BRITISH POLITICS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10167, 17 February 1911, Page 5

BRITISH POLITICS

CABLENEWS United Press Association — By FJectric Telegraph — Copyright.

THE PARLIAMENT BILL. TO-BE INTRODUCED ON TUESDAY. (Received Last Night, 10.10 o'clock.) LONDON, February 16. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, (Right Hon. H. H. Asquith) announced that the Parliament Bill would be introduced on Tuesday. Mr Malcolm moved his amendment to the Address-in-Reply, to the effect that the granting of Homo Rulo would be subversive to th<? u'tiion of'the United Kingdom. Mr Asquith said that "after the veto question was settled the Government Would propose the establishment of an Irish Parliament, with an Irish executive, subject to the supremacy of the Imperial parliament being maintained, MR MALCOLM'S AMENDMENT. THE PRIME MINTSTEIt SPEAKS ••-PLAINLY. PEOPLE HAVE VOTED HOME RULE. (Received Last Night, 9.50 o'clock.) LONDON, February 16. Mr Malcolm, in moving bis amendment to the Address-in-Reply, criticised the" Ministry's varying views. Lord Hugh Cecil, who seconded the amendment, said that many Liberals did not favour the* Home Rule Mr Redmond wanted. Unless.- Imperial "supremacy meant interference, the decisions about Avhich the Irish people held strong convictions were matters mainly of words. Ireland, by representation in the House .of Commons, had self-government; therefore the analogy between Ireland and the Colonies was destroyed. Home Rulo was a retrograde movement. The Hon. H. H. Asquith said there was nothing obscure or ambiguous in his declarations from the beginning. He instanced the 1903 speech of Lord Gladstone on* the Bill, He niever regarded Home Rule as an exceptional and desperate remedy for a desperate and eexceptional disease- The case of Ireland'wa§j"pne of paramount and undeniable urgency. He. quoted «his 1901 speech in favour of granting reyolu-*; tionary local powers. The problem was: only solved by.granting self-go-i yernmeht qri purely Irish 1 affairs, while safeguarding the supremacy ofthe In> perial Parliament. There could be no question of separation with these conditions. That was the Liberal policy. Having his declaration of December, 1909, before them, every voter in January, 1910, voted with the full knowledge that if the Government succeeded, their first; task would be Home Rule. (Ministerial and Nationalist cheers*) ■■The time of Partfament was increasingly occupied with local questions. Members were agreed that Scotland-arid Wales suffer l ey?simila.r]y, 1 but "Ireland's .need r. was paramount. The" policy had been applied: throughout the Empire, and lately in South Africa. Why should not the! same ■ remedy be.successful in Ireland? !»', was.believed that.if it was strictly ."i j the lines of Imperial development it was true Imperialism.' jMr Redmond people of, Ire* < land had never regarded Mr Asquith' 1 * declaration as obscure. "They-accept- ■ ed his definition of Home Rule; which they honestly: believed was a final settlement. He added: "We admit ' that, if we-accept' thty I'mperiali i,"jjt-,'. premacy, we ought to put do\*n ' any oppression of the Protestants. There might be fewer Irish representatives in the House of Commons. As pacified, South Africa was the glory of , King Edward's reign. So King George's reign will be more glorious by a friendly reconciled Ireland." Mr W.-'H. Long said it was not the first time Mr Redmond had promised the minority fair play. Their experience under the Local Government Act did not justify them in trusting Ireland with Home Rule. South Africa 1 was.no example of Home Rule. Ireland was a separate .country.-' The Government had furnished sufficient de-. tails to justify a determined opposition. '■•:■■ ( Mr Wmston Churchill said the events following self-government on the Transvaal principle would cause a change. English' opinion would be in 'favour of Home Rule. He admitted that there would be formidable difficulties, but. if freed from prejudice and rancour the settlement of >. details would not baffle honest-hearted men. Old .perils which prevented English Ministers in the past denying Home Rule had disappeared. The economic and financial dependence of Ireland upon England was so interwoven that divergence was a moral and physical impossibility. Mr O'Brien and Sir Edward Carson also spoke. The latter taunted Ministers with the absence of any allusion to Home Rule in their election addresses. v The amendment was defeated by. 326 votes to 213.