1918 Imperial War Conference, 1917-1919
- Component identifier:
- Series 20
- Content Summary:
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In April 1918 Latham left Australia to attend the Imperial War Conference in London as the adviser to the Minister for the Navy, Sir Joseph Cook. The Conference, chaired by Walter Long, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, commenced on 12 June 1918 and closed on 27 July 1918. The Australian delegation arrived on 17 June 1918. The Australian delegates, the Prime Minister, W. M. Hughes, and Cook, and Latham and R. R. Garran, the Solicitor-General attended all the meetings. As in 1917, the Imperial War Cabinet met on alternate days to those of the Conference. Hughes represented Australia in the Imperial War Cabinet. Its meetings ended on 20 August 1918 but the Australian delegation decided to remain in England. In October 1918 the Imperial War Cabinet was summoned again and its meetings continued until December 1918. Latham was present at some of its meetings.
Items 1-434 consist of printed papers relating to the Imperial War Conference and also the Imperial War Cabinet, beginning with the list of subjects suggested by the various governments (June 1918). There are memoranda prepared for the Conference on the following subjects: Imports and Exports (Temporary Control) Bill, Committee on Imperial Meat Resources, Imperial War Graves Commission, Emigration Bill, control of shipping, nationality and naturalization, Non Ferrous Metal Industry Act, enemy debts, Empire Cotton Growing Committee, dye manufacturing industry, German pronouncements on economic policy, Trade Commissioner Service, Imperial News Service, Imperial Statistical Bureau, Imperial Bureau of Mycology, Imperial Court of Appeal, and reciprocity of treatment between India and the dominions. These are followed by draft resolutions; final resolutions; publication of British Empire Producers' Organizations; minutes of the Conference (incomplete); and proceedings of the Conference. In addition, there are published speeches of David Lloyd George and Lord Curzon and the minutes of a few meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet (June, December 1918).
Items 435-586 consist of manuscript material. They include Australian memoranda on the Pacific and Australia's claim to the German islands, memoranda written by Latham for Cook, notes for speeches, notes on demobilisation, double income tax and the fate of the Kaiser. There are also cables received by the Australian High Commission (July-August 1918), notes on Australian Imperial Forces and Cook's visit to AIF units and court martial statistics, instructions of the 15th Australian Infantry Brigade (August 1918), and programs of visits, addresses and miscellaneous notes by Latham. Items 587-865 consist of correspondence (April-December 1918). There are circular letters written by Latham to his friends (20 June, 23 July, 16 October 1918), describing inter alia his visits to France, and a circular letter which he drafted for Cook (2 September 1918). There are letters of introduction from Harrison Moore, Gilbert Rigg and W. J. Schutt. The correspondence between Latham and friends and relatives in Australia, friends serving in the AIF, and acquaintances in England gives his general impressions of the military situation and describe his hectic official and social life, but there are few references to the Conference. Many of the letters are invitations to dinner or to join clubs. The correspondents include Bertram Latham, R. H. Gregory, H. W. Allen, E. Thring, F. Eggleston, T. P. Dunhill and Marion Phillips.
The last part of the series contains a large collection of invitations, programs, menus, tourist and other publications, accounts and receipts, Latham's passport, photographs of Cook and Latham, drawings, and newscuttings concerning the War, the Imperial Conference, speeches of Hughes and Cook, and peace negotiations.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The bulk of the collection was presented to the National Library by Sir John Latham in December 1963, a few months before his death. In November 1974 the Library purchased some further papers from a secondhand book dealer. They comprised family letters and photographs, some diaries and papers relating to the High Court. These papers have been amalgamated into the original collection.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: