EAMMON DE VALERA

Grey River Argus, 19 June 1925, Page 6

EAMMON DE VALERA

WELLINGTON CONTROVERSY. (From the “N.Z. Times.”) Under the auspices of the New Zea. lam) Irish Republican Association, Mi Gerald Griffin (seeretarv) gave an ad. dress last night on “The Common, sense of Eanion De Valera. ” Ihe address was intended as a reply to state, meats made by the newspapers; ami a special invitation to be present was extended to the editor of the “New Zealand Times.’ (says that paper of June S'). , Mr P. J. O’Regan, who presided over a large attendance, said that it mio-ht be said that he had a knack of taking up what were generally sup posed" to be lost causes; but lie did 'not believe that the cause of the Irish Republic was by any means a lost cause And. at any rate, surely every. In.dy in New Zealand —no matter how small tin- minority ho might be m-~ li-ifl a ri'dit to freedom of speech. What Imd ■ ailed forth Mr Griffin s lecture was a rather flippant and. he mi. Hit sav unbecoming leading article which appeared in the “Now Zealand Times." , _. It was also ven creditable that Mr. |)c Valera was going back to us schoolwork, as Cineinnatus, the fa , ni)u .. old Roman, returned to his plough. Had Mr. De Valera been like the aristocrats, the.great land owners of Great Britain, to go to work would have been the last thing ho would have ever thought oi. (Laughter and applause). The re mark" made by the -flippant sciolist” who was the emt.ir the "Tiim-s that Do Valera had big family am! nas going to work "ere greatly to De VMera's credit; and had iner-ased. i. pe.siblo bis (Mr. o-ltegau's- r.omri far him. (Applause). Mr. Griffin reviowcil at length 'lm life of Mr. De Valera, pmntinu < «' (hat his scholastic attainments were considerable, and claiming i had rendered the very greateM ’ \ ice the ideal <•! :in Irish He denied that De \ alera was a placr-sceker, saving that if he had boon Iteeu anxious for place ami power he could have obtained i u-m and became the first Premier of thIrish Free State by agreeing '.o. nstead of deiiouiiiing the compact ar rived at between Michael C->1 m Arthur Griffiths, and Lloyd George. Hearty vote, of thanks were ae corded the speaker and the clmir man. In reply to the foregoing, the Zealand Times” editorially remark Flippant Socialist -ll a real achievement. One oi Hie ‘•Times’s” üb-lcaders on De \ :'- ] cra —who has gone hack whore n<belongs—provoked a meeting oi Wellington’s Irish Republicans last evening. So far as we ean gamerthe chief speaker was Mr. I' -! ()‘ Reg.in. v ho "as once in P: ilia, ment, and is at present an ex-offieio politician. ■' tr - <’■ Regan described the editorial in question ass 'Tadie' flippant,” and (‘lie might say I “unbecoming ” He was even more crushing (or complimentary) when he likened our critical'methods to those of the Sydney ‘'Bulletin. We plead guilty to the flippancy. It m too late in the day to be serious about de Valera, who never did his country a greater service than when he rctuimed to work. We commend him for that, and are called han 1 names IThere is no gratitude in tin world It is true that de Valera did not advent,ise in the “Times . but he engineered plenty of cheap advei tisement for himself elsewhere, all that that, free publicity eoum Jbring him was a place at the schoolmaster’s desk. Probably he will make a useful teacher. AY ith his passion for the exotic. Mr. O‘Rcgan hurls at our devoted head the epithet “flippant sciolist.” If it is nor unchristian to say so, we deplore his lack of a sense of humour, a fatal deficiency in any public man. Mr. G. J. Griffin (Secretary of the Wellington Irish Republican Association), writing in the “New Zealand Times,” said: —Tn answer to your comments of the Ist instant .on our letter of the 28th ult: — Were it not that the “wrongs ot Ireland are too real and the sorrows of the Irish people far too deep we

would be tempted -to i humourous comment updn your tai of ‘‘commonsense. ’ The contentio that we made in our letter of abov date was: That as a result of th counsels of Imperialist statesmen b< ing accepted before the advice of »•' elected representative of the Iris people—Eammon De Vah ra—the called Free State was brought mt being with the already mentioned e fects on the Irish nation. De \ aler laid down a basis in 1921. upon whir peace could have been established h< tween 4,he two nations. That bas was rejected—peace has not been s< cured nor is it in sight—surely the it does not display lack of uie tm phrases heard during the late w: of “the right of small nations to ch termine freely without, outside intel fcrence what form of government thf desire." bi the Dish General Elections < December, 19H. >lnn Fein, he straight out Republicans and Natioi alists (standing f<-r sdf-determin. lion) polled a total vote of 1.211.51 votes, of 79.3 per cent, of ’.he t<’l; vote; the Unionists polled 271.1-55, • per cent.: Independent and L. bom- largely supporting self.'h ’enui at ion) polled 45,939, or 2.9 per cen On the ba--is of these figures D-* Eire m—GovernmciiL of the Irish !’< De Valera elected presiden’ . I Ids cL eision was : t all irine-i in 1920 at * • municipal elections; 95 per cent < the township-, outside I isier deda cd -oi- a republic. The ( otnplei statistics show lhai in Leinster : out oi towns were \\.»n by Kepul iica’is; in ( 'tmat-ghi. nine out < ten; in Minister, 32 mi; of 32; ar in Ulster 21 out of 17. At the I’a liamentary elections "f the san year (-Hine, 1920) the IL publicai won on a ck ar-eut issue, with tl Black and Tan ‘Terror at its heigh 95 per cent, of flu* total votethese figures do n< i indicate tl wishes of the* Irish people then eh*' lion figures will ewer establish an. thing .In tin Dnji.Eiiean division < the motion to recoipmend tl “treaty" to the Irish people, tne vo ing of the deputies was; jdunster 1 against : Conna.ug’i 12 for. against: Ulster 10 for. 6 against Since that date no referendum s i:*.s b?< obtained from the Irish people on tl issue of Republic v. Free State. 1 th? nine by-elections held since t] election of 1923. starting with Eime ick. May 1921, -the official figur< show a total Treaty vote of 309. 2', ?.s compared with 38-1,603 in 192 and the total Republican vote 181 753 as compared with 123,801 ’ 1923. which shows a total Treaty Io of 57,957, and this ; >i:er three yea of tho Free State, with a conside able portion of the electorate disci franchised. Because Irish Republicans deciir to close their eyes to these facts ar figures and refuse to admit the ng! of a more powerful neighbour to st’i th? aspirations of the Irish natio they are to lx* looked upon as devo: of commonsense’ That is the straigl issue. A TOILER’S REFRAIN. IIo! I’m one of the proletariat! A word in the diction 4 ry taught n that. 1 eat a meal three times a day. I keep the ravening wolf at bay. 1 ’vc* got no income* tax to pay. I carry my wardrobe under my hatSo, I’m one u-f the proletariat! Ho! I’h one of th? proletariat! What a Icag word to say so pat! I have no hope, a»nd I know no fear Wife and kids are all I hold dear, For trouble—a laugh: for sorrowa tear; A ticket in Taft’s and a pint o beer: Slogging at life right off my own batSo I’m one of tho proletariat. Ho! I’m one of the proletariat! A countless horde of us stand on th mat. Living today, and to-morrow —Go knows! (Just as yesterday went I suppose; Work in the daytime; night bring repose, A smile from a comrade, the seen of a rose, Nothing for nothing, nor much for x ‘ sprat ’ •’ — So, I’m one of the proletariat.