IMPORT DOTIES

Hokitika Guardian, 31 August 1932, Page 8

IMPORT DOTIES

BRITISH LEGISLATION

. DEBATE IN THE COMONS

LONDON, August 29

Last night the second reading of the Irish import Duties Bill was carried by 021 to 41. ~Mr,J. H. Thomas (Secretary for the Dominions) said no detailed statement to prove to the House 'aed the. .counti y how reluctantly the Government felt compelled to introduce , it. The Government was still genuinely and sincerely anxious for. g peaceful solution of the difficulty. The Bill was probably unprecedented in Parliamentary history and contained unlimited and drastic powers; but it was tije only alternative. No one had challenged the fact that in the Budget of the year for this country there were included millions of pounds which we had a -right to expect would be paid. No- one had proposed a better means •cf. obtaining this money. So far as tlie Government was concerned Bri- . tain refused to calf upon the ratepayers am| . taxpayers, who ,were already very.. heayily burdened; to shoulder a further' burden. (Cheers.) The government did not intend, if if could avoid it, that the British taxpayer should meet his obligation. The Bill was to provide the- amput of the default, continued Mr Thomas. '•Whatever, might be the figure,due for ’the lfipd (annuities, or any subsequent figures which only a few days ago the .Government heard for tjie first time fivus challenged-—whatever, ,wgs the .•amount- dud under these legally and morally binding agreements-r-thp Government intended by this Bill to recoup the country, if it could, but not to get one. penny more. “The Government is not desirous of continuing to operate the Bill for one moment after we have received our just due, or have arrived at any other,,means of settling this unfortunate dispute. The Bill is so framed as to give the Government absolute power to. collect the amount, • and to do it in a manner,,,the,least imconvenieijt to trade and especially to the. consumers of this country.”

AN EMPIRE TRIBUNAL. ,

Tlie I British Government is, according to Mr Thomas,, willing to agree to ,any ’variation acceptable to the Free State in the form of tribunal agreed on at the Imperial Conference, provided that its members are drawn from within the Empire. v. n - ' 7 This tfibuna'f can also arbitrate, on the £il;Bs6,6oo'uof ' sundry* payments which: Mr id© 'Valera had announced ;his intention of " withholding, but Mr Thomas- was adamant -in refusing any suggestion of mediation by foreigners. interpreted his speech as meaning that,/fob all practical pui> poses,- tjie Fred’ ’State can choose its own tribunal subject to the all-import-ant over-riding I 'behditibh that its members must, ,be - British) Empire subjects; : Mr Thomas revealed the substance of his last dispatch to Mr de Valera .;:“In the dispatch on its way to Dublin at this moment,” he said'*'“l have indicated, on this question of land annuities n"nd on the question of arbitration , that, although there was a unanimous recommendation of the Imperi-al-Conference, > the British Government is ready now to consider any variation in this forin acceptable-to the Free State, witfi the only one final condition that the arbitrators, must be drawn from the British Commonwealth.”

Mr George Lansbury (Labour Leader): moved the .rejection of file Bill on the: ground that the Free State was paying the disputed money into, a suspense account pending arbitration. “Unless,” he ,j§ftid,. ■.■“the,-Irish Free Stajfce is determined to break away, I am; quite sure some solution to the difficulty can be found.” / CVjonel Moore-Brabazon said be spoke- ns ’a Y halfrEnglishman, halfirishman. y“-We have,” he saidj “listened to a. mass of legal quibbles from people who are not lawyeis. Mr. de Valera has set a cunning trap, and, though he has no sense’of humour,, he must have laughed at ■ the way -Mr Thomas has fallen into it. Mr de Valera knew that if he was to get back to power again he must stir up a lift.; anti-English feeling, and who is helping him hut Mr Thomas, who by his,! pompous speeches has stipred up all. the. animosity we hoped had died down.”

. Amid protests and cries of “No,” Colonel. Moore-Brabazon ended his speech saying: “I refuse to go to Ireland and. tell them there that , I voted for a piece of penal l legislation against those who are trying to create wealth and peace in Ireland.”

“If this were an honest, dispute over a doubtful obligation to hope, for a settlement ■ from these concess:ot)S,” comments the “Morning Post.’’ “But we think our .Government, will sooner or later have to face the ugly truth that Mr de Valera and his colleagues Repudiate the treaty, and are determined, uport ope pretext , or- another, to break with this country. They are hostile, they are Republicans, they are pushed forward by their own terrorist societies and by the, imp 1 acab’e Irish of America, who regard Ireland as an arena made for a gladiatorial show. In these circujnstnees, we (think the .Government might as well be firm at the beginning ns at tb© end of a negotiation.