1902 Colonial Conference

{{EngvarB|date=May 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox summit meeting | summit_name = 1902 Colonial Conference | other_titles = | image = [[File:1902 Colonial Conference.jpg|200px]] | alt = | caption = 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) | country = {{flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] | dates = {{nowrap|30 June–11 August 1902}} | venues = | cities = [[London]] | participants =  | heads_of_state_label = {{nowrap|Heads of Government}} | heads_of_state = 7 | chairperson = [[Joseph Chamberlain]]<br />([[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]) | follows = [[1897 Colonial Conference|1897]] | precedes = [[1907 Imperial Conference]] | website =  | keypoints = 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.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Conference of Colonial Premiers |date=1 July 1902 |page=6 |issue=36808}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kendle |first1=J.E. |author-link1=John Kendle |year=1967 |title=The Colonial and Imperial Conferences, 1887-1911: A Study in Imperial Organization |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/74/3/999/91500 |series=Imperial Studies |volume=XXVIII |publication-place=[[London]] |publisher=[[Longman|Longmans]] for the [[Royal Commonwealth Society]] |asin=B0000CO3QA |doi=10.1086/ahr/74.3.999 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=imp2>{{cite book|title=Historical dictionary of European imperialism|year=1991|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313262578|pages=138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyqepNdgUWkC&q=colonial+conference+1897&pg=PA138}}</ref>

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.<ref name=imp2/> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Boggs|first=Theodore H.|date=1916|title=The British Empire and closer union|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055400013277/type/journal_article|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=10|issue=4|pages=635–653|doi=10.2307/1946822|jstor=1946822 |issn=0003-0554|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Theodore H. Boggs, an advocate for imperial federation, described the outcome of the conference as "disappointing."<ref name=":0"/>

==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:

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Nation ! Name ! Portfolio |- | rowspan=9|{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] | [[Joseph Chamberlain]] | [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] (chairman) |- | [[William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne|Lord Selborne]] | [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] |- | Rear Admiral [[Wilfred Custance]] | Director of [[Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom)|Naval Intelligence]] |- | [[William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow|Lord Onslow]] | [[Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies]] |- | [[Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour|Gerald Balfour]], | [[Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills|President of the Board of Trade]] |- | Sir [[Montagu Ommanney]] | Permanent Under-Secretary for the Colonies |- | Sir [[Francis Hopwood, 1st Baron Southborough|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 (colonial administrator)|John Anderson]] | Secretary to the Conference, of the [[Colonial Office]] |- | rowspan=2|{{flagicon|Australia|1901}} [[Australia]] | Sir [[Edmund Barton]] | [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]] |- | Sir [[John Forrest]] | [[Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister of Defence]] |- | rowspan=4|{{Country|Canada|1868}} | Sir [[Wilfrid Laurier]] | [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] |- | [[William Stevens Fielding]] | [[Minister of Finance (Canada)|Minister of Finance]] |- | Sir [[William Mulock]] | [[Postmaster General of Canada]] |- | [[William Paterson (Canadian politician)|William Paterson]] | [[Minister of Customs]] |- | rowspan=2|{{flagicon|British Cape Colony}} [[British Cape Colony|Cape Colony]] | Sir [[John Gordon Sprigg]] | Prime Minister |- | [[Thomas Ekins Fuller|Thomas Fuller]] | [[Agent-General]] |- |[[File:Flag of the Natal Colony 1875-1910.svg|25px]] [[Colony of Natal|Natal]] | Sir [[Albert Henry Hime]] | Prime Minister |- |{{flagicon|Newfoundland}} [[Newfoundland Colony|Newfoundland]] | Sir [[Robert Bond]] | [[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador|Premier]] |- | {{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[Colony of New Zealand|New Zealand]] | [[Richard Seddon]] | [[Prime Minister of New Zealand|Prime Minister]] |}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Papers relating to a conference between the secretary of state for the colonies and the prime ministers of self-governing colonies; June to August, 1902 |url=http://www.youscribe.com/catalogue/tous/savoirs/papers-relating-to-a-conference-between-the-secretary-of-state-for-1924209 |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=YouScribe}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Life an Work of Richard John Seddon|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/DruSedd-fig-DruSedd_P010a.html|website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz|accessdate=24 July 2017}}</ref>

==See also== *[[Imperial Conference]]

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonial Conference 1902}} [[Category:Imperial Conference]] [[Category:1902 in London]] [[Category:1902 in international relations|Colonial Conference]] [[Category:1902 conferences]] [[Category:1902 in the British Empire]] [[Category:Premiership of Wilfrid Laurier]]