IRELAND.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 301, 8 December 1922, Page 4

IRELAND.

ULSTER AND THE FREE STATE.

DECISION TO CONTRACT OFT. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Covrrlgbt.l (Received 8, 11.35 a.m.) London, December 7. The Ulster Parliament unanimously decided to contract out of the Free State. A member of the Free State Parliament was shot dead hl Dublin while en route to Parliament. Mr. O’Malley, another member, was wounded. The Irish Free State agreement provides that, until the expiration of one month from the passing of tile Act of Parliament to ratify tlie agreement, the powers of the Parhament and the Government of the Irish Free State shall not be exercisable as respects Northern Ireland, and the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. shall, so far as they relate to Northern Ireland, remain of full force and effect. If before the expiration of the said mouth an address is presented to the King by both Houses of Parliament of Northern Ireland to that effect, the powers of the Parliament %nd Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland, and the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, shall, so far as they relate to Northern Ireland continue to be of full force and effect, and the Free State treaty shall have effect subject to the necessary modifications. In tho event of Ulster contracting out the Free Sstate a Commission is to be appointed to determine the boundaries between Northern Ireland and .the rest of Ireland. In a statement in the Ulster House of Commons on October 12, Sir James Craig, replying to a question, recalled that the treaty providing for setting up th® Free State was signed on December 6 last. The articles of the treaty were given the fore# of law as from March 31, that being the date of the passing by the British Parliament of the Irish Free State Agreement Act 1922. Words had been inserted in the Act which made it, clear that the month did not date from the passing of the Agreement Act; the month run from the passing of some future Act, and it did not seem to be open to doubt that it would run from the date of the Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, which would, in effect, finally ratify the treaty by confirming the Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Westminster Bill must receive the Royal Assent early in December. In view of the agreement expressed in the last article of the draft Constitution of the Irish Free State, the Ulster month would begin to run from a date subsequent to tlie re-assembly of Parliament at Westminster, but, in any event not later than December 6 next.

In answer to another question as to whether he had seen the statement made by Mr. Cosgrave, the Irish Free State President, that no interference would be permitted with the clause in the treaty dealing with the setting up of a Boundary Commission in accordance with the articles which set forth what should be done in the event of the North “hopping out,” Sir James Craig replied that his hon. friend must bear in mind that neither the Northern Government nor its Parliament were any party whatever to the treaty, which had been entered into between Great Britain and certain representatives of Southern Ireland.