BOUNDARIES IN IRELAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 292, 10 December 1925, Page 7

BOUNDARIES IN IRELAND.

ANGLO-IRISH AGREEMENT. ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE. LONDON, December 9. The second reading of the Irish Confirmation Agreement Bill was moved in the House of Commons yesterday by the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin. He said he was convinced that whatever body might have attempted to deal with the Irish boundary it would have been beyond the power of mortal man to have come to a decision that would have been acceptable to both. The renort of the Boundary Commission would never see the light, but woiild •be hidden away in the archives. If there had been no settlement there i would Have been chaos in Ireland, because the decision of the commission ; would not have been acceptable to either I fide, and it would have left a sense of I injustice. j The agreement provided that the Irish Free State would pay compensation for the material damage done in its territory since 1910, and would repay to ( Britain the Mima the Free State had paid jor was liable to nay under the previous [agreement. These Rums amounted to something like £5,000.000. The settlement enabled Northern Ireland to place its police on a more normal footing, and Britain's obligation in maintaining that force would cease after the present financial year. The agreement left unchanged Britain's obligation toward those who had suffered injury in the Free State before and since the truce. For the first tinje in history they had irishmen agreeing among themselves as to what the border should be. L'p to the present, the boundary, most of which was an accident of history, had been .fraught with terrible consequences. I Sir J. Marriott, Conservative member for York, said that, as be understood the agreement, the House, in return for the Free State's cash repayment of £4,000.000. plus £.500.000 worth of bonds to Irish loyalists, was asked to remit • claims amounting to I Sir \Y. H. Davison, Conservative member for South Kensington, said that although the Free State was relieved of its share of the burden, Ulster had already paid £18.000,000. WHAT ULSTER PAID. The Chancellor of the-' Exchequer, Mr. "Winston Churchill, snid that on a balance Ulster had not paid much more than £1.000,000. It would have been impossible to approach the matter from the point nf view of extracting the last farthing, irrespective of consequences, from the Free State, "Mr. J. H. Thomas, Labour member for Derby, said the Labour party hoped the settlement would bo final. He appealed to both sides to release political prisoners. Although many people feared a new burden would bo placed on the i British taxpayers, h-e believed that all ! should accept the. settlement, the gTonnd for which bad been prepared by the Labour Cabinet. Mr. H. A. L. Fisher. Liberal member jfor the combined universities, said the Liberals welcomed the bill as the basis of a reconciliation between the Irish people and the British. Mr. Baldwin made the special point that he alone of the Prime Ministers saw the boundary map and the report of the commission. Sir James Craig and Mr. W. T. Cossrrave, for reasons of their own, which he fully appreciated, did not think fit to see the documents nor would they. In any case, as a matter of fact, the map and the statements published were far from accurate. The motion was carried. The third reading was then carried without a division. The debate in the Dail on the boundary agreement was adjourned. A Labour member. Mr. Johnson, urged the Government not to allow the issue to lie decided without a direct referendum or a general election. A commotion was caused when Professor O'Sullivan was speaking in favour of the bill. A man in the gallery shouted, "You are a liar!" The interrupter was removed. — (A. and N.Z. Reuter.)