A CONDEMNATION OF DUBLIN CASTLE METHODS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 49, 8 December 1904, Page 30

A CONDEMNATION OF DUBLIN CASTLE METHODS.

Lord Duniaven's reform scheme, for the purpose of entiustmg the people of lieiand with a greater share of local government and gning them control over the expenditure ot money devoted to liish matters, has found a powerflul supporter in Sir West Kidgeway, ex-Govern tr of Ceylon, and formerly Undcr-Sccretary for lrelan-1 He expressed his views in a letter in the London

' Tunes,' which, by Uie way, has been engaged over since the K-eforni Association came into existence in decrying Lord Du<nraven's proposals. Sir West Kidgeway quite candidly; explains that he is not a new, odrtviert to the belieis tihat the present system of Irish Government is wrong Six years' work as Under-Secretary during the stormy days of the Halfour regime convinced him of this, and it may be remarked that when subsequently taking up tne Governorship of the J.sle of Rian, in 1893, he expressed advanced views in regard to the benefits resulting from Home Rule that were experienced in that island. Like Sir Robert Hamilton, who preceded him at Dublin Castle, he was early impressed with the iniquities of that plague spot. Ihs views, says Sir Wes~, ' were concencd during, the period of my service as T'nder-Secretary for Ireland, and were embodied m a memorandum written hi 1889. In that memorandum I advocated the concession of a liberal measure of local government in provincial as well as county uoujteils, tiiie administration of the education yrant and other funJs raised for that purpose by a local body — at least partially elective— with safeguards for minorities in tihe various localities, the decentralisation of finance, and consequently the loosening of the rigid Tre-as-ury control, the icorgamsation of Dublin Castle, and especially tihe

Abolition of that Chaotic A,nacihronism— administration by semi-independent boards, whereby three men do \the work of one — a-nd the creation of a council to advise the v mef Secretary. t>ucs!i as that of the Secretary of State for India, and comprising the representatives of all parties.' But he was less courageous in his settled convictions than Sir Pobert Hamilton, and his reticence he thus explains— 1 So long as 1 I was hi the public service, faithful to the traditions of the Civil Son ice, I held my peace, hint now that I am free to speak J ask for the hospitality of your columns, not because I claim any special value or ougmality for mv opinions, but because 1 think that it m<av interest those who are again studying a-nd 'discussing the eternal Irish question, in the light thrown -upon it by the manifesto of the Kefoim Association, to learn the conclusions which were independently formed by a man v,lvj was TJnder-Secretary during si\ stormy years — who went

to Ireland an uncompromising siupp.orter of law and order, but otherwise with an open mind, free trpm preconceived opinions and anxious to consider Irish questions in a judicial spirit.' Sir West Ridgeway, in his letter tp the Ketorm Association, which also appears in the ' Times,' says that since his retirement from the Irish Under-Secretaryship he has never ceased to be a vigilant but necessarily silent observer of Irish politics, and when a Unionist Government came into power with an overwhelming majority at its back, believing as he did in the generous and far-sig,hted views of its leaders, Jie expected much, but confessed to some disappointment at the results which have been achieved. Several Real Grievances 1 , he points out, remain unredressed, and other important questions have not been touched, or, if touched, quickly droippe\d. Foremost am,ong these is the University question. 'We all know,' he says, ' Mr. Balfour's statesmanlike views on this important subject, but the extremists of the Unionists forbid him to do Justice to the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Nor can we reasonably hope that the Opposition when in power will dare to gras,p tihisi nettle, and consequently we moderate men aie forced to the conclusion that if this qmesifciom, on which the peace and contentment of Ireland so largely depend, is ever to be settled, it must be settled in Ireland ty the Irish themselves.' The policy pursued by the Moore''raig qombmation of re<volters in refusing to allow justice to 'be done to the Catholics of Ireland in the matter of University education is one of the factors in their irreconcilable policy which Sir West uulgeway Hunks spell -> disaster to t<he Union.