IN IRELAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 November 1920, Page 3

IN IRELAND.

(Reuter’s Telegram.) DEBATE IN COMMONS. LONDON, Nov. 25. Speaking to his motion in the Commons, Mr Asquith said that the dead officers, in the fullest sense of the word, were martyrs to public duty. It was a satisfaction, he said, to know that those who have been arrested would suffer the extreme penalty. The Irish authorities, Mr Asquith declared, defended the deaths of the civilians in Ireland by stating that if officers of the Crown were hit, they were entitled to but this hypothesis only covered a small part of the ground. It was evident, he said, that'the forces of the Crown were engaged in a systematic way, upon the deliberate destruction of the people, creameries, shops, and homes in Ireland ; and this without regard to the innocence or guilt of the sufferers. The evidence was overwhelming that these reprisals were organised hy the police and by the military. Thus, he said, the Government was destroying the moder-, ate opinion. It was poisoning the atmosphere in Ireland. Sir Hamar Greenwood (Chief Secretary for Ireland) Baid he welcomed Mr 1 Asquith’s condemnation of the murders of soldiers. This attitude had not been so conspicuous in the speeches as he should have liked it to be. Sir Hamar Greenwood.denounced the London Liberal Federation, s ,of which Mr Asquith was President, for what he called issuing bulletins of Irish murder gangs, who, he asserted, also had their representatives in the lobby. This, he declared, was “a loathsome alliance.” This remark occasioned considerable interruption, and cries “names!” Members on the Ministerial benches replied: “You seem very uneasy.” (laughter). Sir H. Greenwood proceeded to say that from Mr Asquith's.-, speech one would think that the soldiers were going about Ireland slaying and burning.

It was a fact that three quarters of Ireland was as peaceful as Kent. This was because the forces of- the Crown were breaking terrorism. Out of Ireland’s 710 creameries, it was only alleged that forty-one are damaged, of which some had been used as ambushes. He said their destruction was justified. He did not want to see a law passed enabling the police to arrest or shoot anybody found with arms in his hands. No other country in the world would have stood wliat Britain was standing. He said the Sinn Fein courts had now disappeared. The boycott had been broken. Intimidation was also going. The hunger-striking was finished. The Irish Republican army was being broken up. The only issue remaining was:— Who was for the Empire, and who was for assassins. (Cheers). Mr Clynes said the Government should put upon Irish people the responsibility for the Government of Ireland.

Mr Asquith’s motion was rejected by 303 to 83. i : Colonel Join' Ward moved an amendment, denouncing terrorism and thanking the forces of the Crown for courage and devotion, and expressing confidence in the Government’s policy. This was carried without a division. f/

DR MANNIX. (Received This Day at 9.45 a.m.)

LONDON, Nov. 26,

It is authoritatively stated at Liverpool that Dr Mannix will be the central figure at a gathering of one hundred thousand Irishmen in the suburbs of Liverpool on sth December, to protest against the Government ban. Mannix was allowed to land in England on condition that he would not yisit Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, besides Ireland. The Home Secretary prohibited Irish' 1 meetings arranged to be held at Manchester during the week-end, for the reason that they would conduce to a breach of the peace and promote disaffection.

ARRESTED. (Received This Day at 9.45 a.m.) '' LONDON, Nov. 26. Arthur Griffith and Professor John Mac Neil, were arrested in Dublin.

A PROTEST. -LONDON Nov 25

In his presidential address when presiding at the annual meeting of the National Liberal Association at Bradfore, Mr J. M. Robertson scathingly denounced the misrule in Ireland. He said:—“Th o Coalition have failed to settle the Irish question. The result of the Coalition’s policy has been lynch law and reprisals. The Premier (Mr Lloyd George) has practically condoned these reprisals. He has bracketted the murderers with the martyrs. Never before in our history has the King’s Government sunk so low.”

THE IRISH SHOOTING. LONDON, Nov 25

A soldier and a policeman were shot dead in Phoenix Park, Dublin. A total of thirty-two soldiers were killed and eighty-eight wounded in Ireland during the month of October. During the passage of the funeral in Dublin, steps were taken to see the ’military officers’ remains were treated with respect. Warning voices .were to be heard advising all hatwearers to remove their hats. Three youths “mysteriously” fell from a wall into the Liffey, during the passing of the cortege, and they were wearing their hats.” Mystery surrounds the death of the soldier and policeman, cabled earlier. It is reported a woman denounced this 'policeman who was in plain clothes, to patrol troops. They fired but were in terror. Then a second patrol beard the shots, and also fired, killing a soldier. LONDON, Nov 26.

The House of Lords read the Home Rule Bill a second time, rejecting Lord , Middleton’s motion by 177 to 91 and Lord Dunraven’s by 164 to 75. ■p> Lord Middleton moved the Bill be \ held over for a fortnight to enable it to be liberated by amendments suggested by the debate. Lord Birkenhead said ho regarded this as a vital amendment. Lor Dunraven’s motion was for the absolute rejection of the Bill as being much short of what moderate opinion demanded. ___