Home Rule

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 214, 10 March 1914, Page 5

Home Rule

AX ADVOCATE OF DEVOLUTION. "A BAPTISM OF BLOOD." By Cable—Press Association—Copyright t Londin, March 8. Lord Selbome, speaking at Darlington, said the present crisis had arisen because half the country was tired of trampling upon the convictions of the oilier half. That state of affairs was impossible in a democracy. He rather favored devolution, "because it would cripple the party-machine and re-ar-range public opinion in Britain in an _ artificial manner. There was no chance • of 'peace if the baptism of Home Rule i was of blood. AIMING AT DISSOLUTION. . A NEWSPAPER ON THE SITUATION. London, March 8. The Observer declares that if the four • counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, and ' Londonderry are to be compulsorily absorbed at the end of three or five years compromise is impossible. Sir Henry Lucy asserts that the "Die Hards" in the Lords arc determined to reject the Army Bill, necessitating * dissolution of Parliament at midsummer. INTENSE INTEREST AROUSED. MB. ASQUITH'S STATEMENT. EAGERLY AWAITED. Received 8, 9.20 p.m. London, March 9. Newspapers testify to the intense interest wherewith Mr. Asquith's statement is awaited. The demand for tickets for the House of Commons is almost unprecedented. The indications arc that Sir Bonar Law will-intimate that time must 61 taken to consider the proposals. 5n Edward Carson is ill, and it is possible that he will be absent from the debate. AN ARM* BILL PLOT." AN OVER-REACHING EFFORT. Received 9, 9.20 p.m. London, March 9. The Chronicle states that some peers are planning to insert in the Army An■ual Bill an amendment prohibiting its use in Ulster. The Government would reject such an amendment, whereupon, in the event of the House of Lords insisting upon it, the Bill would be lost, and the army cease to exist. It is tiardly credible that the House of Lords "will go to this length, but the Government is taking the proper Isteps to prepare for the eventuality, and when the occasion arises to act with swiftness and decision. j A CHALLENGE TO THE PEERS. THE NATION WILL "FTNISii" THEM . Beceived 9, 11.40 p.m. London, March 9. The Daily News describes as a purely gratuitous assumption that an attack on the Army Bill will enable the Hoyse of Lords to force a dissolution. "The Nation," says the paper, "fought and defeated the peers before, and is ready to finish them when the call comes. The rejection of to-day's offer would mean terminating the Government's long-suf-fering. When all hope of agreement is 4ead it will become a duty to see that trade in anarchy is not allowed to be »n adjunct of electioneering." THE ULSTER EXCLUSION PROPOSALS. Received 9, 10.30 p.m. London, March 9. Unionist newspapers declare that exclusion will not satisfy Ulster if a time, limit is attached. Apropos this point, the Daily Graphic states that a rumor was current last night that extremely powerful influences induced the Government to alter the proposals which will now offer Ulster's exclusion, with county option to vote inclusion.