HOME RULE.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1920, Page 5

HOME RULE.

; LORDS DISCUSS THE BILL. ACCEPTED BY ULSTER, »J Tslegnbh.—Priss Awn.—Copyright. Received Nov. 24, 5.55 p.m. . London, Nov. 24. i The Home Rule debate in the House |of Lords attracted a distinguished gathering of peers. There were many cross-currents of opinion, both from Unionists and Liberals. Lord Birkenhead (the Lord Chancellor) read a letter from Sir Edward Carson stating that Ulster fully accepted the Bill as the best and only solution of Ireland's difficulties. Ulster preferred the union, but wanted peace and freedom from party politics, and the supersession of the 1914 Act. Lord Birkenhead admitted that the South might refuse to operate the Bill, in which case the Bill provided a Crown Colony Government. Be added that the South might establish a Parliament under the Bill and then proclaim a republic. Lord Birkenhead said he did not believe Sinn Fein would adopt such I a course, but if they did the Southern ! Parliament would be dissolved, involving the possibility of re-conquest. Person : ally, he remained a Unionist, and if the Unionists could be sure of twenty years' unbroken power he would continue to advocate the present form of government, but nobody could be sure of this. The Lord Chancellor alluded to recent events in. Ireland, and in an eloquent. peroration said he did not profess to flippantly predict the future, but he hoped the Government would yet succeed where O'Connell, Gladstone, and Parnell failed, and so make an immense contribution to the stability of the Empire. Lord Birkenhead said it would be tragic if. after conquering a powerful enemy abroad, we remained enfeebled at the heart of the Empire by a plague spot of sedition. Lord Dunraven moved the rejection of the Bill, which, he said, did not go far enough. The Irish solution depended on the support of moderate opinion, which would not be secured while Ireland wasnot given full fiscal and financial control. Lord Willoughby de Broke favored the rejection of the Bill. Any measure of Home Rule would be wrong and wduld play into the band* of a gang of ruffians. Lord Abereorn supported the Bill, and .hoped the time would come when Ulster's example would pave the way to a united Parliament. Lord Haldane said the Bill was a step in the right direction, and nobody should interfere with the Government's efforts to effect a settlement. Lord Clanwilliam said the Irish were one of the peoples who were unable to govern themselves. There was a foreign conspiracy afoot to destroy the British Empire, using Ireland as a jumping-off ground. The debate was adjourned.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.