The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1911. IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY: WHY ENVOYS ARE COMING

New Zealand Tablet, 6 April 1911, Page 625

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1911. IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY: WHY ENVOYS ARE COMING

J&Q8& d DECENT cable brought us the welcome news "that a delegation from the Irish Party—conJvluV sisting of Messrs. W. ' Redmond; M.P., R. J|MVur Hazleton, M.P., and J. T. Donovan—would \—-~rjg£& reach New Zealand on May I, and would hold a series of twelve meetings in the Dominion. The arrangements as \ to dates of meetings, centres to be addressed, etc., were left by the $r % Party in the capable hands of Mr. Martin Kennedy; and alreadyso • far as the North Island is concernedpreparations are well under way. Six meetings are to be held in the North, and six in the South, Island. Up to the time of our going to press, Dunedin had not had any word from Mr. Kennedy; but a communication in regard to; arrangements for the Otago and Southland meetings is expected any day. As soon as it is received,, those interested can be relied upon to be up and doing. .' - : -'i-'•••..'', : -;' \ ''■ \ ■' ■-■■•.["'■''' .''''■■'.' * It is getting on for five years since the last embassy consisting of Messrs. Devlin and Donovan — visited New Zealand; and those who have followed the course of political events in Great Britain during the interval, and are cognisant of the existing situation, will require no additional explanation of this further mission to these southern lands. Ireland is now coming to close quarters with Home Rule; the Party will require to have every iron in the fire and it is of the greatest importance that the National organisation should be stronger than ever it was, until the corner shall be finally turned. Apart from this broad reason, connected with the special position of the Home Rule question at the present time, the Party have themselves—through a Manifesto addressed by the National Trustees of the Parliamentary Fund to the people of Ireland on the 30th of January lastfurnished a detailed explanation to make clear why it is that the need for united and generous support of the Parliamentary and National Fund is more urgent and imperative now than at any previous stage in the progress of the National Movement. The first reason is the specially heavy tax which has, of late, been imposed on the financial resources of the Party. 'No appeal,' says the Manifesto, was issued for special funds to meet the two general elections of last year, although the elections—and especially the last— were the most expensive fought by the Irish Party for the last thirty years. The expenses of these elections were borne by the over-generous subscriptions of our kinsmen in America and elsewhere abroad, and the fact that Ireland itself subscribed so well to the Parliamentary Fund last year was one of the main reasons why our friends in America responded so generously to Ireland's appeal for funds to meet the powerful and unnatural combination of Factionism and Unionism which was opposed to us. Enormous sums of money have been spent by the factionists and their allies in fighting the National candidates during the last elections, and, for more than a year before the last election, the Party was obliged to fight and defeat a campaign of disruption, the directors of which appeared to have command of unlimited financial resources. This struggle necessitated an exceptionally heavy outlay on the part of the National Organisation.' * : A second reason for the' necessity of an all-round effort to enable the Party to face its responsibilities free from

financial anxiety is to be found in the special expenses which will require to be met in the immediate future. The heavy programme confronting the Party is thus outlined in the Manifesto: ' The full and constant attendance of the Party at Westminster from this time forward will be absolutely necessary from day to day. One of the most urgent needs of the present is the inauguration and continuance of a Home Rule campaign in the English constituencies, and' the diffusion of literature on the Irish question through the medium of the Irish Press Agency, already established at Westminster. Then the work of registration and organisation in Ireland cannot be neglected, but must be pushed on more thoroughly and more energetically than ever. The maintenance of a permanent staff at the central offices of the organisation to deal, not only with the routine work, which is increasingly heavy, but with the special bureaux established in connection with Old Age Pensions, the Evicted Tenants, Town Tenants, and Laborers Act, the Housing of the Working Classes Act, and so forth, is also an absolute necessity. For all these and contingent purposes, a large expenditure is necessary, although the whole sum required is ridiculously small in proportion to that required to maintain other political parties and organisations, and a mere bagatelle in view of the interests at stake and of the results already achieved.' . As the Manifesto truly points out, while the unity, power, and efficiency of the Party were never greater, its responsibility is weightier than ever, and the task before it is one of exceptional difficulty and delicacy. The nearer it approaches the achievement of its purpose, the more imperative the duty of the country to afford it all the moral and financial support indispensable to its success.' This appeal—addressed in thq first instance to the People of Irelandwill, in the course of a very few weeks, be made to their kith and kin throughout the Greater Britain of the South ; and assuredly it will not be made in vain. That faith and hope in the Old Land's future, which have never failed or faltered in the breasts of the children of Gael in New Zealand, are now approaching fruition; and love of its cause is stimulated by the very nearness of the long looked-for consummation. This was, in part, the feeling that stirred America to such magnificent generosity on the occasion of Messrs. Redmond and Devlin's recent mission— feeling that now, at last, Ireland's opportunity has come. We in this country are not endowed with the wealth attained by the sons of the Gael under the Stars and Stripesbut we can do our best. The delegates can confidently depend on New Zealand to give them a glowing and generous, welcome, and to recognise—with Irishmen the world overthe obligation of keeping up, with greater vigor than ever before, the moral and financial support of the cause now that the dawn of victory is at hand.