THE ULSTER PROBLEM.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3586, 11 March 1914, Page 5

THE ULSTER PROBLEM.

MR ASQUITH’S SUGGESTION.

ULSTER COUNTIES TO POLL ON EXCLUSION. A SIX-YEAR PERIOD ALLOWED. UNIONISTS PROPOSALS COLDLY. [UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT] LONDON, March 9. The House of Commons was crowded. Members being unable to find accommodation on the floor of the chamber were seated in the galleries. Great tension prevailed throughout question time. Mr Asquith (Premier), Mr Bonar Law (Leader of the Opposition), and Sir Edward Carson each received an ovation.

Mr Asquith arose amidst great cheering. He said he was offering suggestions which did' not mean running away from the original Bill. He desired to give the Bill a start with the greatest measure of success. There was the prospect of acute dissatisfaction and civil strife, yet if the Bill was shipwrecked, mutilated, or postponed, the outlook was equally fo/midable. Any settlement, therefore, must involve the acceptance of the principle of an Irish Parliament with sjmcial treatment (o Ulster beyond the safeguards provided in the Bill. He said the Government had considered three roads. The first was Home Rule within Home Rule, which did not commend itself to any of the parties. The second was the inclusion of the whole of Ireland with the opiion of Ulster counties to recede after a period. 3 his also possessed fatal drawbacks. The third considered the exclusion of Ulster. The Government had decided that Ulster should he allowed to say whether it desired exclusion. A poll of electors would be taken before the Bill became operative. Continuing, Mr Asquith .said that the Ulster counties would be allowed a poll whether they would be exclud-

ed for six years. Before the six years expired the (doctors of the United Kingdom would have an opportunity to say whether exclusion should continue. “It" exclusion is adopted,” he stated, “the six-yearly period will date from the first meeting of Parliament. 'The term will afford ample time to tost, the new Parliament, and electors in the United Kingdom will be able to sav whether exclusion should continue. M eanwhile Ulser will continue its representation in the Imperial Parliament.” Mr Redmond (Nationalist Leader) said the Premier had gone to the very limit of concession. Long before the expiry of the six years they would be able to make an exhibition of a tolerant government which would disarm suspicion. Mr Bonar Law demanded that the electors should he consulted; otherwise the Unionists would be unable to accent the proposals. iSir E. Carson said that if the Government abolished the time limit ho would summon an Ulster Convention to consider the proposals, but not otherwise.

“UNREASONABLE PROPOSITIONS ” UNIONISTS FRANKLY DISSATISFIED. (Received March 10, 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, March 10. Mr Asquith*said that personally he bad spent a great deal of labor in trying to devise a settlement on the lines of Home Rule within home rule, but it would have pleased no one. The exclusion of the Ulster Counties was onlv proposed as the price of peace, and as an expedient to pave the way t 0 a final settlement. The Irish Executive would have no right of entry into Ulster, and the Imperial Minister ‘who answered for the Irish Parliament would also he responsible for Ulster. There would bo no difficulty as to factory and workshop administration, while education and local government could be dealt with by the creation of local authorities. There would be no difficulty with the police and land purchase was included in the services reserved to the Imperial Parliament. Mr Bonar Law said' the Premier’s proposals were equivalent to saying to Ulster: “By an organisation extending over three years you have placed yourselves in an impregnable position. Therefore wo don’t ask you to submit now to the National Parliament, but we ask you to destroy your organisation and leave your fortress. When you are weak you will lx 1 compelled to do what you cannot be compelled to do to-day!”

“Does the Premier consider that reasonable?” he asked. “I think the proposals are utterly futile. If the Government is unwilling to have a general election it can put the proposals outlined to-night into a. Bill and attach a clause necessitating that the Bill shall he submitted to the country for a plain ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ adding that if the verdict is ‘yes’ the Bill shall he presented forthwith for the Royal Assent. I cannot speak for the Lords, but if the Government does this I will do everything to enable them to carry the referendum into effect.” Mr Redmond said: “If Ulster frankly accepts the Government’s proposals as a basis of peace, we will accept them in the same spirit. It would bo a tragedy if Sir Edward Carson and his friends refuse to assist in creating good Government in Ireland. If the Opposition, in a moment of unwisdom and [Mission reject this far-reaching and generous suggestion, then the Government owe it to Ireland and to the Empire to put the Bill on the Statute Book without delay and face, with firmness any movement to overawe Parliament, or subvert the law by menace or arms. . , . Sir Edward Carson said Ulster was not going to desert the loyalists in West and South Ireland, but if the Government wanted to prevent Ulster resisting by force as opposed to constitutional methods, Mr Asquith had made some progress bv acknowledging the principle of exclusion. The details could 1 he worked out by negotiation, but Ulster did not want a sentence of death with a stay of execution for six

years.. It was impossible that the business of Ulster could be proceeded with with the people knowing that future Government might be changed by a general election. Why not agree, after a referendum, that Ulster remains part of the Imperial Parliament until Parliament, having regard to the feeling of Ulster itself, orders otherwise ? Sir Edward Carson added: “Mr Redmond lias asked the House to employ the resources of the Government against Ulster, but is the country prepared to allow the forces of the Crown, which are not the forces of any

political caucus, to bo used to coerce men who ask nothing but that they shall remain under this Parliament?” Mr P. O’Brien (Nationalist) said the Premier’s suggestions were hateful and intolerable. Ulster was indulging in a gigantic game of bluff. Mr Tim Healy (Independent Nationalist) said lie would rather have no Bill than the proposed modifications. He was certain Mr Redmond was going to swallow perpetual exclusion. The four excluded counties would be boycotted by all the Irish outside and there would probably he a movement in the American Congress to put a tariff on Belfast linen and other products to prevent them being consumed in tlie United States. The debate was: adjourned until the 16th inst. Mr Asquith indicated that B-1 fast and Londonderry City, which are County boroughs, would vote as separate counties. Unionists point out that this will probably result in Londonderry City

being ruled from Dublin, though the County, wherein the Unionists are in a majority, will be governed from Westminster. The “Daily Mail” says the Government’s decision to increase exclusion to six years was only intimated to tile Nationalist meeting yesterday and is attributed to Royal influence. The “Daily Chronicle” sa.vs the time limit is not verymaterial. Why should not Ulster have a referendum everyth ree years? Mr Asquith’s proposal meets critics who say Parliament is not entitled to transfer the population ot Ulster to a new rule without the people’s consent. The. “Daily News” says the threat of civil war is being used to restore the supremacy of the Lords. The [aster farmers were drilled in order to deprive the democracy of the fruits of victory won in 1910. If the Premier’s over-generous terms are rejected the counti y will ask for a .severe repression of the rebel movement.