Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 16th, 1920. BRITAIN'S PROBLEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 16th, 1920. BRITAIN'S PROBLEMS

■ riiNCE las arrival ii)'Aiw a; 't“« newly appointed British Ambassador to United States, Sir Auckland Geddes, r©r I fefiing to the purposes of his mission [ said he believed that flm Wiajji hope ot world peace rests on the PX'stenpp >}f j mutual respect and understanding 1)P- ---{ tween the peoples of the United States ! 0 f America and the British community of nations. It is my ambition to help { develop such respect and understanding. u uas as if sensing the anti-British [sentiment that has"been stirred in .some quarters of the ”P»)tfd States I tiint Sir Auckland in his early wtpp- ! views spifae comprehensively of tlio problems which Jrish agitators and sympathisers have aroused against Js.ng- ! land. “I do not suggest,” he §a.'4 « “that even if there were complete undersea tiding of the difficulties of tha one nation by the other, there would bo in /other country complete agreement in detail wi£li the method of solution which may liav,e received the support ,of the majority. But at J/mst we should have got rid of ing misconceptipju>. We liav'e learned , how difficult it is to right h spmll wrong, or even a 'great apt} lijtter i wrong, without creating anew, a gm~ ter, and a still mor/y bitter sense of wrong, elsewhere. We have learned that to keep peace for that quarter of jtly, human race which owes allegiance to the. British Crown imposes a heavy ‘ strain upon the material and moral re- , sources of our peoples. To avoid worse ’ evils than those we seek to repiedy it is | often necessary to move slowly-, always with caution. Bfft one thing I wan say posityely, and without fear of informed contradiction, the inspiration of 1 British policy during the period I have - known has been, if possible, to bring order out of chaos, to extend the boundaries of freedom, to improve the lot of the oppressed, to increase the material prosperity of the world, W ft are trying now, as always, to meet the legitimate aspirations of the dependent , peoples, such ns those in India and Egypt, .so far as is possible in our judg- , ment without working "a mischief where we wish to Ho good. Similarly in Ireland we are trying to, provide political machinery whereby the antagonised sections of the Irish peoples can work out tlieir own internal political salvations j without ruin to Irish economic inter- I ests. If it be true it takes two to j make a quarrel there is in this genera- j tion no quarrel between England and j Ireland. For the present generation j of Englishmen has steadfastly refus'd • to quarrel with Ireland. The British Government after careful study of the Irish question, is convinced that now the only hope of evading that centuriesold distemper is to price fairly and squarely on the shoulder of Irishmen in Ireland the constitutional responsibility of finding for themselves, within the framework of the British Empire, the solution for their political differences. When the new Home Rule Act is passed, he said, it would be the duty of all British subjects not domiciled in Ireland to stand aside and leave those who live their to solve their problems, and, he added significantly, “It wil! also be helpful if the many in all parts of the world who are not Britisli subjects, but are interested in Ireland, like, wise stand aside and leave the Irish in Ireland to grapple with their own (

political difficulties. The Ambassador stead that proposals for the secession of Ireland has been submitted to the British Cabinet, but had been rejected, one of several reasons being that strategically the British Isles form one unit for purposes of defence. Passing from tl>3 Irish to the Russian question, he denied the reports that llreat Britain was pursuing a pro-Bolshevik policy dictated by selfish British trade motives. tie was glad to be able to say, that the American and British Governments have been in cordial consultation on this matter, and are together considering what steps should be taken or can usefully be taken to secure a reopening of trade, with that great country, not in the interests of the traders of any single nation, but of the economic conditions of the world.