POLITICAL MONSTROSITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 4 March 1926, Page 12

POLITICAL MONSTROSITY.

TWO IRISH PARLIAMENTS. , A TEMPORARY EXPEDIENT. UNITY COMING QUICKLY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) DUBLIN. January 13. '"It is a political monstrosity to have two Parliaments in Ireland," was one or the statements made at the c-mcl'.iding fession in Dublin of a conference on Applied Christianity, held there List week, and the motto of which is: "Towards a Bettor Ireland.' , The statement was made by Rev. Canon Drury. Professor of Pastoral Theology at Dublin University, formerly a curate in Belfast and later rector of Rostrcvor. He presided during a reading of a paper on '"Ireland and its Material Relations—North and South,"' by Senator J. J. Douglas (Cork), and after the remark quoted said he did not think that either the twenty-six or the six counties had the right to bo called Ireland. They wanted to recover Ireland. Their familiar Freo Stnie stamps represented an aspiration or an ideal, lint lie did not think they represented a fact; "but."' he dedared, amidst applause, "we want them i-ome day to represent a fact.' , lie could not conceive of any good Irishman in either the north or the south, content with :l divided Ireland, and he thought the boundary could be regarded only as a temporary and necessary expedient. A Geographical Fact. Senator Douglas said that talk about Irish unity, either on the platform or in the pulpit, whs cf little use at the present time. Partition was -a fact •jeographira'.ly and politically. In many parts of Irelund there was also a religious partition not confined to either north or south. l!r did not want to throw cold water on the enthusiasts. l>iit ho thought that in any conference of that kind they must have facte. lie would be sorry to see unity in Ireland if this unity meant uniformity, and would rather go on a? they were. If partition was to bo ended the" Six Counties would have to produce moderate men and women in the Free State- men who were ready to face their houses being burned down because of the position t!:ey held. In Belfast, on more than one occasion, men who expressed to him their desire for unity, told him not to tell it to others, and the very men to whom he was told not to toll it expressed the same views. Senator Douglas concluded by saying that he did not believe the Free State would gain a farthing by political union with Northern Ireland.

XI. Bolton C. Waller (formerly a member of the Free State's Propaganda Department, the Northeast Boundary Bureau) read a paper on "Ireland as a World Partner." and said the one fatal objection to the Republican policy had been that its success would make the problem of north and south absolutely insoluble, and the division of Ireland would certainly be fixed and permanent. Irish unity was coming, though in what shape or"form couUl not say. but it was coming more quickly than people thought.

Lord Londonderry Retires.

One of the political sensations of the week was the retirement of Lord Londonderry from the cabinet of Northern Ireland." in which ho wag Minister of Education. Lord Londonderry was by far the most capable man of Craig'e Government, and his loss to it is a heavy one indeed. As Minister of Education he brought a ripe J lament as well as a great prestige of hereditary statesmanship, yet in one respect he was not very happy. When he framed the Educational Act, which is now in operation in Northern Ireland, he omitted to include Bible teaching where it was desired in the public elementary schools, and the bill was passed into law without the flaw having drawn particular attention. When attention was drawn to it, Lord Londonderry rather obstinately refused to amend the Act, and he did not give way till the united Protestant churches and the Orange Order brought all their weight to bear, and he yielded with a good grace, but at the same time he keenly felt the position, and although his ostensible reason for withdrawing from Craig's Cabinet is the pressure of his English business affairs, his surrender on the point above mentioned must have had some influence on his decision. If the Marquis of Londonderry had remained exclusively in British politics he would have held a very high position today in Mr. Baldwin's Government, but he cheerfully sacrificed five years of his political career for his beloved Ulster.