IRISH POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1922, Page 5

IRISH POLICY.

QUESTION OF PEACE. TREATY TO BE HONORED. NEW LEADER’S AIMS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Received Sept. 12, 10.45 p.m. London, Sept. 12. Mr. Cosgrave, president of the Free State, referring to the question of peace, in the course of a statement on the Government’s policy, in the Free State Parliament, declared it must be a constitutional peace, and that peace with England must be maintained on the basis of the treaty. He charged the Irregulars with attacking British troops for the purpose of bringing the British into the quarrel, and he also charged the Irregulars with violating a truce which had never been revoked. — Reuter Service.

BRIDGES BLOWN UP. GANGER SAVES A TRAIN. ALLEGED BARGAINING DENTED. Received Sept. 12, 8.10 p.m. London, Sept. 11. The rebels blew up four bridges north of Dundalk, isolating the entire northern half of the county. Fifty armed men held up a railway ganger at Falcarragh, seized his tools and tore up the rails for several hundred feet. The ganger ran along the track and flagged a crowded excursion, which stopped before reaching the damaged permanent way. The Colonial Office officially denies that there is any justification for the suggestion that the Irish Provisional Government’s determination to carry out the treaty and restore law and order is the result of bargaining with the British Government, whereby Britain will pay for the damage done in Ireland during the civil war. The Provisional Government made no such request, nor would the British Government agree if it were made. DE VALERA’S VIEWS. . London, Sept. 11. The Dublin correspondent of the Manchester Evening News had an exclusive interview with Mr. de Valera, who appeared in good health. He discussed the military and political situation unreservedly. He expressed himself still opposed to the treaty in its present form, and suggested that revision could be obtained if men of good-will set about the task. Unless the treaty was revised there would be violent political agitation find turmoil in one form or other for many years, which would mean the continuance of the impossible relations with England, which had resulted in the present war. Ulster was an Irish domestic question, and must be settled in Ireland by representatives of those concerned. The treaty meant the coercion of the South, and a large part of the North. ■Summing up, he said: “Nobody gains bv the war. and all lose.”

Telegraphic communication between London and the Free State is entirely suspended in consequence of the strike of all the postal workers, which was begun on Sunday night following the Government’s withdrawal of the special csot of living bonus. ✓