The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “ The West Coast Times.” FRIDAY, JUNE 10th., 1921. HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “ The West Coast Times.” FRIDAY, JUNE 10th., 1921. HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

At Inst Home Rule for Ireland has come to pass; the magic cure for Ireland’s political ills is here; yet the great gift is not accepted as it should be; as it was hoped it would be—a wonderful salve to heal the wrongs of Ireland, and set the nation out on a new highway to greater greatness. The acceptance and the nonacceptance of Home Rule in Ireland to-day is quite Gilbertian in its way. In the North where the antiHome Rule movement was once at its strongest, Home Rule now flourishes in a Parliament of Irish people In the South where were the most ardent advocates for Home Rule, the gift of the Gods is refused, belittered spurned, and an elected Parliament in that State will not honor the statute. The perverseness of the proverbial Irishman comes out in this topsy-turvey phase of the situation, which would have its humorous side wer t , not the condition of Ireland to-day so great a tragedy. In this strange coming of Home Rule for Ireland, the tolerance of the Mother Parliament is the most striking characteristic of the complex situation. Rebels, and those in open defiance of the Crown have been permitted to he elected to the Home Rule Parliament, but so far the toleration has been wasted, for these folk are refusing to take their seats and seize the opportunity to right th e wrongs of Ireland, he they what they may, in a constitutional way. The rebel element still lielieve in open defiance; in disloyalty and disorder; in firearms and illicit shooting. It is | strange that does not exercise the inevitable sway and control ’ the situation. Trisli minds are sadly , warped, desperately poisoned, if among , a majority of their so-called leaders of political action, the present attitude j towards Home Rule is maintained, j From their own Parliament they have j the greatest opportunity of all to make i good; to show their genuine faith ; to ! he loyal to their country and their : countrymen, by putting their country ! first, and displacing their own pettier ! leanings. As to the scope of the Home ! Rule powers in Ireland, Sir TTamar,i Greenwood has written to the Prime : Minister of the North Island Parlia- , ment that that quarter of the distressed country is now f ‘a full partner in the self-governing Empire.” Ireland has under the Home Rule scheme a. status no less important than this self-govern-ing Empire.” Ireland has under the Home Rule scheme a status no less inii portant than this self-governing country of New Zealand, with the afjded

benefits of having behind it the financial support of Great Britain in launching out on the system of self-govern-ment. It is a situation devoutly prayed for in the past, and now more strenuously opposed by the larger half pf Ireland. But where will Ireland stand if the olive hrjuich thus offered is refused? What of the sympathy which has been expressed all round tire world for the aims and aspirations of Ireland, if with the goal within sight, the seizure of the position is refused? As Sir Hamar Greenwood wrote to the Prime Minister of North Ireland: “Irishmen have now the power to settle their own affairs, and bring peace and prosperity to their own country.” What a betrayal of the long drawn fight for Home Rule, if this opportunity is not accepted! The patience and the tolerance of Britain and her Parliament through the dark days of the past have been remarkable. But the patience and tolerance were practiced with the present end in view, the genuine desire to afford Ireland a measure of Home Rule, which would give her the power of Sfelf-gOvetninent and the light to settle her own affairs. Surely that is Home Rule in its complete essence, and to ignore this greatest of opportunities to retrieve the past and makes good the future, will be a crime against Ireland by the responsible Irishmen themselves.