The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1908. THE CASE FOR IRELAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14167, 15 September 1906, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1908. THE CASE FOR IRELAND.

Tlio citizens of the self-governing colonies, having experienced for themselves the benefits of independent institutions, are almost invariably Home Rulers, and Irish delegates may consequently count on a very sympathetic welcome wherever they journey in the British Empire. But it is rather on sentimental grounds that colonials advocate the parliamentary independence of Ireland. Irishmen themselves, though they have never despised: sentiment, are ready to give reasons for their demand for autonomy, and it is just as well that their position should bo clearly understood in the colonies. They argue that the English government of Ireland is and lias been a hopeless failure, and that the only hope for the country lies in an enlightened - government of the people of Ireland by the people of Ireland. The case for Ireland has been often very- clearly and very forcibly stated, and though the Irish question may be a commonplace in English politics it can never cease to attract the interest of free peoples. When Mr John Redmond was speaking on the Address-in-Reply in the House of Commons in February he claimed that the Irish question was the greatest and most important of all the Imperial questions, and w© are inclined to agree with him. “ The present condition of Ireland,” ho said, “is the greatest disgrace of this Empire; it is of the greatest danger to the Empire, and it is the greatest obstacle to the efficiency of the Imperial Parliament.” The case for Home Rule, according to the leader of the Nationalists, rests on this position, that “ judged by every test that the wit of man can devise, the government of Ireland, under the Act of Union, has been a failure.”

The indictment could hardly be more sweeping, hut it has to be confessed that the economic and social condition of the country goes far towards justifying it. In every country in the Empire except Ireland population is increasing. The population of Ireland now is half what it'was in 1840. Sixty years ago Ireland had half as many X>ecplo as England; in the sixty years it has actually lost four million, souls. Probably" not in all the world has the last century seen such another national tragedy. And 90 per cent of those who left the country wore between the ages of ten and forty-five, so that Ireland to-day seems to have more old people and little children than any other country in Europe. Eighty per cent of the Irish emigrants, men and women in the full strength of manhood and womanhood, were lost to the Empire. The loss of the flower of the population of the country has left Ireland a prey to the worst evils. Lunacy is increasing. Out of every 10,000 of population 52 are imbecile; in Scotland and Wales the corresponding figure is' 34.. The birth-rate of Ireland is tHb lowest in Europe. England and Scotland have a rate of 31 per thousand of population; Ireland only 23. Consumption, cancer and diseases of weakness are playing havoc with the people. Then in forty years the proportion of paupers in the country has doubled; during the same period the proportion in England has fallen one-half. It is truly a terrible indictment. Ireland is not naturally a poor country, and Irishmen have proved all over the world that they are able and industrious. They have risen to the highest positions in the State, in politics, in industry and in literature. In their own country alone they have failed.

It is difficult to discover what positive good English government lias done for Ireland; indeed even the “ resolute ” government of the past twenty

years has not checked the decline of the nation. And yet the government of Ireland is twice as costly as the government of England. The civil government for Scotland last year cost £2,277,000. With the same population Ireland was compelled to pay

£4,547,000. Tho judicial system of tlie northern kingdom, again, costs £200,000 a year less than that of Ireland, and although Ireland, ; in spite of what her detractors say, is freer from crime than Scotland is, the expense of the Irish police force is three times that of the Scotch. • Ton years ago a Royal Commission reported that Ireland was being taxed to the extent of £3,000,000 a year in excess of ier duo proportion of tho revenue of the British Isles. The injustice of the position has been admitted, but the injustice continues. It is said that in fifty years the taxation of the English people per head has fallen. 50 per-cent; in fifty years the taxation of Ireland per head has been doubled. And though the country is thus heavily taxed it is administered by tho most cumbersome and inefficient system in the British Empire. Until the last Land Act was put into operation the Tory government of Ireland had been characterised by a cruel neglect of every Irish interest. Even, now the settlement of the land question proceeds with exasperating slowness. For very shame’s sake the Imperial Parliament should give Irishmen once more a chance of restoring prosperity to their country, of fostering agriculture, improving , roads, cheapening the cost of inland transit, improving harbours, developing fisheries and, above all, reorganising the education system of the country. It is remarkable that the colonising and administrative failures of Britain have invariably occurred in countries which have been refused self-government, and Ireland remains the most terrible and tragic example of the administrative incompetency of the Imperial Parliament.