The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1914. THE IRISH QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 217, 13 March 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1914. THE IRISH QUESTION.

Xot for many years luib a statement .of a British Minister of the Crown been invested with the same interest and importance as that delivered by the Prims Minister in the House of Commons on the Home Rule question the other day. -Mr. Asquith and other members of the Cabinet have all along expressed their willingness and desire to agree to a settlement by consent of this momentous question, so long as the vital principle of an Irish Parliament was retained. The solution offered is eminently reasonable and practicable, and should prove acceptable to both side*. Mr. Asquith leaves the Bill as it stands, but gives Ulster the option to stay out, by counties, for a period of six years, during wnieh they will have the same representation at Westminster, as hitherto, and be subjected to no interference from the Irish Government. Mr. Asquith remarked that the proposals would not be accepted with enthusiasm in any quarter, and, judging from the subsequent speeches and the opinions of the Press, he was not far out. Mr. Redmond, leader of the Irish Party, characterises the proposal as the "very limit of concession," but feels sure that long before the expiry of the six years the Irish Parliament will be able to make an exhibition of tolerant government which will disarm suspicion. The Unionists arc still as adamantine and unreasonable as ever. They will condescend, according to Sir Edward CarßOii, to summon an Ulster convention to consider the proposals if the time limit excluding Ulster is abolished, but not otherwise. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bonar Law, considers tne proposals "utterly futile." He requires the Government to go to the country again or submit the question to a referendum of the country. His party may then submit. It is very generous of the Unionists. They'forget that the country has had an opportunity on three occasions of expressing its mind on this and other policy measures for which the Liberals have stood, and each time has given the party a solid backing. The fact of the matter is that the Unionists, who for generations have fought against justice being done to Ireland, having seen the powers for mischief torn from the House of Lords, their former sheet anchor, desire to gain their ends by the threat of civil war. Ai one of the Liberal papers says: "The Ulster farmers are being drilled in order to deprive the democracy of the fruits - of the victory won in 1910," when the veto of the Lords wag checked. It is merely a game of bluff, and the British Government, which has met the opposition so —too generously, in the opinion of many people—should not allow itself to be intimidated by the ' threats and the vaporings of the Unionists and their unfortunate Ulster dupes. It should, in the words of Mr. Kedmond, "put the Bill on the Statute Book without delay, and to face, with firmness, any movement to overawe Parliament and to subvert the law by menace of arms." It may he that Sir Edward Carson is afraid of submitting the questions to the electors of Ulster as to whether they should be governed from Dublin or London, for it has to be remembered that about half the constituents are of the Catholic faith and would welcome the chance of governing themselves. In the clamor made by the other half, little is heard of them, but they would make their voice felt at the ballot, and the result in such an event might prove extremely awkward for the Unionists. It is conceivable that the vote would favor Dublin. At this distance it is surprising that so many Ulstermen, who are credited with the possession of keen perception and sound judgment, should Tie so suspicious and distrustful of their compatriots. Surely they do not expect their* fellow Irishmen to adopt the same coercive, intolerant and unreasonable attitude towards them as they are themselves manifesting at the present moment towards constitutional authority! They are now given the opportunity, which they certainly do not deserve, of seeing for themselves how Ireland governs itself, and if half of their fears materialise, then the Home Government can step in and contract them out for another terms. This point the Prime Minister has made clear. The British Government has made its offer. It rests with the Unionists to rise to the occasion and accept the compromise in the spirit in which it is tended. If they fail to do so, the responsibility for any trouble that may occur in Ulster must rest with them; certainly not with the Government.