BRITAIN AND EIRE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 178, 26 April 1938, Page 10

BRITAIN AND EIRE

After many checks and delays the Governments of the United Kingdom and Eire—the Irish Free State—have reached the. point of signing a trade agreement. The main difficulty at the beginning was to induce Mr. de Valera to drop the Irish partition issue After the results of the recent general election in Northern Irelana, at which the independence of Ulster was the single issue, he must have realised that it was hopeless to persist in the face. of such an overwhelming majority as was recorded-against the union of North and South. The British Government in the meantime had made an explicit pronouncement that it refused to recognise that anything in the new Eire Constitution “involves any right to territory or jurisdiction over territory forming part of the United Kingdom and Northern lie and. This declaration, coupled with the emphatic vote in Northern Ireland, had the effect of separating the political issues from the economic, and opening the way to an agreement on trade questions. Hitherto there has been a state of economic war between the two countries Such a condition could only have the effect of prolonging bitterness of feeling. The effect of the new agreement will be to reopen the markets of the United Kingdom to food products from Eire It is pointed out, however, that this may affect imports, especially of dairy produce, from the Dominions. The prospect of such a development emphasises the warning given at the Empire Producers’ Conference in Sydney recently, that it would not be. wise to count upon an expansion of the British markets foi Dominion products From this point of view the terms of the new agreement, when published, will be read with the keenest interest and some concern.