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Hokitika Guardian, 22 December 1920, Page 2

It is greatly to be regretted that Father O’Flannghan, who became tho spokesman for his malcontent country- : men, could not have carried out the negotiations he had in hand with a little less asperity. That is putting it rather mildly, for the tale of his message to the British Prime Minister wherein he invites negotiations "with the head of the Irish nation, President de Valera,” savours rather of an insult to the British nation. Mr Lloyd George, however, has not taken up, the matter as such, and replies more in sorrow than in anger. Ireland, however, might well exclaim “save mo from my friends,” if there are many more of them to talk as Father O’Flanaghan has done. Mr Lloyd George’s answer was quite to the point. With his usual facility of expression he makesthe position perfectly plain, and the j rebels must realise sooner or later, if they do not do so in their hearts already, that Britain will not tolerate a Republic at its back door. In the desire for peace within Ireland, British statesmen have offered > generously. In tho past they have legislated liberally for Ireland. But perice cannot be bought with dishonor, for least of all can Britain treat with the assassin and open rebel. There is a heavy catalogue of crime arising out of the Sinn Fein rebellion. First came the Dub-

lin massacro, in which a number of British officers Her surprised in their homes at night by organised bands of assassins and slaughtered in cold'blood. This was followed by the discovery of a plot to destroy public utilities in Manchester and Liverpool, and by the incendiarism in the latter city, which all the evidence poipts to as being the work of Sinn Fein agents. And final- i ly there was the ambush of a patrol of sixteen police auxiliaries in which fifteen were killed. These murderous acts continue, and outrages follow in quick succession. From time to time there have been unfortunate incidents which the Government has frankly regretted, reprisals which it has endeavoured not always with success, to

check. Much capital has been made out of these reprisals, but the attitude of the authorities in the matter has been perfectly straight-forward. They realise that the police have been subjected to almost intolerable provocation ; that, inflamed by the callous murder of their comrades, they have on occasion taken the law into their own hands. But the Government has all along insisted that discipline must he maintained, and the insinuation that it has countenanced a policy of reprisals, is utterly without foundation. Week by week the list of killed and injured police has swelled. Reprisals, of course, cannot be justified, and a strong hand is being shown now to suppress them. It is to be hoped that under martial ln.w the malcontent portions of Ireland will he brought to realise a sense of the gravity of the position occasioned by the illicit killing and outrage which recur so often. If the people are genuinely anxious for peace they will lay down their arms readily, and for the whole trend of the intercourse between Britain and the unofficial intermediaries has shown anxious the British Government is to deal fairly with the nation as a whole, though it cannot for obvious reasons allow those guilty of capital crimes to go unpunished.