The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1922. IMPROVING CONDITIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1922. IMPROVING CONDITIONS.

The agreement reached by the Irish leaders in respect to affairs in South and North Ireland is a very pleasing sequence to the ratification! of the treaty. Matters promise to improve all round for Irland. The adjustment of differences between the South and North is no less important to the peace of Ireland, than the treaty agreement with Great Britain. The fact that action has culminated so soon is very pleasing proof of the spirit in which the majority of the Dail Eirrean ratified the treaty. It is no less pleasing to see that Sir James Craig is bending. During the negotiations with Mr Lloyd George the Premier of Ulster was unbending, taking up quite an extreme attitude. Certainly it was to his credit that at a critical time he went unnti tended to a conference with Mr de Valera, and thougTi that was abortive, the effect of the meeting ftself was I not without result on the public mind. Now ho has conferred with Mr Col Tins, the accredited successor of Mr de Valera, as the spokesman for South Ireland and the; cables inform us of the , important lines on which, the two par- 1 ties have agreed. Now that the rebel- '

j lion has passed and the British troops f are withdrawing, there is perhaps nothing more disturbing to the peace of Ireland than the reigning condition of affairs in Belfast. Under the agree- ■ ment just reached there is hope for immediate improvement in the .state of affairs there also. The unrest and consnnt upheavals at Belfast, appear to arise from the boycott proceedings in force there.. This has now been going p n for some tlpip, A London Daily -Vlnil

correspondent who visited Belfast a few weeks ago, wrote a special article on the situation, and it will be of interest to quote his references to the boycott. He wrote:—“As is known this boycott was begun (at the suggestion, I am told of a merchant speaking at a public meeting in Cork) as a protest against the driving out of Catholic workmen with Sinn Fein sympathisers from the , ship-building yards of Belfast. But ■•since then it has insensibly changed into a weapon or lever to force Ulster into fellowship with the rest of Ireland. Pre-eminently desirable end; pre-emin-ently undesirable means. It has grown more stringent of late, for, not content with commercially isolating the North from the South, Midlands and West, the Dublin Boycott Committee has turn ed its attention to Ulster and is using every means to restrict the trade of Belfast to this city and 1 its immediate district. Furthermore, the war has been carried across Channel, and circulars have been sent from Dublin to the greatest firms in Britain telling them that if they distribute their goods through a Belfast agent those goods will be boycotted throughout the whole country. The firms will be put on the “Black List.” In consequence of this, towns almost within the region of Belfast are now driven to get their petrol, cocoa, cloth and a host of other commodities through Dublin agents., There are a, number of seed merchants in Belfast; retailers in various parts of

Ireland have received boycott circulars which not only enjoin them to deal no longer with Belfast, but actually give them the addresses of seed merchants in Rotterdam, in Holland I William 111, has for once been forgotten. A circular I have seen, whatever the results it may have attained, is textually a curious hotch-potch, starting in Irish and then dropping into the worst “yours per pro same” sort of English commercial jargon. Clearly, from whichever part of th©' Mansion House in Dublin it may come (for it is dated from there), youth is at the prow and passion at the helm.” From the foregoing it will be seen how serious was the vendetta, and it is pleasing to

know saner conditions are now prevailing, and definite steps are being taken o heal the breach. So with the differences of opinion between the South and North generally. These of course will not be allayed immediately. Prejudices are too deeply rooted to expect a ready acceptance of the oliv© branch, but the bona fide spirit now being shown by the two leaders must go a. long way to briny in improved relations, and persevering along that desirable line of action the ultimate result must be all for the benefit of the peace and prosperity of Ireland—which all desire to see arrive without further delay now.