LIVELY POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 175, 18 April 1908, Page 5

LIVELY POLITICS.

MANCHESTER ELECTION. IRISH PARTY AND THE LIBERALS. TARIFFITES DISPLEASED. FREE TRADE AND SOCIAL REFORM.! BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION:—COPYRIGHT. (Rec. April 17, 0.15 a.rrh) London, April 16. Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking at Manchester, said ho was convinced that Freo Trade would enablo the Government to find, tho money required for social reforms and a reasonable and prudent scheme of old ago pensions. , This .year's surplus would amount to four and three-quarter . millions. , The increase every year in tho revenue derived- from taxation amounted to nearly two millions. Mr. Churchill added that in future, without injuring our credit or adding to taxation, it would bo possible to obtain ten or twelve millions a year for useful purposes of social reform. 1 Mr. Churchill declared that his defeat would ho a serious blow to Freo Trado, but would not cause the Government to resign. lii reply to questions by, the. suffragettes, Mr. Churchill stated that ho favoured woman suffrage. MR. HICKS AND TARIFF REFORM. LUKEWARM ATTITUDE. (Rec. April 17, 9.41 a.m.)_ London, April 16.' The by-election contest for Manchester (North-West) .is being fought with ; terrific energy./ . ' . ' Mr.'Joynson Hicks, the Unionist, candidate, has created much dissatisfaction in the ranks of the' Tariffites by evading questions and declining, to make Tariff Reform one of tho issues of tho election. Mr. Hicks ' declares that the roal issue is condemnation of the Government. ' i ' The Executive of the Free Trade Loagiic, consisting of- Unionist Free Traders! and Liberals, requests the electors to vote for Freo Trade, which is Mr. Churchill's chief plank. MR. HALES RETIRES. CONTEST STILL TRIANGULAR. , London, April 15. Mr!. A. G., Hales, the novelist and war correspondent, has abandoned the contest for tho North-West Manchester seat, and. will support Mr. Joynson 'Hicks, the Unionist candidate. . Mr. Irving stands as a' candidate in the Socialist interest. '. ! -■' ' ' HOME RULE. ; MR. REDMOND WANTS A POWERFUL AGITATION. WILL NOT; SUPPORT MR. CHURCHILL. (Rec. April, 17, 0.20 a.m.) London, April 16. Mr. John Redmond, Leader of the Nationalist party, in ; a 'speech at Dublin, appealed to tho Irish; to ifiake a strong, willing, and, consistent combativo movement, simul-, taneously in .Pftrlii'inent, ih 'Ireland, and' in ,the. English' Copstjtuericics, in order to com-, pel tho'Government to'make Homo Enid oho' of-the foremost issues at the' noxt General' Election. ,r' ,' • '

■' ■ Mr.>Rctchnond protested 'against the w6rd ( "alliance", being' applied to tho relations between tlio Liberal and tho Irish parties; Tho Irish refftainod a party of independent opposition, and;allied themselves with no one unices on the basis of the acceptance; of full Homo' Rule., ' ' \

■ On' th?ir merits, the Irish ought.,to oppose most'of "the Government's chief Bills, especially!,.tho iEducation' and ..Licensing Bills. Clearly').;lreland's. intprpst.-'was, to-. hasten a dissolution. It was impossible to ask the Irishmen; of/Manchester to -..support Mr. Churchill,': -

, He urged'that'a >ealiy powerful land, agitation, bo carried on during the autumn and winter; Then Irish questions would be kept | in. front with a vengeance. l , j. ' SIR A. MACDONNELL. ■ MAY RETIRE FROM DUBLIN CASTLE. (Roc. April 17, 9.41 a.m.) London, April 16. . The "Pair-Mall ' Gazette" states that Sir Antony MacDounell, 'Undersecretary to the Lofd-Lieirtonait' of Iroiand, with/ 'his A -curtailed powers, is finding his Irish' .task'hopeless. rHo*-:)?;'making, the .best'ierms ho can with the Treasury ! regarding his retirement; It is^'.understood - that his successor will-, be Sir.nTm. Dougherty, ■ Assistant...Undersecretary -to the Lord-Lieutenant;' -v .'J i * ; EDUCATION BILL. >; " r "CONFER . AND COMPROMISE.'.' London, April 15. ■ ' . The "Daily Chronicle "' urges that Mr. WaJter Uuncimari, the new Minister for Education; should ■ convene an informal conference with a view to arranging a compromise on-the education question, v.. .v. . Sir Antonys MacDonrieU, Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant erf Ireland, had a brilliant career in the Indian Civil Service before he became the.- masterful man at Dublin', Castle •' in fact, his'.statue stands at Lucknow.' He is a. Roman Catholic and a Home Ruler, and he is credited with having- been behind the devolution movement, and with having induced Mr. G. Wyndliam (Secretary for Ireland) and' the Viceroy, Lord Dudley (now GovernorGeneral of Australia) to take it up. This was in the days of the Unionist Government, and, as a result of the Unionist outburst, Mr. Wyndham resigned and, Lord'Dndley was much criticised. The Under-Secretary was also supposed to be behind Mr. Birrell's Irish Councils Bill, i which represented tho-fruit of-Liberal Revolutionism, and which tho Nationalists rejected. Mr. Birrell is said to have cut asunder from his . Under-Secretary on the. Irish University question, and to have .produced a Bill which is more Birrell than MacDomiell, Although his power'seem? to have diminished, Sir Antony' has certainly, for a permanent official, wielded a great influence.- Ho was largely instrumental in passing' Mr. Wyndham's Land Act. Sir Antony is tho son of a small landlord in County Mayo, and is described as "short,, fair, bluoeyed, with all his heart in his work." Sir Jas. B. Dougherty, Assistant Under-Sec-•retary, was Professor of Logic and English at Magee College, Londonderry, from 1870 to 1635. Ho was Commissioner for Education from 181)6 to 1895. He has won honours in metaphysical and economic Boienco.