MR J. E. REDMOND M.P., ON THE ULSTER QUESTION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2185, 10 July 1886, Page 3

MR J. E. REDMOND M.P., ON THE ULSTER QUESTION.

The following is extracted from a letter addressed by Mr J. E. Redmond. M.P., to the Tablet, an organ of the Roman Catholics, published in Dunedin :— „ While we are waiting for the rising of the curtain, all the possibilities are being eagerly discussed. To the Eneli*h mind th© position of Ulster presents the chie.f difficulty in the way of the establishment of an Irish Parliament, and about the position of Ulster the very «rave«t misapprehensions p.\kst. The vulgar idea of Ulster is that of a province of Ireland which is yet distinct and apart from Ireland. Ireland — that is, three-fourths of it — is Catholic and Celtic and Natitmali.it. Ulster, on the contrary, is Protestant and English or Scottish, and anti-Nationalist. Such is the popular idea. Anything more completely and ludicrously untiue it is im possible to conceive, Let me briefly state how the facts stand. first :Is Ulster Protestant ? Last year a return was issued by Parliament, Rowing the relisriou-s denominations of the population in Ulster. From this it appears* that 48 per cent of the entire population of Ul-ter is Catholic, and the remaining 52 per cant, is made up of all other creeds. Hut the Catholic and Protestant portions of the population are not distributed in these proportions all over the province. In fact, Ulster may be divided into two distinct poition*, one consisting of Antrim County, three-fourths of Down, and about two-thirds of Armagh, in which Protestants are in a majority, forming three-fourths of the population ; the other, consisting of Donegal, Tyrone, Londonderry, Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, and portions ot Down and Armagh, in which two-thirds of the whoie population. The the Catholics are in a majority, forming exact figures are, in the first portion, consisting really of only a'couple of counties, 542,802 Protestants to 188,287 Catholics. In the larger portion, consisting practically of seven counties out of the nine, the Catholics are 045,279 to 330,047 Protestants. Does this prove Ulster to be Protestant ? Why, as a matter of fact, only two counties in Ulster are Protestant. What then becomes of the objection to Home Rule, and that it would hand over the Protestant North to the tender mercies of the Catholic South ? As ft matter of fact, the North of Ireland belongs exclusively to neither denomination. There is a Protestant Noith East in Ulster, and there is a Catholic North West as well as a Catholic South and a Catholic centre, but a Protestant North or a Catholic North there certainly is not. Now is Ulster anti-National? The answer is supplied by the returns at the last elections. Out of nine counties in Ulster only one, namely, Antrim, went solid against Home Rule. Four, namely, Donegal, Fermanagh, Mona^han, and Cavan went solid in favour of Home Rule. The remaining four counties namely, Tyrone, Deny, Armagh and Pown were divided in such a way that the nett results of the elections last November jrav* to Mr Pa-rnell a clear majority of seats in Ulster, and two ot the seats for which we were defeated— and these no less important places than Belfast and Derry— only returned anti-Home Rulers by the narrow majorities of 27 and 37. In the face of these facts it is utter folly to talk of Ulster being either Protestant or anti-Nationalist. But none are so ignorant as those who will not learn, and there is a considerable body of the English people who insistently refiuse to learn the true situation or to recognise facts which all who run may read.

Messrs Hay and Guest, the well-known cheap cash drapers ot Ponsonby Auckland, we opened a branch at Kibikibi for a few "days and call the attention of the settlers 'in the surrounding districts to the means for providing themselves with cheap grapery, &c.