THE HOME RULE BILL

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 27 July 1916, Page 3

THE HOME RULE BILL

MR REDMOND’S SPEECH

LONDON, July 25

In the House of Commons, Mr Redmond, in moving the adjournment, said he ■wished to make a dispassionate statement of the facts. Aften Mr Asquith’s return from Ireland and Mr Lloyd George’s negotiations, everyone was thrilled with th e hope that the Irish question would be put out of the way until the war was concluded. Mr Lloyd George’s proposals were in no sense his ov Sir Edward Carson’s proposals. The Government two months ago urged the necessity for a quick decision. The agreement was, in the words of Air Asquith, for a provisional settlement until the war was over. That was the chief feature of the plan, without which neither he nor his colleagues would have considered it. The agreement was plain and unmistakable —that tiro amending Bill should reremain in force during the continuance of the war and for a )e r afterwu. When Sir Edward Carson objected that the six Ulster Counties would thus automatically come into the Home Rule Act if Parliament took no steps within a year after the war, the Nationalists assented to the addition o ( t a provision that the duration of the amending Bill should be extended by Order-in-Council until Parliament dealt with the six counties. The Nationalists did not desir e to coerce any Lister County which objected to Home Rue, but they never contemplated the idea that this great question would be foreclosed and settled now. Another fundamental pro-

posal was that during the period of transition the number of Irish Commissioners should not be reduced. “The very day I returned to London I was faced by Lord Lansdown's proposal that a clause should be inserted in the Bill providing for the full maintenance of Imperial authority over the Army and Navy. Though this matter was fully covered by the ,3.|U4 Act rather than break down the ,agreement I assented to a declaratory clause of the kind Lord Lansdownc desired. I believed that all obstacles to the immediate introduction of the Bill were removed, but like a bolt from the blue came Lord Lansdowne’s speech in the the House of Lords declaring that the

Bill would make certain structural alterations in the 1014 Act, which was permanent and endurable. Some days later I received an extraordinary message from Cabinet that a number of proposals had been brought forward. When I asked th e nature of the proposals, I was informed that Cabinet did not desire to consult me until an agreement was reached. I received the next communication on Saturday when Mr. Lloyd George and the Hon Samuel requested me to call at the War Office. They said Cabinet had decided to insent two entierly new provisions in the Bill. One provided for the permanent exclusion of th e Ulster Counties, and th e other to cut out of the draft Bill provision for the attendance of Irish

members in full force at Westminster during- the transitory period. It was ‘given to underistand that the decision was absolute and final. The Govern-

ment’s action was bound to increase Irish suspicion of the good faith of British statesmen. If the Government !introduced a Bill on the lines communicated to him he would oppose it at every stage. Henceforward the Nationalists would feel it their duty to exercise independent judgment in criticising the ever-increasing vacillation and procrastination which seemed to form th e entire policy of Government, not only in reference to Ireland, but to the whole conduct of the war.