The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. IRELAND AND HOME RULE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 22 February 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. IRELAND AND HOME RULE.

After the passing of the Parliament Bill I (the "Veto" Bill) it is probable that the Home Parliament will be engaged on a measure the importance of which cannot be over-estimated. Home Rule for Ireland, should it be achieved, will mean a new Ireland. Sporadic cases of violence in Ireland have lately been reported, and a coroner, so the cables told us, stated that the cases of agrarian riots would have an evil effect and might seriously handicap self-government for the country. It is impossible to tell at this distance either the extent or the violence of lawlessness in Ireland; but it is possible to believe that the granting of Home Rule would have some effect in eliminating some of the causes of unrest and in checking sectional uprisings and isolated cases of violence. Ireland with splendid determination has insisted year in and year out that what other portions of the Empire possess she should possess. Lacking the power to arrange purely Irish affairs and having a remarkable national spirit which consistently opposes outside domination and hates bureaucratic methods, her people have left the country in droves. Hope has returned, and now there is a reassuring and decided inclination of the Irish people to remain at home' and to make dispositions for utilising the benefits that will inevitably come with Home Rule. Home Rule for Ireland depends on the stability of the 1 present Government, which, with the aid of the powerful Nationalist faction, can, supposing it remains in power long enough to pass the Parliament Bill, also pass the Home Rule Bill. It has lately been asserted that the success of Home Rule in Africa has caused a change in the English attitude in regard to Home Rule for Ireland, for there has been no strain between the Imperial Government and that of the combined South African States, and as yet no disposition to "cut the painter," a possibility that led hazy English people to fear self-government for Ireland. The delusion exists in the minds of many thoughtless folk that the Irish people (who supply a very fair proportion of the governmental brains of other countries) are not capable of governing themselves, that the sporadic cases of violence are indicative of the temperament of a whole people, and that coercive rule trom outside by people who are unacquainted with Irish conditions—but who may own Irish land—is the only remedy for the disaffection and heartbreak, which are as common as, potatoes on "the ould sod." In order to disillusion the person who believes that the ordinary Irishman at home is either looking for a head to break with a blackthorn, or a farmer to shoot with a gun, it is necessary to quote facts, and we arc glad to have been reminded by a letter under the signature of Mr. P. J. O'Regan in the Wellington Times of a letter written in the Law Times last year by Mr. J. Tighe Hopkins:— ■ "Fourteen years ago, after visiting Rilmainham and Mountjoy prisons in Dublin, I wrote that crime, as we know it in England, was practically non-existent in Ireland. Our great guilds of crime—the bands of professional burglars and robbers, the financial conspirators, the adej*. formers, the trained thieves, the financial levicrs of blackmail, the bogus noblemen, parsons and ladies of family, the 'long firm' practitioners, the hotel and railway sharps, the magsmen, 'hooks' and 'bounces'—these are almost entirely unrepresented in Ireland. In a word, so far as habitual and professional crime is concerned, there is not as decent a country in Europe." Mr. O'Regan also quotes Mr. Havelock Ellis, the noted criminologist, as saying that Ireland is "the most crimeless country in Europe." But as lias been shown lately, Ireland is divided against itself, and North-East Ulster, which is antagonistic to Home Rule for Ireland, has been advised to sue for separate Home Rule for the North, as it is antagonistic to Home Rule for both North and South, and could not consent to live under a

Govenment it would be politically opposed to. Unquestionably the action of the Ulster people is a strength to the Unionist side, and may be used as a powerful argument in opposing Home Rule. What the ultimate outcome of the internal factional political fighting in Ireland may be it is impossible to determine, but that a demand for two Parliaments in Ireland or the determination of the Ulster people to remain "as you were," will be a stumbling block to the achievement of an object that has been fought for so long..

why he did not bring cases against a couple of dozen other settlers equally ■culpable—;md equally help'ess , We. are glad that a member of vhe Moa RoaJ Board has revived a suggestion made in these columns about 18 months ago, when it was pointed out that systematic eradication of npxious weeds would never be effected except by combined effort and the appointment by local bodies of their own inspectors. While we believe that the present Government inspectors are doing their best to cope with a situation that will beat them all the time, we are convinced that without local body help and local body inspection there will be no appreciable diminution in the blackberry crop or in the growth of any other noxious plant. The position of a settler with a clean farm whose boundaries join those of settlers who possess infested ground is most unhappy, und at was pointed out at the Moa Road Board meeting, a sense of kindness and neighborly feeling frequently prevents one settler from informing against another. But as settlers in Taranaki combine very largely in disposing of marketable commodities they might with equal reason combine in disposing of noxious weeds. If groups of settlers occupying infested farms combined in letting contracts for the destruction of all weeds in their territory and a really determined and organised plan of operation were devised, weeds would be fought more effectively than at present. If settlers do not combine, clean farms will become dirty, the careful man will be victimised by his careless neighbor, and unoccupied Maori and other lands will still remain breeding grounds for every kind of vegetable pests.

NOT K.\u»va! A northern gentleman has pathetically remarked to the press that New Zealand is not known in Australia. He has looked in vain in the Australian papers for some reference to this country, and has discovered nothing but an occasional reference to Sir Joseph Ward. On the whole, the one million people who are making a very successful business out of this little country need not be alarmed that outsiders do not sit up at nights praising the Dominion. It does not matter to New Zealand that it is unimportant to outsiders. It matters that it is the most important place on earth to New Zealanders, that when there- are more New Zealanders outsiders will take as much interest in us as if we were Java or South Africa or the Congo, and that we shall take our place among the nations which get most space in the Press. It is rather a comforting thing that nothing of any international consequence ever takes place in New Zealand, and that therefore we are more or less outside the sphere of trouble. We really ought not to judge of our importance by what the Age or the Argus, (he Times or the Spectator forget to say about us, but by the comfort of the individual, the prosperity of the nation, and the liquidation of loans. By the way, speaking about loans, the person who pathetically remarks that we arc not considered worth so much news space an Germany or Russia will admit that Australian papers, and even the EnglUh papers, discuss us pretty fully when we are asking the universal "Uncle" for a small advance on good security, and that what we have and hold is generally, considered very sound security. This ought to com.fprt us. Our .importance is always .mounting up, anyhow. Who knows what a fillip to the wool trade our team of subsidised athletes will give? Who knows that reciprocal relations may not be established between Britain and New Zealand by the Territorial Contingent that will go Home? We arc not known in the great world, because our troubles are little ones. We are not known because there can be few great problems where people are scattered one to a few hundred acres. We are not known, because we are young and there is no occasion for us to be in the eyes of the world. If New Zealand is unknown in Australia, Australia, is only known in New Zealand because the Press Agency is Australian. And, besides, Australia is slightly larger than New Zealand and its strategical position makes it of more interest Imperially. New Zealanders will not cry at the paucity of news about the country in English or Australian papers, for the comparative obscurity of the country is its best present protection. There is no iccord of any letter addressed to New Zealand having been returned to the sender marked "country not known," and boats still call occasionally.

THE AUCKLAND FIRE. If, before the terrible fire at Ponsonby, Auckland, the allegation had been made that a large crowd of British people would stand idly watching, while two children were slowly roasted to death on a low verandah roof, the person who made the allegation would have been called hard names. Yet, according to the evidence before tho Auckland Coroner, while one heroic man was doing his best on a red-hot roof to save children no one had the courage to take the children from him or to do any single act in an endeavor to save life. It seems absolutely inconceivable that not one person who was on the crowded verandah roof which joined the one on which the horror took place stirred a finger. If the facts are as reported, the Auckland citizens who watched the burning of those children are guilty of a callousness that Js beyond belief and which we venture to say could not be exceeded in any town in the Empire. There must be" something lacking in a mob of folk who for half an hour contemplate the destruction of human life and cannot supply one heart stout enough to brave dansrer. Something must be the matter with Auckland folk who simply forget to call a fire brigade until twenty minutes after the fire has broken out,'and the munii Anility which has not enough modernity about it to erect red lights near it's alarm boxes should be ashamed to pretend control of one of the most infiami mable towns on earth. Almost invarit ably in cases of sudden need there are I more volunteers for dangerous work than I are needed, but in this pitiful Ponsonbv | case, the whole crowd of spectators were j apparently craven cowards. Tt is a very ■ unpleasant thing to believe that the conimon attribute of an everyday Briton is absolutely lacking in every unit of a bi« crowd, but unless a better explanation than the coroner's inquest discloses is forthcoming, there is no doubt about Ihe general cowardice. It is sincerely hoped that the negligence of the authorities in not providing instantly visible fire alarms will be rectified, if "not by the present city authorities, by those who succeed them and that the 'notorious inadequacy not only of fire escapes, but of means for coping with fires, w i) become a thing of the past. Years ago, when a tragedy, very .similar to the present one, but in which some heroes—probablv imported from elsewhere—took part, 'there was a tremendous hubbub not oulv about the futile fire service of Auckland, but about the total inefficiency of nine-tenths of the fire cseapes in the city and suburbs. Obvious]v the awakened conscience of the authorities went to sleep a"a in almost as soon as it was roused. Auckland people who possess children who may some day lie baked to death in Hie presence of a cowardly populace should insist that, the municipality discuss something more useful than 'the eli"i- ---■ "f its city fathers to remain in (lie Council and to lie interested in contracts.

VI'X'TEI! DAY'S POLL. Yesterday the ratepayers of the l-orough (| eci led lie e laryc majority in favor of fie M : iyor\ |„ ini proposal* for the extension of Hie drainasre >ystem and street improvement The result: must b:: taken as e.n endorsement of tile

Mayor's policy. Incidentally, it shows the value of organisation. The Mayor's committee worked hard, and left nothing undone to gain victory, whilst on the other side nothing in the shape of organisation was attempted. And organisation must always prevail. It cannot be said that ratepayers were in ignorance of,the position, of affairs in regard to the borough, its administration, and past management, for these matters have been rather fully ventilated of late. We did what we conceived to be our duty in opposing the proposals, showing ratepayers the position as it appeared to us. The matter rested entirely with them at the ballot box. A substantial majority of those who went to the trouble of registering their votes evidently are satisfied to increase the borough's indebtedness in.order to carry out the proposed works, and, we suppose, arc also satisfied with the administration of the borough's affairs, in which we would like to see more interest taken than has been the case of Jate years. If the interest that was created among ratepayers over this poll will but hold and grow, the opposition to the proposals which gave birth to it will not have been in vain. In no community of the same size and importance, or with anything near the prospects, is the civic spirit at such a low ebb as in New Plymouth, Those who have the greatest stake in it, and would benefit most by its development, seem to be they who arc least inclined to do their share or interest themselves in its government. This is a great pity. There never was a time in the history of the borough when a healthy public spirit was more needed, and when the manifestation of such a spirit would do so much for its general welfare and material prosperity.