IRISH AFFAIRS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 22 August 1927, Page 5

IRISH AFFAIRS

UNPOPULAR LEGISLATION.

A REFERENDUM WANTED. BT OABTiB —PBEBB ASSOCIATION—COPYHIGHT LONDON, Aug. 20. The unexpected has again happened in Ireland. The Labourites and members of the Fianna Fail have recourse to an article in the Constitution hitherto unused, suspending for 00 days legislation unpopular with two-fifths of the members of the Dail, with the object of obtaining a referendum. They have lodged a petition with Mr. Cosgrave, which prevents the Gov-ernor-General signing the Electoral Amendment Act. It now remains to get one-twentieth of the total electorate to sign the petition whereupon a bare majority decides the referendum. Mr. McGilian, Minister for Industry, provided the first sensation of the byelection campaign with a violent attack on Mr. Johnson, accusing him of agreeing after the murder of Mr. O ’- Higgins to a coalition, depending upon the declaration that the Fianna Fail seats were vacant, in which event Labour was to get them.

Mr. Johnson, replying, said: “It was mere human charity that induced me to offer help to maintain order after Air. O’Higgins’s death. Regarding the vacancies I have always been of the opinion that prolonged abstention should mean an election.”

TENSE FOLITTCAL SITUATION. VIGOROUS CAMPAIGNING. P.Y-ELECTTONS THIS WEEK. LONDON, Aug. 20. The political situation in Ireland is bv no means less tense. The coming week may see the tide turn either wav. Evorvthing is hinging on the elections in the two vacant seats on August 2-t. the result of which will decide whether a general election will be held immediatelv or late in the autumn. The Dublin correspondent of “The Times” states that an intense campaign of political advocacy is waging in the city and county of Dublin. All the Free State Ministers have thrown themselves into the fray. Mr. Cosgrave (the Premier), believ ing recent events have strengthened his position enormously, refuses to offer the slightest concession to the opposition parties. Indeed, his speech in Countv Dublin on August. 18 seems to indicate that at least some parts of the Public Safety Act will be enforced without delay. However, the Government.will probably proceed very cautiously. It may proclaim certain' organisations and deport certain persons. The Government, nevertheless, is unlikely to venture anything in the nature of a general round-up. Air AlcGilligan in a speech at Dublin made a powerful attack on the Labour Party. He said Mr. Johnson (the La-1 hour' leader) had certainly offered the 1 Government an alliance, but on the following terms: He suggested that the I-’ianna Fail should be wiped out of existence; that 51 Republican scats should immediately be declared vacant and that subscription to the oath should be made a condition precedent to nomination. It was stated that, if the Government declared these seats vacant, proceeded Air. AlcGilligan, Labour would got. the majoritv of the votes east for the Republicans at the last elections and would be returned to the Dail with a party of 50. The man who proposed that, said Mr. AlcGilligan, now had the impudence to join the Fianna Fail, signing the demand for the- suspension of the Electoral Amendment Act. It was high time the public knew what was going on behind the scenes —that the Labour Party aimed at being the political party, not merely a party interested m economic and social problems. Air. AlcGilligan proceeded to attack vigorously Air. Do Valera’s attitude to the oath. He said that when Air. De Valera took the oath he put the Bible in a corner of the room. He did not exactly kiss his thumb as witnesses in lieland sometimes do under the impression that, they were not. taking the oath, but solemnly swore in accordance with the full formula. Air. De Valera had pronounced himself a perjurer when he wonted to carry on the old ideas of wrecking the constitution and the treaty. Air. Johnson, replying, described Air. AlcGilligan’s speech as a villainous misrepresentation 'of the truth. •He said that in view of the Government s many difficulties after Air. O Wiggins's assassination, “I assured Air. Cosgrave, that if any such course were necessary to inspire public confidence, the Labour Party would join an allparty coalition. Simple human feeling prompted this course;, we did not contemplate our sympathy would be spurned and flouted as it has been.