21 JUNE 1924, Page 10

Doubtless there was much in the French claim, and probably

it will be recognised in the distant future when the outlying sections of the French Colonial Empire possess a similar autonomy to that of the self-governing nations within the British Empire. I am not dealing here with far-distant probabilities, but with conditions as they are. The essential fact therefore remains that in the Versailles Treaty Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India were accorded a definite status and the French Colonies were not.