The Irish Crisis

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 52, 22 July 1914, Page 5

The Irish Crisis

• THE CONFERENCE WITH T'!r I . KING. : VARIOUS VIEWS EXPRESSED. '.j THE LABOR ITES PROTEST. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright London, July 20. • The House of Commons was crowded. Mr. Asquith said that he -was authorised By the King to state that in view of She grave situation he thought that it Was right to summon representatives of parties to a conference at the Palace Jtth the object of discussing outstanding questions relating to the government W Ireland. The eight representatives Ms previously cabled) accepted. The Speaker will preside. The proceedings Will begin to-morrow. Mr. Bonar Law intimated that he had loyally accepted the invitation. Jfr. Redmond said: '"Mt colleagues •lid myself have no responsibility in calling this convention and do not think .We should be called upon to express an (opinion whether the result would be Itteful or the contrary. The invitations Were accepted as a Royal command." • There was a hubbub when Mr. Ginfeell asked Mr. Asquith what precedent KQtliority he had for advising the King to place himself at the head of a contoiracy to defeat the decision of the Souse of Commons.

' Mr. Asquith did not repiy. The Laborites, at a meeting in the Bouse of Commons, carried a resolution protesting against the King summoning * conference, and requested Mr. Asquith jto forward the resolution to the King. laborites bitterly condemn the Palacd Conference. Many Liberals are very Critical, fearing that it will be made a Eecedent. They expect the. conference faO, and that the Amending Bill will be withdrawn pending an appeal to the Constituencies in October. Tn the House of Lords, replying to lord Courtney, Lord Crewe affirmed jßut the conference was no abrogation bf Ministerial responsibility, and there IWas no intention to supersede Parliamentary authority.

LABOR'S VIEWS. BI'RPRISED AT THE PERSONNEL. TWO REBELS AS DELEGATES. Received 91, 10.20 p.m. London, July 21. _3fr. Asquith regretted the anticipaKon of the news of the conference by file Press, as the House had the first' right to hear of it The Labor Party's resolution regards the conference as an Undue interference tm the part of the Crown, calculated to Befeat the purposes of the Parliament tket: and also expresses sarprisc that two of the representatives are practically rebels under arms. It is an indication that in future organisation of force is to be officially considered as ir*>--t < tfective in industrial a; well as political Buputes.

GOVERNMENT GAINING TP!!!. ASI) EVADING RESPONSIBILITIES. Received 21. 10.20 p.m. London. July 21. Some Ulster Commoners regard the Conference as a Government device to fain time, and declare that the Gorernmcnt is throwing upon the King the responsibility which the constitution refuires them to bear. The Unionists ■ee in the conference a second admission by Mr. Asquith that Home Rule is unworkable. The Daily News says the TCing*!* intervention is bound to create widespread Bisqniet. There is a deep-rooted feeling in the House of Commons that the authority of Parliament is being undermineil.

A NOVEL PROPOSAL. ARBITRATION BY COLONIAL PREMIERS. Received 21. 855 p.m. London. July 21. Sir George Paish, joint-editor of the Statist, proposes as a settlement of the Home Rule controversy, in the event of negotiations proving abortive, that two impartial arbitrators, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Australia, be invited to act as a miniature Hague Tribunal to decide particular points. He conaiders that Messrs Borden and Cook, by reason of their great experience of autonomy, are practically qualified to look ftt the various questions involved, both from tie Home Rule and Imperial aspect. He points out that in view of there being large numbers of Irishmen, Scotchmen and Englishmen in both dominions, there would be no race antipathies to the tribunal, whose impartiality could be trusted by Catholics and Protestants alike. ,

A STORMY MEETING 0* NATIONALISTS. ORGANISING THE VOLUNTEER FORCES. A THREAT OF VIOLENCE. Received 21. 10.55 p.m. - London. July 21. Mr. Redmond presided at a stormy meeting of the Nationalist Party in the I Bouse of Commons as a protest against further concessions. The meeting gave Messrs Redmond and Dillon plenary powers at the Palace conference. The Nationalists are firmly resolved not to yield an acre or a man of Tyrone or Fermanagh. Mr. Devlin is actively engaged in the organisation of the Nationalist volunteers. Twelve Liberal Commoners have contributed £IOO each to their funds. A yacht conveying three thousand rifles for the Nationalist volunteers was ■eized at Londonderry. Leading Nationalists at Belfast approve of the leaders, as men of reputation and responsibility, at the conference. One of Mr. Devlin's intimate friends declared that "if the Government betray US to save themselves, the most desneratc acts of the Fenians will be child'R play to what would happen throughout Ireland." The Chronicle says the idea nf the conference originated with Mr. Asqnith. The conference would have been more auspiciously launched and more unreservedly welcomed had the announcement riot been anticipated by the leaders to the Unionist papers. The paper regrets that the King will not preside in person, and also that the Laoorites will not be represented.