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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
When Nazi planes, on the night of May 10, 1941, bombed the rooms of the Empire Parliamentary Association in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament, they struck at a central institution of the British Empire. Fire destroyed most of its records. Fire-blackened, water-soaked documents, annual reports, verbatim reports of annual meetings and of sessions of the Empire Parliamentary Conference, and other documents, all bearing marks of that night, have formed the basis of this article, which incorporates also the experience gained from personal contacts with the Association in most parts of the Empire, including the addressing of meetings of members in the parliaments of each of the Oversea Dominions and attendance at meetings of the Empire Parliamentary Conference.
1 Empire Parliamentary Conference, Visit to the United Kingdom, Jubilee Year 1985, E.P.A. (London, 1935), p. 101.
2 Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Empire Parliamentary Association (United Kingdom Branch) for the Year 1917–18, p, 3. (Hereafter referred to as A.R., 1917–18, etc.)
3 The Prime Minister (Mr.Baldwin, Stanley)—The Empire Parliamentary Conference … Jubilee Year, 1935, p. 97.Google Scholar
4 Amery, L. S., Report of Proceedings at the Annual Meeting of the U.K. Branch, 1919 (hereafter referred to as A.M., 1919, etc.).Google Scholar
5 Amery, L. S.: E.P. Conference … Jubilee Year, 1935, p. 101.Google Scholar
6 A.M., 1915, p. 8.
7 For an analysis of all these factors, see Elliott, W. Y. and Hall, H. Duncan (eds.), British Commonwealth at War (New York, 1942), Chap. 2.Google Scholar
8 Macdonald, Ramsay, A.M., 1928, p. 9.Google Scholar
9 Constitution of the Empire Parliamentary Association, issued by the United Kingdom Branch, London, p. 5.
10 The branches are: United Kingdom; Northern Ireland; Isle of Man; Dominion of Canada (and eight affiliated branches in Canadian provinces); Commonwealth of Australia (and six affiliated branches in the Australian state parliaments); New Zealand; South Africa; Eire; India (Central Legislature and Province of Bengal); Southern Rhodesia; Malta; Bahamas; Barbados; Bermuda; Ceylon; Jamaica; Mauritius; British Guiana.
11 Constitution, Art. V; A.R., 1925–26, p. 22.
12 A.M., 1925, p. 21.
13 A.R., 1917–18, p. 4.
14 Constitution, p. 3; Reports of the Proceedings of the Empire Parliamentary Conference, 1935; 1937.
15 Constitution, p. 2.
16 The close relation of the Association to the parliaments is shown by the fact that the Speaker's chair in the Canadian and Australian parliaments is a gift from the U.K. Branch. The chairs are replicas of the Speaker's chair in the House of Commons and contain wood from the famous roof of Westminster Hall. A.R. 1919–20; see A.R. 1917–18. Stonework from the British Houses of Parliament is incorporated in a number of Oversea Houses of Parliament. A.M., 1938, p. 5.
17 A.R., 1929–30, p. 4. Also Proceedings of the Empire Parliamentary Conference, 1935, p. 256. Travel privileges are usually extended to wives and members of families.
18 A.R., 1929–30, p. 3. An indication of the great interest taken after the war in Empire Parliamentary Conferences was the fact that in 1926 the United Kingdom branch had before it invitations to send delegations to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Newfoundland, Malta, Southern Rhodesia, and India.
19 A.R., 1926–27, p. 4. See also ibid., 1925–26, p. 25. Minor conferences were held at various times in India, Newfoundland, Malta, South Australia, New South Wales, and New Zealand. Visits by parliamentary delegations from the U.K. Branch were made to various parts of the Empire such as Bermuda, Nigeria, and Tanganyika. A small all-party parliamentary delegation from Canada visited Great Britain in October, 1941, and en route had an informal conference with members of the Congress in Washington (A.R., 1939–1941).Google Scholar A South African parliamentary delegation came later in the year to London. Further visits of parliamentary delegations are being arranged, and it is hoped to have a session of the plenary Empire Parlia mentary Conference.
20 Hall, H. Duncan, The British Commonwealth of Nations (1920), pp. 309–10.Google Scholar
21 Informal Meeting of the Empire Parliamentary Conference. Report of Proceedings, July, 1936; ibid., July, 1939.
22 A.R., 1937–38, pp. 2–3.
23 Conference of Delegates of the Empire Parliamentary Association from the Legislatures of the Empire, Report of Proceedings, London, 1935; Empire Parliamentary Conference, Report of Proceedings, London, 1937.
24 A.M., 1938, p. 8.
25 A.R., 1937–38, p. 10. The British Prime Minister commended this innovation, A.M., 1938, pp. 12–13.
26 Visit and Conference of Delegates of the Empire Parliamentary Association from the Oversea Legislatures of the Empire … Coronation, 1937, E.P.A. (London, 1937), p. 34.
27 E.P. Conf. Jubilee Year, etc.; ibid., Coronation, 1937, p. 40.
28 Proceedings: Informal Meeting of the E.P. Conference, 1939, p. 52.
29 A.M., 1921, p. 7. For similar views expressed by A. J. Balfour and others, see A.R., 1913, pp. 15, 23, 25; A.M., 1917, p. 11.
30 Mr.Balfour, A. J., A.M., 1913, p. 25Google Scholar; A.M. 1919, p. 6; See also A.R. 1926, p. 8. Study Circles on Foreign Affairs, etc., in the different branches have helped to develop “a common outlook based on common knowledge.” Also serving this purpose are the main publications of the Association, jointly financed by the parliaments of the Empire and edited by Sir Howard d'Egville, the Report on Foreign Affairs (bimonthly, now quarterly) and the quarterly Journal of the Parliaments of the Empire. The latter contains a summary of all the main parliamentary debates, as well as important bills and acts, for the whole Empire. It is the common organ of the parliamentarians of the Empire, pools knowledge and experience, and promotes uniformity in legislation in matters of national as well as international concern. The issuing of a separate publication containing summaries of the principal debates of Congress has been approved by the Executive Committee of the United Kingdom branch. A.R. 1939–41.
31 See the discussion in the Informal Meeting of the E.P. Conference, 1935, pp. 22–23, 26, 36.
32 See speech by the Chancellor, Lord, A.R., 1920–1921, p. 10.Google Scholar
33 See A.R., 1939–41, “Relations with Congress of the U.S.A.”
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