HOME RULE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 145, 6 November 1912, Page 8

HOME RULE.

Ko the Editor.. Sir,—ln your issue of yesterday amm respondent, "Givis," arrives at tome «j> ' traordinary conclusions. First,, as to.)Sfc Massey's refusal to allow our Dominioa ) Parliament to express an opinion on thi* question, it may be news to your con* spondent if I inform him that the prt* ent Prime Minister of this country stands out as a bright and shining light of progressive democracy, it was hj» who refused an expression of opinio* from the elected representatives of aux people. All other self-governed countries, under the British flag—Canada, Africa ■ and the Commonwealth of Australia—h* their elected representatives iH the various Parliaments, have expressed, sympathy with Home Rule for IreUsd. B* your correspondent's statement that tbit question is a sectarian one, or,. aB ha says, "a purely Roman Cathelic movement," surely "Civis" must know that - the leaders of the Home Bule movement for the past hundred years, have bees adherents of the Protestant Churches of Ireland. With the exception o£ Jobs' . Redmond, Butt, Parnell and. numbers of other non-Catholic Irish, politicians hav* all been in the forefront in battling fwr 1 this question. Quite a dozen constitu- ■- : encies in Ireland, when, the electors nua-> | bered SO and 90 per cent. Roman Cath** | lies, have repeatedly returned Quakers, ! Church of England, Presbyterian ani I" other non-Catholics to the British Pwh liament and local bodies. "CSvig" is wrong when he states that the Irish delegates were advertised, to appear in fit. Joseph's School. My recollection is thai they appeared in the Theatre Royal, which on both occasions was open to ! all who came along. In conclusion, 1 I would advise "Civis," if he wants th* I truth, to read Harold Begbie's "Th* I Lady Next Door."' If he does so, he will } have a better idea of this question, writI ten by a member of the Methodist re- • I ligion, than he has at present.—l am, etc., ■ FERMANAGH. Sir,—lf the "Auckland Young Irisli Party knows very little" of the Horn* Rule movement, assuredly your cowe- -■ spondent "Civis" knows less, Are th* members of the present English; Cabinet Catholics T Are the majority of tIM present British Parliament Catholics t Are all or nearly all the Scotck and Welsh representatives Catholic? Were Gladstone, Parnell and' Isaac Butt Catkolics? Have the great body of English nonconformists, with, Lloyd-George ani the Rev. Hocking at their head, tamed Catholic? Perhaps "Civis," with his logical acumen, may be abLe to cast a> ray of light on these puzzling questions. An overwiielming majority of the selfgoverning colonies have again and agate , declared iit favor of Home Rule. • Tit English-speaking world, will no.t carry the weight it should in the councils of otbsr natfons until the Hopie Rule question is satisfactorily settled, and 1 thus the w#y paved for a closer allianpe between England and the United Staftes.-i-l am, etc., TRUE jJNIONIBT.