IRISH UNITY

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 151, 23 December 1921, Page 17

IRISH UNITY

PEOPLE NOT EXTREMISTS '.'OUT FOR THE BEST THEY CAN GET." :{ Interesting observations' concerning | the Irish situation were made to a Post I reporter by Dr. Mackin, who has just j returned to Wellington after - a world tour extending over two years. Dr. Mackin toured Ireland after the truce was signed between the British Government and the Sinn Fein, and his firm conviction is that the majority of the people, of \all denominations, are consistent' Dominion Homo Rulers. In Dr. Mackin "b opinion the demand for a Republic would never have been made had Ireland been offered before the war the proposals contained in the Treaty constituting ' the Irish Free State. "Michael Collins is the best-liked man among the whole lot of the Irish leaders," remarked Dr. Mackin. Collins was a most moderate speaker, and was far more popular than De Valera. He had heard Collins addressing a gathering in Armagh when he was pleading with the North to ally its destinies with those of the rest of the country. "There must be a united Ireland," added Dr. Mackin. "Tho North must come in in time. a result of my conversation with many people, I have formed the opinion that they are not out for a Republic at all. It is all a political game. They are out for the best they can get." Commercial men in the North had told him that a united country was essential for the prosperity of Ireland; they could not get on without the rest of the country. When Dr. Mackin visited Belfast the city was in a very poor plight from a business point of view. Some 47,000 men were out of employment, shipbuilding was at a low ebb, and enormous sums of moriey had been lost in the linen industry. The boycott of the banks, combined with the general falling-off of trade at the end of the war, had caused much depression. Dr. Mackin does not believe that 1 per cent, of the Irish farmers want a Republic. They were not fools, he said, and readily realised that their next-door neighbour — England — was their best market.

"No, the Irish people are not one bit against the King," Dr. Mackin continued. "What they want is perfect freedom and a united Ireland, which is their ultimate goal. Once they get perfect freedom to work out their /own destiny, they will be as loyal to England as any other of the Dominions." When the Irish were given full justice there- was not a people more ready to forgive. The crux of the situation was that the North and the South must join hands, and there was no reason on earth why they should not do so. When the Irish railway strike was in progress some time ago an apt illustration was given of the necessity for North and South working in with one another. Until the men in the North came out in sympathy with their fellow-workers of the South it was impossible to gain any concessions. Once the North and South came together in a businesslike arrangement all the feuds that had lasted for oenturies would be wiped out. "If the people are left alone to work out their own destiny," said Dr. Mackin, "I believe they will get on well, and that there will be no more trouble, but there is no possibility of them getting on if they continue.to be split into two factions —North and South." The Irish people were not the extremists they were .thought to be. All they wanted was to- bo treated with the same spirit of fairness aa had been extended-to the other Dominions, and not one in a hundred wanted to break away from the Empire. „. . .rr .