Lord Dudley on the Land Conference

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 15, 9 April 1903, Page 20

Lord Dudley on the Land Conference

The Lord Lieutenant was a guest at the annual dinner of the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, when ho took the opportunity of speaking on the political outlook in Ireland. After referring to the re\ocation of the Crimes Act procedure in certain counties he went on to remaik, 'il can say truly that never in my life have I ever signed anything more gladly than I did that proclamation of last week. I rejoice beyond measure at the improvement which has enabled me' to do so. Now, I suppose that I shall be told that a similar condition of affairs has occurred before, that the Crimes Act procedure has been revoked in the past only again to bo enforced I shall be told that there is" no particular reason to suppose that the present improvement is moro likely to be permanent than that which has been supposed in former years. There are, however, several leasons which, to my mind, justify the belief that there is what I may call a good time coming. In the first place, there seems to be a genuine and brisk desire on the "part of various parties interested in the land question to arrive^at a just, final, and amicable solution of their difficulties With the great land question out of the way, with all the friction, all the misunderstanding, all the bad feeling removed between class and class engineered by the terrible land war, Ireland should be a \cry differant place to what it is now Suspicion would, I believe, give way to trust, and the normal conditions of local life should, it seems to me, frequently reassert themselves in the proper balance Moreover, in any comprehensive settlement of the land question opportunities will be afforded also of dealing at the same tune with various other problems. But it is not only the prospect of getting rid of the land question , equal and more important, it seems to me, is the way in which it is being done. For the first time in the history of this question you have the representatives of both sides amicably meeting together to discuss the position, and iointly laying down the principles by which their i elective views could be arri\ed at This is a tremendous step in the right direction. In my opinion, nothing ho important has occurred in this country for the last century . Nothing so important or so pregnant of good to Ireland had happened in this country since the Recess Committee, and in years to come our successors will look back on Lord Dunra\en's Conference as setting an example in the treatment of Irish affairs. Regarding the Land Conference, it was a Conference of toleration moderation, and co-operation, and so long as Ireland proceeds on those principles there is nothing in the world which she cannot do— no height to which she cannot attain.