The occasion was the report of Major-General Edwards on the defences of Australia, and Sir Henry addressed the other premiers on the desirability of a federal union for purposes of defence.
Accordingly a premiers' conference was held in Melbourne at the end of January 1899, at which Queensland was for the first time represented.
The premiers programme was not well received by the Chamber, although the treasury ministers financial statement was again satisfactory.
Meanwhile, though the Colonial Conference (re-named Imperial) of 1907 showed that there was a wide difference of opinion on the tariff question between the free-trade government and the colonial premiers, in one part of the empire the ministry took a decided step - in the establishment of a self-governing constitution for the Transvaal and Orange River colonies - which, for good or ill, would make the period memorable.
The presence of New Zealand premiers at the imperial conferences in London in 1897, 1903 and 1907 helped to bring the colony into conscious touch with imperial public questions.
