MEN OF ULSTER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 45, 21 August 1930, Page 26

MEN OF ULSTER

BANQUET TO CABINET A LONDON FUNCTION LORD CARSON HONOURED (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 3rd July. There was a very happy party of Ulster people at a dinner at Connaught Rooms last Friday night when Viscount Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and his Cabinet colleagues were entertained by the Ulster Association of London. The guests included many celebrities in addition to Lord and Lady Craigavon. Lord Carson, still vigorous in mind and body, and as devoted as ever to the interests of Ulster, was a conspicuous figure. Lord and Lady Carson were presented with their own portraits in oils. Theso formed part of a comprehensive i gift, from the people of Ulster. It may here be recorded, too, that a statue of Lord Carson, which is also a gift from the Ulster people, is to be erected in the grounds of the Government buildings at Stormont, Belfast. One table was occupied by forty cxOfficers of the Ulster Division, with Major-General Clifford Coffin, V.C., C.8., D.5.0., at the head. This volunteer Division, it will be remembered, was formed before.the war for domestic reasons. Early they went into the Great War and gained great distinction, especially at Thiepval, where they now have a memorial erected in honour of their dead. EMPIRE'S DEBT OF GRATITUDE. Viscount Hailsham (Lord Chancellor in 1928-29) was in the chair. In proposing "The prosperity of Northern Ireland," he said it might seem to savour of audacity to mention the word prosperity in connection with any part of the British Isles, but he was sure that if there was any audience tp which he could safely appeal for a confident hope in prosperity it was an Ulster audience, and if there was any part of the British Isles for which they could confidently expect prosperity in the future it was the province of Ulster. It was just over 33 years since the .Ulster Association was formed, and the first annual banquet was held under the chairmanship of a great Ulsterman, then Lord Chief Justice' of England, Lord Russell of Killowen. Many pages of history - had been written since those days, and Ulster men and women had played their full part in filling up those pages. Lord Hailsham touched on events up to the end of the war. "After the

war," he continued, "there came tho settlement contained in the Act of 1920 when Ulster, with its small population of 1,250,000 people accepted what it had never asked for—the burden of a great Administration and a Parliament and Cabinet to look after its own local affairs, while still maintaining its full sharo in contributing to the general cost of running the Empire. I think that. not only Ulster, but the whole British Empire, owes a debt of gratitude to the Ulster Cabinet for its work in those days. (Applause.) "The toast is 'The Prosperity of Northern Ireland/ and I think that in drinking it wo are drinking to the prosperity of the British Empire. It is difficult to conceive what the history of our country would have been without the contribution which Ulster has made to its development and success in the field of the law, with which I am more immediately connected." GREAT NAMES. Tho chairman went on to mention the names and exploits of such men as Lord Cairns, Lord Russell, Lord Macnaghtcn in the field of law; George Cunning, Lord Castlereagh, Andrew Bonar Law, Lord Cushcndun, Lord Londonderry^ in the field of Administration; Lord Kelvin in science; Sir Donald Currie and Lord Pirrie in commerce. "Where would our Colonial administration have been," asked Lord Hailsham, "but for Ulster assistance? Who thinks of the history of India without remembering the brothers Lawrence, without remembering, the victory in the Indian Mutiny of my own cousin, General John Nicholson? What Imperial conference can fail to remember the contribution of William Ferguson Massey, from New Zealand? AVho has re -1 the" history of the United States without remembering, in tho words of Whitelaw Reid, that tho declaration of Independence, which is jealously preesrved at AVashington, is in the handwriting of an Ulster Scot; that it was first publicly read by another Ulster Scot, and that it was first printed by yet a third Ulster Scot? I also believe that of the comparatively short list of Presidents of the United States no fewer than nine were descended from Ulster Scots. TRIBUTE TO LORD CRAIGAVON. "I am proposing a toast, and the man who is best fitted to respond to it is the Prime Minister, of Northern Ireland. ~' It is always an embarrassing thing" io have to say polite truths about a man in his presence, but I think we will be agreed that Lord Craigavon enjoys the affection and esteem of all his people, especially for the reason that they see. in him the embodiment of all that they regard as the best traditions of "the Ulster character. There is, I suppose, no one of whom it can bo said-that he has shown a greater willingness to obey the call of public duty and a more entire ignoring of all considerations of personal interest, or even, of personal safety. There is no

one who has shown a more unselfish readiness to sacrifice his own comfort for tho public good, or a firmer determination to maintain the principles of liberty and justico and fair Government at all costs. "1 give you this toast with confidence, because I know that tho qualities of our ancestors are still inherent in the people of Ulster, and that they will enable them, as they did in the past, to overcome any difficulties which may stand in their way." (Applause.) Lord Craigavon, replying, said Ulster people were sometimes twitted with being the spoiled children of Great Britain, and -with having their heads kept above water by some mythical grants that were made to them—grants which were not enjoyed by British citizens living in Norfolk', Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and the other English counties. There was not one word of truth in such an assertion. They paid their way and were proud to pay their way. "In the Act of ID2O conferring the status of a Federal Parliament upon our province a financial arrangement was made for the future," continued Lord Craigavon. "It is under the Joint Exchequer Board that we exist in our area. AYe are a separate unit in some regards, but wo are with you so far as taxation is concerned. We arc under tho samo Customs Union, and pay exactly tho same taxation/ AVho compose this Joint Exchequer Board? The chairman of it is Lord Ainess, who is Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, and the other members aro Sir Otto Niemeycr, a very distinguished Civil servant,- and Sir Ernest Clark. Not one of them is directly or indirectly connected with Ulster. They hear, on one hand, the case of the British Treasury, and, ou the other hand, they hear the case put forward by Mr. Pollock, our Finance Minister/ and his advisers, and there flow from their judgment the finances of Northern Ireland. "Wo aro only too delighted that up to the present time we have been able to contribute our full share per head of the population for the maintenance of His Majesty's services. We are proud that to-day we have a settled community living, perhaps, more happily together than at any time I.can remember." (Applause.) SAFEGUARDING MUST COME. "I wouloi like to take this opportunity of' tendering our grateful thanks to successive British Governments for the manner in which they have assisted us to establish our Parliament and administrative machinery. Our medium of communication with the British Government is the Home Office, and each successive Home Secretary has held out a.helping hand all along the line to see that this newest State within the.British Empire should not, as Lord Carson once said, be strangled at its birth. We have carried on to the best of our ability. We have, I believe, scrupulously fulfilled the obligations imposed upon us

by the Act of 1920, and we are in rather a privileged position politically, because, while I find here whisperings of discord, we, in Ulster, knowing our own minds, are all of one way of thinking, and I believe that in consequence we aro able to get a more settled Government than is, perhaps, possible here at the present moment." Lord Craigavon went on to refer to some of the legislation passed by the Northern Government, and said that ho wished they had a measure of safeguarding for the linen industry. He believed that safeguarding would come because he did not think that they could continue the previous wrong of withholding a scheme which every man, woman, and child in the province realised was essential for the salvation of those people who were dependent upon the prosperity of the linen industry for their livelihood. In presenting the portrait to Lord Carson, Lord Craigavon said: "I would like to call to your miners that this great man laid down everything, ho sacrificed all, he kept nothing back, in order that he might help Ulster to save herself. Ulster held on, and he was succossful. It is entirely to him that wo owe our present position." Lady Craigavon presented the portrait to Lady Carson. It was, she said, the tribute from the women of Ulster, who appreciated the way in which Lady Carson supported her husband in his political work, and the manner in which she looked after his welfare. (Applause.) Lord Carson proposed "Tho Empire and Our Guests," to which Sir James Fan* and Lord Kylsant replied. Tho former took the opportunity to appeal on behalf of the Empire Free Trade policy. Sir Robert A. M'Call proposed "Tho Ulster Division," to which MajorGeneral Clifford Coffin, V.C., replied; and the Most Rev. Dr. D'Arcy, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, proposed "The Chairman."