IRELAND AND THE CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 284, 30 November 1910, Page 5

IRELAND AND THE CRISIS.

BELFAST DEMONSTRATION. HOME RULE AND BLOODSHED. FORMING AND ARMING REGIMENTS. (By Cable.—Press (Received 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. At the Belfast demonstration 20,000 were unable to gain admission. Lord Londonderry declared that the Government would be responsible for bloodshed in the event of Home Rule being established. The Ulster Council resolved to establish a fund to enrol regiments and purchase arms. A sum of £10,000 sterling was promised. The United Irish League of America opened subscriptions for funds to assist the Irish Home Rule.

STATE OF THE PARTIES.

IN REFORMED HOTTSE OF LORDS. '! (Received 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. Sir Edward Grey, speaking at Dubley, said the House of Lords' reforms would probably result in the House consisting of 120 Liberals and 290 Conservatives. Moreover, the Crown's prerogative of creating peers would be gone for ever. The Bow Liberal Association has decided not to support Mr. Lansbury, the Socialist candidate for Mile End. Lord Lihdley, in a letter to the "Times," says that the Veto Bill does not abolish the House of Lords, but if it is passed, the House of Commons, with the consent of the Crown, -will be able to abolish the Lords whether reformed or not. Lord Linlithgow presided at Mr. Chamberlain's meeting at Edinburgh last evening, at which' 6000 were present. Mr. Chamberlain said that the attitude of Scotland towards tariff reform was disappointing. No Tory clung so closely to old-accustomed usages »s the Scottish Radicals. The manifesto , of thp National Council of the Free ' Churches, declares that the House of Lords has repeatedly frustrated education reforhi, Welsh disestablishment, and temperance and social reforms. The council expressed the solemn opinion that a way must be found for the people to become the dominant factor in the Constitution. Mr. . Winston Churchill, speaking at Lambeth, said that the Tory party was less than leaderless. Mr. Balfour was an amiable, dilettante- philosopher, who was content to brood serenely aud sedately over the perversity of the world, which he no longer attempted to influence, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain was a wooden doll, who had learnt to speak the same patter as "old Joe." Mr. F. E. Smith was shocked, at Mr. Lloyd George, but whereas: Mr. LJpy.d George was invariably witty, Mr. jjfo.ith was invariably vulgar. The Tories, he.added, were seeking to construct an upper house of superior persons, a house of Curzons and Milners, a house of swells, removed from the ordinary methods of control. Lord Milner, in a speech last evening, regretted the immense inequalities of wealth and the great distance separating the richest and poorest, but that was no reason for indulging in a general scramble. The object of Mr. Churchill's reckless and wanton abuse of the wealthy classes Was to obtain cheap popularity and to catch the votes of the unthinking. Mr. Birrell, in a speech at Bristol, declared that the House of Lords had scuttled their own ship. An effective and important'second chamber was required, but Lord Lansdowne's reform scheme was a device of the enemy. Lord Cromer, in a letter to the Unionist free traders, says that there are differences of opinion amongst tariff reformers as to. whether it would be possible to take a referendum on an elaborate tariff, but the larger issues, such as taxation of food, are necessarily within the scope of the Marquis of Lansdowne's resolutions. Matters of great gravity could be submitted to the electors, who he advised to support the Unionists. CURZONS CHALLENGE. COST OF A REFERENDUM. (Received 8.35 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. Lord Curzon, speaking at Hull, challenged comparison between his and Mr. Lloyd George's lifework. He would sooner cut off his hand than poison the minds of his countrymen and preach civil war. The spectacle of the Liberal party protesting against the referendum was enough to make the angels weep. Lord Burghclerc (a Liberal peer, formerly President of the Board of Agriculture), in a letter, protests against a bill enacting the supremacy of one House by a bare majority without appeal. Mr. Lloyd George's statement that a referendum would cost two millions is much traversed. One estimate was that, proportionately to Switzerland, the cost would not exceed f 16,000. No other estimate exceeds a-quarter of a million. NEED FOR A SETTLED BASIS. INDEPENDENT OF THE COMMONS. (Received 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. The "Tfines" says that a second chamber having no authority except what it derived from a majority in the House of Commons would be an absolute farce, and any conceivable second chamber having an independent constitutional basis of its own is better than a chamber liable to be altered and realtered at the uncontrolled caprice of a majority of the chamber it is meant to check.

A PEERS' GARRISON.

(Received, 8.25 a,m.) LONDON, November 29. The "Manchester Guardian" contends that the House of Lords' resolutions will give the Conservatives a permanent majority. The reformed House means a proposed garrison representative of the hereditary jeers.

THROUGH FOREIGN GLASSES. LLOYD GEORGE CRITICISED. (Received 9.20 a.m.) PARIS, November 28. The "Gaulois" says: "English statesmen have heretofore prided themselves on their courtesy to their adversaries. Mr. Lloyd George, on the contrary, goes in search of personalities, and infuriates his opponents with gibes, sarcastic and insolent persiflage." The "Journal dcs Debate" says that Mr. Lloyd George might by his merits elevate the commonalty, but he coarsely and brutally sinks to their level. VIENNA, November 29. The "Reichspost" denominates Mr. Lloyd George as a hot-blooded English Miraubcau, while the "Allgemeine Zeitung" declares it repellant to hear an English Minister openly praise revolution. LABOTTR MEMBER'S SALARY. (Received 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. The council of the Northumberland Miners' Association, by 45 votes to 30, agreed to pay Mr. Thomas Burt's Parliamentary salary of £350, which he sacrificed by not signing the Labourite pledge.

RECIPROCITY.

CHAMBERLAIN'S MANIFESTO. LONDON, November 29. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, in hi» election address, says that without a strong navy the increase of internal prosperity would be futile. He favoured land reform, securing the production of food. It would be unfortunate, he says, if the Imperial Conference passed without an agreement establishing reciprocal trade with the colonies. A slight preference would secure at least equal concessions as regards British manufactures.

INTERESTTNG CONTESTS.

LONDON, November 29. A three-cornered contest will be held at Battersea, Mr. John Burns' seat. The Social Democrats toave adopted Mr. Charles Shaw as their candidate. The Labourites in Perth are dissatisfied with the attitude of the Unionist and Liberal candidates over the Osborne judgment, and have adopted as their candidate Mr. Tom Kennedy, who twice contested North Aberdeen as a Unionist

LABOVB'S APPEAL.

ABOLITION OF THE VETO. LONDON, November 29. The Trades Union Congress manifesto, which has been issued, demands the abolition of the House of Lords' veto. It appeals to trades unionists, where Labour candidates are not standing in their electorates, to support candidates pledged to the resolutions passed by the late Trade Union Congress, including the reversal of the Osborne judgment, free education up to the universities, the Right to Work Bill, legislation, on the lines of the minority report of the "Poor Law Commission, payment of members, elections on one day, adult suffrage, the redistribution of seats, and a general eight-hour day.