs, an advocate for imperial federation, described the outcome of the conference as "disappointing." Participants The conference was hosted by King Edward VII, with his Colonial Secretary and the premiers of various colonies or their representatives and members of their cabinets: Nation Name PortfolioUnited Kingdom United Kingdom Joseph Chamberlain Secretary of State for the Colonies (chairman) Lord Selborne First Lord of the Admiralty Rear Admiral Wilfred Custance Director of Naval Intelligence Lord Onslow Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies Gerald Balfour, President of the Board of Trade Sir Montagu Ommanney Permanent Under-Secretary for the Colonies Sir Francis Hopwood Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade Sir Thomas Holderness Secretary of the Revenue, Statistics and Commerce Department, India Office Sir John Anderson Secretary to the Conference, of the Colonial OfficeAustralia 1901 Australia Sir Edmund Barton Prime Minister Sir John Forrest Minister of DefenceCanada 1868 Sir Wilfrid Laurier Prime Minister William Stevens Fielding Minister of Finance Sir William Mulock Postmaster General of Canada William Paterson Minister of CustomsBritish Cape Colony Cape Colony Sir John Gordon Sprigg Prime Minister Thomas Fuller Agent-General 25px Natal Sir Albert Henry Hime Prime MinisterNewfoundland Newfoundland Sir Robert Bond Premier New Zealand New Zealand Richard Seddon Prime MinisterPapers relating to a conference between the secretary of state for the colonies and the prime ministers of self-governing colonies; June to August, 1902 http://www.youscribe.com/catalogue/tous/savoirs/papers-relating-to-a-conference-between-the-secretary-of-state-for-1924209 2025-10-27 YouScribeThe Life an Work of Richard John Seddon http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/DruSedd-fig-DruSedd_P010a.html nzetc.victoria.ac.nz 24 July 2017 See also Imperial Conference References Category:Imperial Conference Category:1902 in London Colonial Conference Category:1902 conferences Category:1902 in the British Empire Category:British trade policy Category:Premiership of Wilfrid Laurier