Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/275

 was primarily the conception of Mr Harry Brittain while travelling in Canada. After enlisting the sympathy of the Governor-General, he returned to England and secured the co-operation of all the great newspaper proprietors and editors, including Lord Burnham (President), the Honble. Harry Lawson, Lord Northcliffe, Mr Arthur Pearson, and Mr J. A. Spender. Discussions were held on the Defence, Commerce and Unity of the Empire, and speeches were made by leading statesmen of every country represented.

On the subject of imperial communication H. H. was invited by the Secretary of State, Mr Harcourt, to lay his views before the Conference and to furnish the members with the necessary number of his pamphlets on cable communication.

One immediate result of the Imperial Press Conference was to reduce the Press Cable Rates to almost every part of the Empire by twenty-five per cent.

The further result of this reduction was that more news was obtained at the same price and—what was move important—it succeeded in creating a demand for more news still.

No longer need Canada complain:

"We are kept fairly well posted up upon the happenings in Great Britain though nine-tenths of this news comes to us by United States channels, but what do we really know about what is going on elsewhere in the Empire?

"During the South African War we were posted about every clash between outposts: but with the return of peace South Africa ceased to be regarded as a source of news and in the last seven years we have not received, all told, as much cable news from that part of the Empire as we did in a single week during the war."