IRELAND AND BRITAIN.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17408, 20 March 1922, Page 7

IRELAND AND BRITAIN.

A BISHOP'S SPEECH AND A Reply;

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

Tn B •J TJCKIj AXD ! March 19. t 5, concert on Friday evening, l>r. Liston, a m J T an C -thclic Bishop of uc an , B.ud his parents were driven from tho country in w i nc h they were born, and m which they would have been content to live, because their foreigii masters did not want Irish men ana women peopling their own land, but wished to uf* it as a cattle ranch for the snobs of the Empire. He was a native of New Zealand, and loved his country They could not say that Ireland hay got a»l she asked for, and all tnat hor sons had died for, but she had got the First instalment of her fiecdom, and was determined to have the whole .'^2P^ au se.) The omnipotent hand or God had made Ireland a nation, and while grass grew and water flowed, there would be many to fight, and even die, iiv order that God's desires might bo realised. It seemed io him providential thai the man who had faced the difficulties and carried them so far was there to fee that the rulers of Ireland were not duped b.v Erig'and. He referred to the men anil women who, in tho glorious Easter or 1916, were proud to die for their country—murdered by foreign trorpg, They could not forget these men and women, but in order that their dream about Ireland might come true, they could forgive. The Mayor, Mr J. H. Gunson, publishes the following: "The speech of Bishop Liston calls for immediato action on my part. As Mayor, on behalf of our citizenship, I wrote to the Bishop on Saturdav morning asking him to advise me whether he had been correctly reported, though my long experience of tho Press in Auckland gives mo no cause to doubt the accuracy of the report. The speech, as reported, is avowedly and openly disloyal to King and country, and is an affront to our citizenship. It is seditious, and designedly calculated to cnuse the disintegration of all that Britishers hold dear. It is a studied insult to the citizenship of tho Empire to which New Zealand is proud to belong. The repudiation of England, the sneeriug reference to her as "a foreign nation, ' and the entire dissociation with disdain of tlio apeaker, and those for whom he said he spoke, as "a right," from all that pertains to tho Empire, challenge all loyal citizens to raise their voices in protest. The reference to British soldiers aa foreign murderer's is especially offensive and unwarrantable. '1 take this first public opportunity of saying, with all emphasis possible, that the' citizens of Auckland will not tolerate for one minute such a studied and deliberate act of disloyalty and fcf insult to British manhood and womanhood, and in making this intimation, I wish to say that such seditious and ruinous speech will not be allowed in the Auckland Town Hall or in any place which the city administration controls or licenses. The Bishop and others holding views such as those reported, are not fit to longer enjoy the privileges and rights of our British Commonwealth, and the protection of the. British flag. This speech will bo brought under the notice of the Attor-ney-General, and it wi'l be my duty to advise the City Council to take other appropriate action. In' the meantime, on benalf of tho citizens of Auckland, I enter an emphatic protest in tiie foregoing tenns. '