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New Zealand Tablet, 10 April 1913, Page 27

Mr. M. J. Murphy, of Tramore, has been returned unopposed for East Waterford. He was selected at a Divisional Convention, and his selection was tantamount to election. There was not, from the day the seat became vacant, a whisper even of Unionist opposition. Yet Unionist leaders have been assuring us recently in the Souse of Lords that the Irish people really do not want Home Rule, and that a bribe in the shape of a reduction of land purchase annuities would convert them to Unionism. Well, here was an opportunity of putting the question to the test, but no Unionist candidate was nominated. Why? Because it was very well known that he would have no chance ef success. Facts are stubborn things. The weakness of Irish Nationalism may be all right for argument in the "House of Lords, but in Ireland itself it doesn't justify the expenses of a single contest.