TRISH HOME RULE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12682, 21 December 1906, Page 5

TRISH HOME RULE.

♦ TO TriT. F.DTTOn Or " THB PRESS." Sir. — \Vhi!i-> human nature is what it is itroii" to evil and judgments nnd unreasoning prejudice*", we muM bo pi'op.-irod to expect differences of opinion upon all vitul fjurstions affecting tho pu'ilic interior. Thus, it it forve no other p:irpn>e, at lcn*t secures us from thi; <laii;j«.T of sinking into a state of dull monotony of thought and action that would bo ar mice disastrous to a'! human prcgivn- and endeavour. On tin.- ground, then, 1 claim tju- right to differ with you now, as I have often differed with yon belore. oil the Home iSiilo (jiioliuu. In your leader of December l!'t!i you mviu to mc to be singularly, and, may I say, unpardonably di-tvctivo in loftic. "While , we are alwa>s glad,' , you bay, "to welcome public men from the Homo Country, nnd to listen to their vieu-.s on public questions, we tlo not agieo that the people of tins colony shoukl be asked to express an opinion on Home politics, especially upon matter.* with which we Lave no immediate concern." Now, sir, if Ireland bo, as you cay it is. an integral part of the United Kingdom, and if New Zealand bo, as it undoubtedly is, an integral part of tho British Empire, we have a right, an unqualified right, to give an expression of our opinion upon any great question affecting tie interests of tho Mother Country, or any i part of it, else why did the late Mr iSeddon send out ten contingents to tho j Transvaal to assi.st England in suppressing the Boers? Further, what object _ would any public man have in coming to thLs colony to be welcomed even hy the editor of ''The Press," if he dare not try to elicit from tho people •whom he addreeses an expression of their opinion? If you are glad to welcome him. as you «ay you are, and glad to listen to hie views on publio questions, what obliquity of vifiion is it that prevents you from eeeing it is to get an expreesion of your opinion and to enlist your sympathy in his cause that he travels 1200 miles to epoak to you? No one on earth to-day even suggests that Ireland is well governed, and if not, why not? And no one donios the, right to a member of the Imperial Parliament to etato a caee for his constituency in any part of the Empire, if by doing so he hopee to obtain somo advantage for them. If the permission to etato a case be acceded to him, he has a right to expect an expr«wion of opinion upon it, and in tho ca6o under discussion that opinion has been given not only hy hundreds and thousands, but by millions of people who have heard Mr Devlin tell of his country's wrongs. Yon cay that Ireland is an integral part of tho United Kingdom. Then, if it be bo, why in tho name of justice and fair play Jβ it the only spot on the wide Empire of England where one can jiever get out of sight of poverty and all the concomitants of poverty, idleness, thriftlessness. dirt and discontent? Why is it the only spot in tho Emnire where ruin and" decay and desolation stare you in tho face everywhere yon go. and meet yon at every turn of the rondP Why ie it the only plnoe in the Empire from •which ite people are flying us from i plaprue snot, or why is it the only place in the Empire where hope Sβ dfcnd nnd overy incentive to industry- is crushed out of men's hearts utterly? If it be nn integral part of the Empire why does ]*■ not Ahar«> in the Emnire'e prosperity ? What does the Empire's extension, the success of its arms on land or sea. the increaso of ita wealth, tho expansion of ite commerce matter to Ireland? Not two rows of pins; her only only interest in these things is the imonntof taxation they heap upon her shoulders. To say, therefore, thnt that unfortunate country is an integral part of tho United Kingdom is u nm itiGrated clap-trap. However, as my opinion goes only for what it is worth, I beg. sir, to eubrnit to your rcrdrre a few farts which are as indefensible and unjustifiable is they are monetrous and astounding. Lot mc first say that Ireland h."K 300.000 lees of a population at the prefont time than A-otland. In the Lon don "Haily Chronicle,"' of Janußry 20th. ifXW.'Mr Arnold White, writing nn "Crimeiess lrelnnd." trlls us that in 1903 there were 2111 criminal convictions in Scotland while during tho same year the convictions in Irchnd worn 1163. but that in Ireland the cost of tliA police forco was for that period £1..V>0.2U, while in Scotland it amounted only to £539,196. Now. if Ireland bo an integral part- of the United Kingdom, why, may I ask, does it cost over a million and a half of money to "run in" abotit one thousind or moro criminals, while it cost Scotland but half the rronoy to run in flouble tho number? According to Mr White Irehind is twice as crimeless and ten times as moral as Scotland and yet tho lawcosts and tho Land Commission in Ireland total £0>30.229. while the same business i*, dor-e for iScotlind at a cost of r?r>37.3. The cenens of IPO3 gives the illf»2itimncy rate of Scotland as being about inn times that of Ireland. the Local Government Board of Ireland costs £79.875 while the Local Government Board of tSrotland mmapes to trot through its work at n cost of £1.">.R'20. In fine, Ireland with 300,000 less of a population than Scotland, and with h"*- ono halt its crime, has to nay two millions a year more than that country for the conduct of its lejn] business. But eerious as these financial grievances are they are not the only one« nor the greatest from which Ireland suffers to-day. In a country of which it may be safely affirmed that the large majority of tho people are Catholics, every position of trust 3nd emolument is piven to Protestants, and from all the higher positions in the country Catholics are religiously excluded. The entire machinery of the law is in tho bands of Protestants, in fact everything that js worth havinsr in the country ie in the possession of th« dominant party. Vet in the face of this we are told that Irelind ie an intoyral pnrt of the United Kinsrdom! No. sir, the system of Government in Ireland is rotten, root and branch. It is a diszrace to England; it. is the foulest stain upon her escutcheon : it is the one sweltering sore upon tho body politic, it is the vilest thing outside the Empire of the Czar, and the sooner wo get rid of it md try some other remedy with long eufferinc and pntient Ireland tho better for all concerned.—Yours, etc., If. NOLAN.