HOME RULE BILL

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 17 January 1913, Page 5

HOME RULE BILL

CABLE NEWS

(Untied Frm Elecr trie Telegraph—Copyright.)

MR BALFOUR MOVES ITS REJECTION.

"ALL HAD BEEN DUPED."'

(Received January 16, 10.40 a.m..)

LONDON, January 15. In the House of Commons, Mr A. J Balfour, in moving the rejection of the Home Rule Bill, said the Government had promised the.Nationalists -a nationality, the British people peace, and the taxpayer Tt bad told the Homer Ruler that all round this step meant disintegration of the United Kingdom, and nad told the Imperialist tbiit it was a step towards the unity of the Empire. All had been duped, and the greatest dupes were the Nationalists and the British people. The Bill gave .Ireland rio-hts too great- for Britain's fiscal interests, but the Goverment," on the*, other hand, had done its utmost to deprive tlio Irish Government of what overy self-governing Dominion possessaying that he was shocked by the utter, dangerous want of comprehension of the Ulster problem, Mr Balfour warned the House that if calamities arose, if bloodshed weie j spilled—whicli God forbid—then the , real assassins would be tlio.se who had | tmvfir had the courage to fa£e the situation. j

PR mv MINISTER'S REPLY

Th- Prime Mnii-'t")' (V»• H 1T srrnith), in renlv. said that M" B<i n onr had conveniently ignored the fact that the Irish movement had parsed from a matter of sentiment and effort to orpa.nised. wactical. inevitable reality. If the Bill was rejected the in-isi'S-tent -demand would remain as the TuifKinipivbccl rnwni'nicnt* of the vast, majority'<: will. Apparently the onlv pfonl» who wove -not dupes were. Mr Balfour and his friends, who were just now going throTigh their iwri in the i«eience, of political im:o»". (1 xmvj;liter.) -

I rHven pervorsitT nn rue side j pedaiitry oti the ■otlY* k * - 'M"'.: Asquith. any Constitution could be • wrecked in a week.' Ana rt'from am- } pte safeguards in the 8i11...tw0 [ would fiperate most st.t'ongiy—-r'an«'N'-i interest and common-sense. Mr Bal- | four's prediction of disaster wa,s : a reI petition of a similar one preceding the granting of sf>lf-governmc« + to the Transvaal. He (the Premier) was convinced, the Bill would exorcise the baneful influences hitherto keening .Britain and Ireland apart,iestabj lisli. permanent unitv.

THE CLOSING SCENES.;

OHARACTERISTIC SPEECHES,

MB ASQUITB'S PERORATION

(Received Last Night, 9.30 q'ckiek.) ] LONDON, January 16. >

T-he closing scones in the battle'over Home Kulo Bill liavo been mark- ! cd. by characteristic speeches'- by i Messrs Balfour aud..AsQuit.li. ; Mr Bairour confessed that the Government wa.s supported by 'substantial majorities: but tlie discussion had been carried on in such a manner af to'make the value of that sunporl •worthless. It reminded one. sa'cl M-» Balfour, of' the old comedies, where the chief schemer invited 'his suhordi nates to carry out his policy by givinp them different versions of .his object!* The Irish people were being nrivm n -dangerous weapon with' which they might secure their real ambition, p full-fledged nationality. Friction.and strife would he the" result of their getting too much or too little.AT'; Balfour. derided those constitutional architects who searched the world to create? abortive** Federalism. He sketched Ulster's reasons for opposition. History had shown that .a .mixture of relicion and politics would . prove injurious to the minority, while none believed iu a recrudescence nf " the old style of ' persecution, 'Yet, each age possessed its own mefheds '?of persecution; ' '-Ulster knew" 'tile crime-stained record of .the men who : would be the masters.. It was not un-rea-sona.ble to refuse to bo placed uu-- | der these men. The fact that the i Bill needed safegtiards, justified Ulster'* attitude. 'The Bight Hon Mr Acquit!) :.was ovationed on, rising. He lectured Mr Balfour. Taking the act of union a.s a starting point,. h© said they must look further back and understand the genesis of the Irish question and the demand for self-government. That demand was an organised, articulate, permanent expression of the vast inaI jority of the Irish people. He twit- , ted> Mr Balfour a master of the , art of manufacturing false dilemmas. : He was not, he said, troubled by the criticism that the Constitution wa« ( neither fish, fowl, nor good red herring. Tf they could meet' Ulster's claim, whether founded on iustice or . even misapprehension. without in- , fficting.an injustice on the whole.of . } Ireland they would gladlv do so. But it. would be alsolutely fatal to democratic government to concede the claim, becauso it was a. minority claim calculated to destroy the Bill and end in a secular quarrel. Mr Asquith concluded his peroration by declaring that, the Bill would exorcise baneful influences. The House listened with hushed *il ence to Mr Asquith. who resumed his seat amidst T/ibernl and Nationalist cheers. Mr W. O'Brien declared that the financial clauses of the Bill left the Trish Parliament, with shadowy taxation powers; but the memsn.ro was regarded as a. sincere, courageous message of peace. Sir "Rdivard On rson was absent, owing to his wife's illness.

T.N T THE LORDS. (Received This Morning. 12.5 o'clock.) LONDON, January 10. Tbo Duke of Devonshire Trill move the rejection of the Home Rule "BIH in. the House of Lm-'dit.