HOME RULE ALL ROUND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 103, 9 August 1910, Page 5

HOME RULE ALL ROUND.

WHAT THE CONFERENCE IS DISCUSSING. .">y Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright (Received August 8, 10.20 p.m. London, August 8. The Scottish manifesto on Mr. Birrell's Eighty Club speech, advocating devolution, has aroused the belief that the conference is discussing home rule all round, including Imperial federation, as a means of securing a reform of the House of Lords acceptable to the Liberals. RUIN OF THE EMPIRE. PRESS VIEWS. Received August 8, 10.20 p.m. London, August 8. The Spectator states that dissolution of the Union and restoration of the heptarchy, plus premature federation, means ruin to the Home country and the overseas possessions. It is not believable, the paper says, that statesmen of the overseas dominions would propose to bully the United Kingdom into disintegrating herself in the name of Imperial federation. The Spectator continues: "It is an open secret that there are parties in some of the ' Australian States who regret the establishment of the Commonwealth. This, however, is but a phase that affects most federations, including the United States, but the disintegration of Britain would be a fatal example to the rest of the Empire. The real explanation of the suggested devolution is a desire on the part of certain politicians to rid themselves I of the sorry Irish disaffection, but the country is not going to risk destruction of the State in order to make it easier for party politicians to play the game of catch-as-cateh-can in comfort." The Observer says the conference must stick to the immediate constitution question. To precipitate the introduction of home rule all round would ruin everything.