The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1922. HOME RULE FOR SCOTLAND.
One of the remarkable features of the present century is what may be termed the Home Rule mania. The success of the Irish agitation for independence has apparently awakened the smouldering ember* of that small home rule fire which was considered to have died of inanition in Scotland. It is not surprising to find , Mr. Andrew Fisher, an ex-Prime Minister of Australia, taking part in the agitation for Home Rule for Scotland, as he was in his early days a Scottish miner, but the main reasons he advanced, at a recent meeting, in support of the disintegration movement can hardly be regarded as convincing. He claimed that Scotland’s entry into the Union “did not mean she would be content to live for ever under her predominant partner,” and alleged that Scottish interests were not served by the Imperial Parliament. If Mr. Fisher was well versed in Scottish history, he could not have been ignorant of the fact that when the country was ruled by its own kings and Parliament it was under an autocracy, veiled, but none the less absolute, every measure brought before Parliament being practically prepared by royal nominees, while, previous to the era of the revolution, the Privy Council assumed inquisitorial powers, even torture being administered under: its authority. The allegation that Scottish interests have not been served by the Imperial Parliament (presumably since the Union), is one that can only be characterised as a rash and misleading statement. It is on a, par with the assertion that is frequently made in New Zealand that various districts do not receive the same favorable treatment by the Government as is meted out to others. If that contention is to be accepted as a principle for the granting of home rule, the result would be the disintegration of Great Britain, the Empire and the Dominions. Even if the demand were confined to those portions of Great Britain which were at one time separate kingdoms, the number of home rule democracies would be such as to reduce the Homeland to fragmentary government. During the Saxon period, Wales consisted of quite a number of rjval chiefs or kings, perpetually at war with one another, territory frequently changing hands. It will also be remembered that in Anglo-Saxon times England was divided ihto seven principal kingdoms, founded at different times, and possessing independent monarchies. For centuries all these kingdoms have been united, and this union became the source of the Motherland’s strength. To revert to the ancient kingships would be putting back the clock of progress, but each of these little kingdoms and principalities have just as much right to claim independence as Scotland has. Is the Dominion ito revert to Provincial Government. and destroy that unity and cohesion so necessary for the common good? One of the results of the recent Great War was the enunciation of the right to selfdetermination, but that is a very different matter. The 'fact is that the spirit of unrest that is so strongly in evidence is raising all sorts of trouble—socially, politically and industrially. It would seem to be high time for sanity and common-sense to exercise a restraining influence. Unity can alone make for strength. It is nothing but false sentiment and selfishness that threatens to undermine the fabric of the Empire, and pave the way to the ceaseless strife of the semi-barbaric ages.
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Taranaki Daily News, 28 March 1922, Page 4
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571The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1922. HOME RULE FOR SCOTLAND. Taranaki Daily News, 28 March 1922, Page 4
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