HOME RULE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 17 February 1911, Page 5

HOME RULE.

A MOMENTOUS DEBATE. MR. ASQUITH DEFINES LIBERAI POLICY. VIEWS OF PARTY AMENDMENT REJECTED. by Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright. * (Rec. February 16, 11.10' p.m.) r - London, February 16. The debate on the ; Address-in-Roply was continued in the House of Commons to-day. -. Mr. Lan Malcolm, Conservative mem- .' ber for Croydon, moved his. amendment to the effect that all effective debate ou"- . the- Veto question is seriously hampered by Jthe obscure and conflicting declaraHons ofMinisters relating to . Home '' Rule,, which is openly avowed as one'of . the main reasons for altering the Con-::-stitution. ■ . Mr. Malcolm, in his speech, criticised ;- - the Ministry's varying news. Lord Hugh Cecil (Unionist) seconded' - the amendment, and said many Liberals ' > did . not favour the Home .Rule which' • " Mr. Redmond. wanted. Unless imperial' . - supremacy meantinterference with de- ' cisions about which the. Irish people held'.strong convictions, Home Rule was s a matter mainly of words. Ireland, by its' , representation in the House of Commons, " had self-government and therefore the analogy to the colonies was destroyed.. • Home ftule was a retrograde* movement. ; v l-v Mr. Asquith Speaks. \ "Sir. Asquith said there was nothing ob-. ' score or ' ambiguous in his declarations, from the beginning. He instanced- his' speech in 1893 on Mr. Gladstone's Bill. : He had never regarded Home Rule as an J : exceptional or - desperate remedy for ■ desperate or exceptional disease. , The' ; casa of Ireland was ,'one of paramount 1 and undeniable urgency. Mr.' Asquith proceeded to quote his 1901 speech' in fa-■ . vour of granting revolutionary local.powers, and declared the problems would only, be solved by granting self-government in ' rpurely Irish affairs, while , safeguarding the supremacy of the Imperial / l'arlia-. ihent. There could be no question- of. . separation* with these"conditions. : Thatr-.'--was the policy.- v After his- de- . deration of -December; 1909, every voter in January, 1910, voted with full know- », ledge that if-the Government succeededj- r; its : first task would be the granting- of ' Rule. -(Ministerial and IvahonaUt istxheers.) ... - - ' Continuing, Mr. Asquith said the time,'/ : of Parliament was increasingly occupied in the consideration of local questions, i He agreed that Scotland and Wales suffered sinylarly with Ireland, but Ire- . land's need was paramount. The policy, had been applied throughout the Empire, ,land lately in South Africa. : Why should ■■■ -not ..-the same -remedy; bo successful .-mIreland? He believed Home Rale was strictly oil thei lines of Imperial development and was true Imperialism. .. • v - — The Nationalist -View. — : ~—-

Mr. John Eedmond, Leader of the N> | tionalist paijty, said the people of Ireland \ - ; had never regarded,-' Mr.> Asquith's de- { claration' as obscure. He . accepted his definition of Home Eule,')whicK he hon- ' . estly believed would be. a final settlement. | Mr. Eedniond added:—"\?e! ftdmit 'atid iccept an- Imperial supremacy which •. ought to put down any oppression of Pro- | i testarits." He , out ; that .there i : might be fewer Irish representatives in ' ' the House 'of Commons after the grant- , ■ ing of' Home Eiile./As Opacified South • Africa was the;g'reatest gloiy of King Ed- ■ ward's reign so King George's, , said • Mr. • ' Eedmohd, might.be made more glorious by aJ friendly-and reconciled Ireland... ' y Mr. Long, Protests. ' Mr. W. H. Long, formerly Chief Secretary for /Ireland in the Balfour Cabinet, • said it wis, not the first time Mr. Red-' ; morid had promised a minority fair play. • v 4 Jlisiexperience' under Local ' Govern- - | ment Act did not justify a trust in ; Home Eule., If South': Africa offered an i 1 - example of Home Eule, then Ireland !■ . would become a country. The Government had furnished sufficient deto justify a detefmined Opposition ? ■ to its proposals. '■■. . ; Mr. Churchill Optimistic. Mr. Winston . Churchill, Home Secretary, said the events following the grant • bf .self-goyernnient in the Transvaal were the principal cause of the chango of Eng- - lish opinion in favour of Home Eule. He admitted there \vere formidable difficul-. ties, but, if ; freed from prejudice andf rancour, the settlement of' the details would .not ; bafflej honest-hearted - men. . ■ • The old perils which had prevented'Eng-' lish Ministers in the past from granting' < Home Eule had "disappeared.- ;.: . Compromise Urged. . y;Mr. William O'Brien, Leader of the- > . Independent Nationalists, said he would , do nothing to prejudice the verdict and ■ ■ was,content to record his inability to* ' share; the belief that by . following the - Government blindly he could make Home. Eule a certainty.during^the present Par-. •••«* liament. He questioned the power of Ireland to win by the present methods, and suggested that Mr. Redmond should mato the Liberals and Conservatives join ■ together and arrange a compromise on: 1 the Lords' Veto and a reconciliation with • Ireland. ...■>■ . ' . A Unionist-Taunt. Sir Edward Carson, Unionist member '> •: for Dublin University, taunted Min-; ' isters with absence, of allusion to Home Eule in their > election addresses. Thiv " ho said, was a slim wny of the measure through the House of Commons. Irish Arrears. " Mr. Birrell, Secretary for Ireland, said - the Hpuse of Commons had been given a liberal amount of time'on Irish questions, yet it would take: the Dublin Par- • a liament five years to cope with the; arrears that had accumulated. ■ ' >. The Amendment Defeated. On'a division-being taken the amendment was rejected/ the voting being:^ Against the amendment 326 For the amendment i ; SIS - Majority against 113 : A CRUCIAL POINT. . IRISH REPRESENTATION. , (Rec. February 17, 0.15 a.m.) • . ; j London, Fecruary'l6. 1 "Tho Times" states that Mr. Eedmond'a 1 allusion to r smaller representation of v ,e? Ireland in the House of Commons after the granting of Home Eule puts out of Court cx'jry precedent drawn from local' self-government- within the Empire. Mr. ' Asquith will, not - give: information.. on -- J this crucial point.' 1 -■ ■ i •. ■: ■. T~~/ . ■ ... f THE PARLIAMENT BILL. ' ' ' : INTRODUCTION ON TUESDAY. ' (Rec, February 16, So p.m.) r London, February 16. ' i- S' . In the House of Commons to-day Mr.' • Asquith announced: that the Parliament ' Bill would be introduced' on Tuesday 1 ' - next.