JOHN REDMOND DEAD

Evening Star, Issue 16676, 7 March 1918, Page 6

JOHN REDMOND DEAD

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, March 6. (Received March 7, at 9.55 a.m.) Mr John Redmond, M.P., is dead, at the age of 66. [Mr John Redmond's first introduction to' the political world was on leaving Trinity College, Dublin, when he secured a position as a clerk in the House of Commons, an appointment possibly made easier by the influence of his father, who was M.P. for Ballytrent. He himself entered Parliament at 30 years of age, and has sat there continuously ever since 1881, representing successively New Ross, North Wexford, and Waterford. Throughout his 34 years of membership he hag, been prominently identified with the Irish party, as leader of which he was put into a position of great power by the result of the elections of 1910, the Liberals' hold on office being to a large extent dependent on his and his party's support. Though he declared that "Home Rule was the be-all and the end-all of the Irish policy and programme," the Bill's passage through the House of_,Commons found him showing a spirit of compromise, and willingness to accept a .modified form of Home Rule rather than risk loss of everything, and was rewarded by the passage of the Bill in September, 1914. When war broke out he made an eloquent speech on the righteousness of the allied cause, and promised Ireland's support and his party's observance of the political truce; but 'he declined a seat in the Coalition Cabinet in May. 1915. He was a member of the Dublin Convention, now seeking to solve the Irish problem. In earlier days he made visits to America and Australasia, raising funds for the Home Rule campaign, and on one of those tours he married, in New South Wales, in 1883, Johanna, daughter of Mr John Dalton. During that tour he spoke m Dunedin in the old Queen's Theatre. Since then his son. : William Archer Redmond, M.P. for East Tyrone, has visited Dunedin on a similar errand' speaking at the C4arrison Hall. Major William Redmond, M.P., brother of John Redmond, died of wounds in France in this war.]