Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-11-10 | Page 4 | Complains No Voice in Peace

PLUS NO fflCEJ PEACE Australian Premier Protests Pro-tests No Provision for Indemnifying In-demnifying That Country. British Government Says Dominion Representatives Have Been Consulted. LOINDON, Nov. 9, via Montreal. The British press bureau has issued the foreign for-eign following: "The statement by Premier Hughes of Australia, that the terms of peace have been definitely settled at the recent conference con-ference at Versailles without consultation with the Dominions makes it necessary to put on record th actual position with regard to this question. "From the first the British government has recognized that the magnificent efforts ef-forts and sacrifices made .by the Dominions Do-minions and India In the comon cause have entitled them to an equal voice with the United Kingdom in the settlement of the terms of peace. "It is with this specific object in view that the first Imperial war cabinet was summoned last year. On that occasion every aspect of tho general peace settlement settle-ment was exhaustively discussed by the two committees of the imperial war cabinet, cab-inet, on each of which tho Dominions and India wero represented as well as by the imperial war cabinet itself. At War Cabinet. "The Australian government for reasons of a domestic character was not represented repre-sented at these discussions, but the con- elusions of the committee and of the Imperial Im-perial war cabinet on these matters were communicated to the Australian government govern-ment at the time and have since then been again viewed at this year's session of Lhe imperial war cabinet in a series of discussions In which representatives of Australia participated. "Nothing that has been done by the British representatives at the recent meeting of the supreme war council is inconsistent in-consistent with the general conclusions arrived ar-rived at in these discussions or has precluded pre-cluded or prejudiced the effective attainment attain-ment in the final peace terms of any specific spe-cific objects to which the attention of the Imperial war cabinet was drawn by the representatives of the Dominions and India. "The British government has every intention in-tention of associating the governments of the Dominions and India with itself at every stage in the future discussions of terms of peace. Ministers Were Warned. "From the moment that it became clear that such discussions were imminent the prime ministers of the Dominions and In- dia were warned to hold themselves in ' readiness to come over or to send representatives repre-sentatives with a view to their remaining in constant and the closest touch in their capacity as members of the imperial war cabinet with developments of the situation situa-tion and to their being represented at the interallied conference which is to be con- J vened In the near future in order to consider con-sider in detail the practical application of general principles of peace settlements." , Only one short section of apparently wha1. was a lengthy statement made by Premier Hughes of Australia on the subject sub-ject of representation by the British Dominions Do-minions at the Versailles conference has been received from Londoi The remainder remain-der seemingly has been held up by the British censor. That portion of the statement state-ment received follows: t , LONDON, Thursday, Nov. 7. Premier I Hughes protested also that there was no ! provision in the treaty for indemnities ; with which to relieve Australia from a crashing war debt, nor a provision for the 1 retention of German islands 'without i which the territorial Integrity of Australia is forever menaced.' "The Australian premier's spee.cn was loudly cheered."