The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1921. HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1921. HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

Throughout the Empire there exists a strong feeling of hope that when the Home Rule Act becomes operative and the machinery is completed, that the political situation in Ireland will improve rapidly. According to the latest cabled news a Northern Parliament will probably 'be established in three months’ time, and there are indications that the Government will be able to execute its plan in the suirimer for a Southern Parliament, despite the present prospect of Sinn Fein attempting to defeat the step by abstaining from participating in the elections. The one great essential to the solution of the Irish problem is the abandonment of the Sinn Fein claim for a Republic. When speaking in the debate on the third reading of the Bill in the House of Commons, Mr. Lloyd George said the Government had always been willing to consider any suggestions that those who could claim to represent Ireland might make, but there were four conditions which were immovable 1. They could not agree to anything which tore up the United Kingdom. The independence of Ireland as a Sovereign State they could not recognise. 2. They could not Consent to anything which would weaken the strategic security of the United Kingdom by depriving us of the complete control of the harbors of Ireland. 3. They could not agree to anything which would enable Ireland to organise an army and navy of.her own. 4. The pledge to Ulster must be kept. Under no circumstances must she be coerced into the acceptance of any Parliament in Dublin. ■ “It would,” said the Premier, “be a source of joy for Britain to extend the right hand of fellowship to Ireland —with the past forgotten and forgiven between the two countries —and to proceed together side by side to help to solve the great problems of the Empire and the problems of humanity. . . . Practically every question that affects the life of the people, their daily pursuits, the education of their children, the building of their homes, the health of their homes,- the railways that carry their business, their social habits—all these questions are left to this, (the Irish) Parliament to decide. . . There are considerable powers of taxation given in the Bill, and there is a margin of £9,000,000 provided for- the Irish Parliament to deal with. . . What is wanted is an atmosphere in Ireland where you can get calm consideration of what is proposed, what the Imperial Parliament suggests, and what further suggestions Ireland has to make. . . Ireland has had a great and brilliant share in the government of the Empire. . . All we ask is that Ireland shall not, in a moment of anger, cast away, an inheritance which is theirs as much as ours; that they shall join in with the Empire they have helped to build and to adorn.” That is. iht spirit in

which the Home Rule Bill was framed, in the hope of removing a series of misunderstandings and bringing peace and prosperity to • a country that has suffered much. According to Sir E.‘ Carson, who for over thirty years has taken part in the Irish controversy, more particularly in championing the cause of the Protestants in Ulster, the Home Rule Act gets up a precedent for a union and unity of the whole of Ireland, and that no other scheme so statesmanlike or so near to self-deter-mination has ever been brought before Parliament. The history of the various Home Rule measures considered by the Imperial Parliament is by no means a tribute 'to British statesmanship. The first (1886) was rejected by the House of Commons at the second reading stage, and resulted in the break-up of the Liberal Party into Unionists and Home Rulers.' The next (1893) was carried in the House of Commons by a small majority, but decisively rejected by the House of LordsSThe third (1914), after passing ffie Commons, was forced through the Lords under the Parliament Act, but was never made operative, being superseded by the Act which isjiow to control the situation. It is the first Act that gives recognition to Ulster’s right to self-government, and the first that passed the House of Commons without the aid of the closure or the guillotine. Whether it will succeed in its object time will show. It may not be, and probably is not perfect, but, if given a fair trial, any defects can be. remedied that experience may show to be necessary. It matters not whether Sinn Fein is divided on the question so long as . the main body of Irish opinion is willing to accept the measure as at least ,a foundation on which to build the peace of the country. The Government, it is stated, is willing to meet the Sinn Fein leaders, if they do not ask for a Republic which would imperil the strategic unity of the United Kingdom. The time is ripe for all parties to join hands in putting an end to the bitter strife of the past, and evolving tile union of whole of Ireland whereon her peace and prosperity depends.