IRISH POSITION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 278, 19 July 1932, Page 3

IRISH POSITION

^British OfQclal Wireless)

question of arbitration main stumbling " block free state and empire

[RUGBY, Monday. The position of the British Government regarding the Anglo-Irish negotiations is defined in a statement as follows: — "The dispute over land annuities, which has given rise, to the trouble, relates to payments which the Free State Government agreed to mahe some years ago and which have hitherto been regularly made with the sanciion of the Free State Parliament. An offer of arbitration was formally made to Mr de Valera on June 10. The Free State Government raised difficulties as.to how a Court of Arbitration could be constitnted. Even on that, however, they had' come to no close negotiations with London. "At the last minute a proposal was put to the British Government that the faets should be enquired into by a body of four, two appointed by the Free State Government and two by the British Government. The novelty of this proposal lay in the fact that it was not proposed that the decision of this body should have a binding effect. When the four had drafted a report or reports the Governments were to negotiate, and no proposal was made for the means of coming to an agreement should the negotiations fail. Months Of Talk "The proposal, _ therefore, involved weeks, if not months, of talk, with no certainty of an agreement at the end. Meantime the relations between the Governments would have been deteriorating. "The British Government, anxious for a settlement of the annuities question, was willing for arbitration by a specially-set-up body, or for further discussions as to whether direct contact could be maintained between the Government on a means of finding a settlement of the financial questions. They proposed that the present situation of deadlock should be treated in the way in which money disputes are often treated in a law court — that is, the payments contested should be made pending a decision, with an undertaking that these payments should be subject to an ultimate settlement. They proposed, upon agreement on the terms, reference to arbitration or further discussion and upon the payment of the money involved, that all present action be suspended including the collection of revenue by way of special customs. "That remains their position. They are prepared, as soon as they receive a communication from the Free State Government to this effect, to enter at once into such an agreement and this dispute could be ended.'