BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 July 1932, Page 5

BRITAIN AND IRELAND

DEBATE IN COMMONS. [by CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] LONDON, July 7. In the House of Commons, Mr J. 11. Thomas referred to Mr G. Lansbury’s motion to reject the Special Irish Duties Bill on the ground that the Irish State is paying the disputed moneys Into the Suspense Account pending arbitration. Mr Thomas said he would remind the Opposition that the Free State Land Act of 1923 made payment into suspense account obligatory. At this there were cheers and laughter. Mr Lansbury moved an amendment to reject the Government’s Special (Free State) Duties Bill. The amendment described the Bill as “the precipitate adoption of economic reprisals against the Irish Free State.” Mr Lansbury said: “It was essential for Mr Thomas to remember that it was because there was a disagreement regarding the setting up of a Tribunal at the Imperial Conference that the Statute of Westminster was ’passed without any Tribunal. This matter has been discussed as if the Irish Free State was doing something which put them outside the pale of ordinary civilised States. This dispute was an honest dispute, and it was not a question of money. Mi’ Thomas’s Bill was a piece of penal legislation, which only would engender hatred and bitterness. Mr Maxton said that Mr De Valera and the Irish people were perfectly entitled to take the steps that they were taking, from the first to the last. Colonel Moore-Brabazon (Conservative), who stated he was speaking as “half an Irishman,” said that Mr de Valera had .no sense of honour; Mr De Valera, he said, had set a cunning trap into which Mr Thomas had fallen, and, as the result, he had stirred up all of the old animosity. Colonel Moore-Brabazon added: “If Ireland swings to a republic at its next election, Mr Thomas will have been responsible more than any other man.” At this there were cries of “No!”

“DIFFICULT TIMES” DUBLIN, July 7. Replying to a question by Mr. MeGilligan, in the Dail Eireann, Mr. De Valera denied that he had received any information that any arms had been landed on the coast, or had been transferred across the Irish land frontier. Mr. De Valera admitted that he had received representations from another Government, and that 'he had taken all necessary precautions in the matter. Speaking at 'Cork, Mr. De Valera said: “We are facing difficult times. No one can tell what a few years’ changes will bring. The one prophecy that can be made is that the structure of society cannot much longer withstand the strain to which it is being subjected now. If those on whom rests the duty of leadership in politics and business do not realise the necessity and find the means of reconstructing the social order in accordance with Christian principles, I fear .there lies before the world calamities of which most people have yet no conception. In Ireland, at least, we have the solution of our difficulties, both social and economic, in our own hands if we have the will to apply it. The task will not be an easy one, and in the initial stages it will call for sacrifices from all sections of the I people.”