The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17th, 1921. THE RIFT.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 August 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17th, 1921. THE RIFT.

A.KTKR all, the negotiations about tho settlement of the Irish question, Jook for tho moment as if they are going to end abortively. There is a rift, and the sweet melody of possible ad- ' justment is for tlie moment unite. Hut at the worst, it is (for the present at j all events) a pause. There is so much I at stake in these momentous negotiations that it is not possible to hurry them, nor is it possible, to expect a : ready settlement. While on the one side there is the British Government j act ill g as a concrete force, on the ■ other side there is a mass rather than a Ikklv to he consulted. No individui al, nor group of individuals may as it j were “give in,” nor go the lengths 1 of offering a compromise, because behind them is an irresponsible hotly which its present headpiece cannot completely control. Therefore negotiations will continue delicate and even long drawn out. But while, there is the glimmer of hope, there is reason to , be hopeful, for meanwhile public opinion in Ireland must be shaping itself towards a less dogmatic view of the question than the complete assent to Irish terms which Mr de Valera asks for Nor do we feel without hope for the ultimate conversion of Mr do Valera. At the outset he knew the ultimatum of the British and particularly the phases' which Britain would not concede. To ' his present statement of the ease he still believes fbese phases vital, and

they are the principal grounds for the rejection of the British overtures at this stage. But he did not reject them jit the outset, nor in rejecting them now does he do so with finality. 1 lie door is still ajar. Air Lloyd George’s reply is to he ready for Mr de Valera’s colleagues when they assemble this week, and at least 'Mr de Valera can say he lilies not given away one jot of what was asked for Ireland. Any “giving away’’ will now require to he done by the colleagues in session which will be the most forceful way after all. At the same time Mr de Valera and those associated with him in the present negative reply have lost a splendid opportunity to appear before the world as the saviours of Ireland. But they have omitted to take advantage of tlie rarest of opportunities, and that form of treaty will now be left to the colleagues in session as a whole. There is yet another hope for success, and that is General Smut’s letter to Air de Valera. The letter is in keeping with the General’s record for sanity and goodwill. Ho traverses the whole question from the Irish point of view and looks at it from the point of an independent outsider who had reason probably greater than Irishmen to seek for what the latter ask. His summing up of the issues is masterly and is at once the complete answer to the Irish question by an independent counsellor. So. too. with the British Government's statement of the ease, as put before Mr de VlUent last month. It is u free and generous statement of the position, and makes an offer to reject which seems worse than madness. The present negotiations if they finally fail will put the Irish question bn quite a different plane to that which it has occupied in the past. Irishmen will recognise this surely and if there is any force in Ireland which to-day can turn men’s thoughts towards sanity alul good will, towards the building up of a nation on a sure foundation free from further bloodshed and anarchy surely that force will he organised in a sacred task and hasten the day when the Irish question will disappear and Ireland become as other parts of the Empire a country of good will working for the common good of the great Empire.