IRISH FREE STATE

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1932, Page 5

IRISH FREE STATE

THE OATH BILL

ATTITUDE OF RIVAL LEADERS. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, April 27. The debate on the second reading of rile Removal of the Oath Bill began in llm Irish Free State Dail. Before the debite, the Government, motion that the entire day should bo devoted to consideration of the 8 11 was defeated. An Independent Labour deputy, Air Alorrissy. moved that the motion on unemployment, standing nj his name was more important and should he taken up to 9 o’clock tonight. Air l)e Valera resisted, and on a division the Government suffered defeat. 1)v 7-1 votes to GG.

The Oath Bill debate then proceeded and Air Do Valera recalled the terms of liis Party’s election manifesto, of which the first item was the removal of the article in the Constitution making the signing of the oath of allegiance obligatory on memlmrs entering the Dail. The Government proposed to honour that pledge. President Do Valera agreed to discuss the unemployment question at the evening sitting. He added, in moving the second rending of the Removal of the Oath Bill, that the presence of the oath in the Flee State Constit”t : on had resulted from coercion. Article Seventeen of the Constitution was net obligatory under the Treaty, There was no obligation to consult B’itain in that connection. Aforeover, tlm deletion of the article, was eoml’stent with the Free State’s position as coequal pnrtrmr in the British Commonwealth of Nations. He asked where was the equality of status with Britain aiq] the- other Dominions if the Free State could not introduce a hill to remove the oath. He remarked : “If we asked Britain’s permission, it would bp a retrograde step. T do not ’"tend to' be drawn into negotiations thereon.”

Air Do Valera added: “T have a letter in my pocket which Air Lloyd George wrote t« the late Arthur Griffith, showing that thp articles regarding status were on a different footing to the others in the treaty.” Air Cosgrave. Opposition Leader, described the Bill as “one of the greatest pieces of political chicanery in history.” The validity of international agreements, he said, depended not on their form, hut on their substance. The Free State was a membe? of the Commonwealth on a national level with Britain. He said that Air Do Valera had no mandate for the removal of the oath, his Party being in a minority o? two hundred thousand at the recent general election, He hncl only a mandate to negotiate with Britain,

THE IRISH ISSUE

TWO AMENDMENTS TABLED

DUBLIN. April 23

The Cosgpave Party tabled an amendment to the Oath Removal Bill as follows :

‘•’Believing that the rights, liberties, economic freedom, and privileges assured to the people bv the treaty of 1921 are placed in jeopardy by the Bill, flie Bail declines to give the second reading pending negotiation for an agreement between the Executive Council or the Irish Free State and the British Government.”

Air Macdermot (I'ndj.) tabled an amendment asking for postponement of the Bill pending negotiations between the Free Slate Government and ether members of the Commonwealth with a view of securing in substitution for the present oath a pledge or declaration or loyalty t<> the partnershin of nations which comprise the British Empire.

MR LLOYD GEORGE’S TILT

LONDON. April 13

“Air de Valera cannot have it both ways." Mr Lloyd George, who was Prime Minister when the treaty was signed, told tlie Manchester Guardian, "He can't have the swagger if independence and the benefits of Empire pa'rtn orship.

"Althongtb he is unable to cite a single net of British interference since the treaty, he talks as if the past 19 yenivbu( [ brought only travail and humiliation to Ireland. "None would thus talk who did not live in a grotesque chimerical world. "I agrey with Air Thomas that Britain must absolutely stand by the treaty. “It is impossible lo negotiate with a man like Air de Valera. I tried omv>, but it was like Irving In ealeli up a man on a merry-go-round. “II i cantered, lie i mil ”r'd, and ii' ! galloped Ii" galloped. After two days we were where we bail begun our negotiations. ‘‘.Mr de Valeria failed because be "allied nothing less 11 1 ■: i) ee.mplel" independence. Arthur Grill'd lis and Michael Collins, who really conducted the iisJil mr ! i sl l freed.mi. prae! hHy 1 hi'" him ever. “Ike Ila lot is i" I lie ( "in iilid i' u Imped dial the North and Soinli would willingly sc o unite and I believe t!i. I, hi a few I.* ore year-. M- ('use ra \ e’s "i~c an l -. a t ilia n like police wn'dd have Inllilled llia| hope, to which Mr de YnKra’- eonrse is I:i(: 1 1," added Mr Lin'd George.