Ulster

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32077, 27 August 1969, Page 12

Ulster

Sir, —So far as my letter was concerned, “A B. Cedarian” seems to have got hold of the wrong end of the stick rather firmly. I never said anything about “Kiwis” taking part in the battle of the Boyne. So far as I.know. New Zealanders, as we interpret the term, were not even invented in those days. I would have thought that anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence would have realised that it was the British, of whom I am one, to whom I was referring.—Yours, etc., HAM. August 25, 1969.

Sir,—As stated in the article reprinted today from the “Financial Times,” jerrymandering is a feature of the "status quo” to which Westminster has turned a blind eye. Unionists retain control in Nationalist countries because constituencies have been so arranged that a minority party can elect more office-holders than the opposing majority. To quote from “Life” magazine, the city of Derry, with twice as many Nationalists as unionists, was divided into three wards. The former were crammed into one ward able to elect only eight councillors, the latter in two wards had 12 council seats between them. A minority of voters always holds power. Why has a Labour Government, which professes horror regarding Rhodesia, allowed such situations to continue? To quote the Ulster Government information service at Stormont “Technically, a Westminster Parliament is free to legislate for Northern Ireland.” However, in practice, Stormont's authority is never challenged. Harold Wilson is supposed to be a challenger. —Yours, etc., A B. CEDARIAN. August 26, 1969. Sir,—An Ulsterman is less similar to a Southern Irishman than English to Dutch. Roman Catholics hated Protestants long before the Presbyterian, Mr Paisley, was born. Ulster Presbyterians are proud, loyal British subjects —not Fascists, like Roman Catholic Ireland, which was neutral in the last war but supported Nazi Germany. Roman Catholic Irish (etc.) want Protestants expelled from Ulster so that they, a minority, can rule from Dublin, gaining independence from our Anglican Queen and British Commonwealth. Miss Devlin and the Ulster petrolbomb throwers are wrong, not Paisley, the demonstrator. —Yours, etc., NORTHERN IRISHMAN. August. 26, 1969.