BRITISH POLITICIAN'S VIEWS

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1920, Page 3

BRITISH POLITICIAN'S VIEWS

VERY CONFLICTING

; LORDS PASS BILL. (Rec. November 26, 7.25 p.m.) LONDON. November 2<i. ThetHouse of Lords read the Home Rule Bill a second time, rejecting Lord Middleton's motion by 177 to 91 find Lord Dunraven's by 164 to 75. ' Lord Middleton moved the Bill be , held over for a fortnight to enable it to be liberated by amendments suggest ed by the debate. Lord Birkenhead said lie regarded this as a vital amendment. Lord Dunraven's motion was for the absolute rejection of the Bill as being much short of what moderate opinion demanded. In the House of Commons, Ttt. lion. H H. Asquith moved the reso'ntion of' which he gave notice. The, motion affirms:— "That the House oeclares that it condemns the action oi the Executive in attempting; to re^oss crime by methods of terrorism, and the reprisals, which involve th»* lives of the innocent, and which are contrary to civilised usages." Mr. Asquith said that, the dead officers in the fullest sense of the w-id, were martyrs to public duty. Tt was a .satisfaction, he said, to know that tliose who have been arrested would suffer the extreme penalty. The Irish authorities, Mr. Asquith declared, defended the deaths of. the civilians in Ireland, by stating that, *- officers of the Crown were' hit, they were entitled to hit back, but this hypothesis only covered a small part of the ground. It was evident , he said, that the forces of the Crown were engaged in a systematic way, lipon the deliberate destruction of the people, creameries, shops and homes in Ireland; and this without regard to tlJe innocence or guilt, of the sufferers. Tho evidence was overwhelming that these reprisals were, organised by the police and the military. Thus, _he said, the Government was destroying the moderate opinion. It was poisoning the atmosphere in Ireland. In reply, Sir Haonar Greenwood, (Chief Secretary for Ireland) said he •welcomed Mr, "Asquith' s condemnation of the murders of soldiers. This attude had 'not been so conspicuous in the speeches as he should have liked it to be. Sir Hamar Greenwood denounced the London Liberal Federation of which Mr. ' Asquith was President, for what he called issuing bulletins of Irish murder gamgs, who, lie asserted, also had their representatives in the lobby. This, he declared, was "a loathsome allia-nce." This remark occasioned considerable interruption, and cries "names !" Members on the Ministerial benches replied: ""You seem very uneasy." (laughter.) Sir. H. Greenwood claimed threequarters of Ireland was as peaceful as Kent. This was because the forces of- the Crown were breaking terrorism. Out of Ireland's 170 creamerieß it was only alleged that forty-one are damaged, of which some had been used as ambushes. He said their destruction -was justified. No other coontry-in ,the world would have stood who* ' Britain was standing. He said the^Sinn Fein courts ,had now disappeared; The boycott had been broken. ■•■was. also going..