In inter-Imperial affairs by far the most definite result has
been the clearing up of the difficult question of Treaty Power. Mr. Mackenzie King raised this ques- tion when he negotiated on behalf of Canada the so-called Halibut Fisheries Treaty with the United States. The Conference seems to have dealt with this problem, which under any doctrinaire heavy-handedness of treatment might have become a distinctly ugly one for the peaceful development of the Empire, with considerable skill and good sense. The resolution passed defines the position and yet is sufficiently vague not to raise insuperable difficulties in the future. In effect it empowers any of the Dominions to make separate treaties with foreign Powers, but urges them not to do so without due con- sideration of the possible effect of such treaties on different parts of the Empire, "or if circumstances so demand, on the Empire as a whole."
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