1894 Colonial Conference

May 2013 January 2023 1894 Colonial Conference Ottawa 28 June–9 July 1894 Senate Chamber andOffice of the Minister of Trade & Commerce Canada 1868 Canada 9 governments Heads of Government Mackenzie Bowell(Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce) 1887 1897 Pacific cable, preferential trade The 1894 Colonial Conference was called by the government of Canada to continue discussion begun at the 1887 Colonial Conference on a proposal to lay a telegraph cable at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to create a communications link between Canada and Australasia and, by extension, to the rest of the British Empire as part of what became referred to as the All Red Line network of cables throughout the Empire.The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 4 1929 Cambridge University Press 409 https://books.google.com/books?id=Mu48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA411Kendle 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 The opening ceremonies were in the Senate Chamber in the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings but day-to-day meetings occurred in the offices of the Minister of Trade and Commerce. The Earl of Jersey attended the conference as the representative of the British government and was instructed to listen and report back but not to make any commitments on behalf of the government. All self-governing British colonies were invited to send delegates with the exception of Newfoundland Colony. Western Australia and Natal Colony did not send representatives due to domestic priorities. The colony of Fiji was also invited due to its geographical location on the proposed route of the cable but declined. Delegates were sent to the conference by Canada, New Zealand, the Australian self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria and the South African colony of Cape Colony. Unlike other colonial conference, the colonial delegates were cabinet ministers or legislators or government representatives rather than Prime Ministers. Resolutions were proposed to the conference and it was agreed that decisions would be made on the basis of "one colony, one vote" but the resolutions were not binding on the British government or the Colonial Office. In addition to discussing telecommunications issues, the conference also approved a resolution favouring preferential trade within the Empire, however, this resolution was opposed by Australia's largest colonies, New South Wales and Queensland, who were suspicious the Canadian initiative seemed designed to undermine Australia's protective tariffs. The proposal would be made again to the 1897 Colonial Conference but was not agreed to and would not be acted upon until the British Empire Economic Conference in 1932. Participants The conference was hosted by Canada with representatives of the governments of various colonies in attendance. Nation Name PortfolioUnited Kingdom United Kingdom Earl of Jersey Representing the British governmentCanada 1868 Mackenzie Bowell Minister of Trade and Commerce Sir Adolphe-Philippe Caron Postmaster-General George Eulas Foster Minister of Finance Sanford Fleming EngineerBritish Cape Colony Cape Colony Sir Henry de Villiers Chief Justice of the Cape Colony Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr Member of the Cape House of Assembly Sir Charles Mills Agent-GeneralNew South Wales New South Wales Francis Bathurst Suttor Minister of Public Instruction New Zealand Colony of New Zealand Alfred Lee Smith Delegate of the New Zealand governmentQueensland Queensland Andrew Joseph Thynne Minister without portfolio and Member of the Queensland Legislative Council William Forrest Member of the Queensland Legislative Council South Australia South Australia Thomas Playford Agent-General Tasmania Colony of Tasmania Nicholas Fitzgerald Delegate (representing Tasmania and Victoria)Victoria Victoria Sir Henry John Wrixon Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Nicholas Fitzgerald Member of the Victorian Legislative Council Simon Fraser Member of the Victorian Legislative CouncilImperialism at the Inter-Colonial Conference [microform See also Imperial Conference All Red Line – the telegraph network that eventually spanned the British Empire. References 30em Category:1890s in Ottawa Category:1894 conferences Colonial Conference Category:1894 in Ontario Category:1894 in the British Empire Category:Diplomatic conferences in Canada Category:History of the Pacific Ocean Category:Imperial Conference Category:International telecommunications Category:June 1894 in Canada Category:July 1894 in Canada