STRIVING FOR PEACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15560, 18 March 1914, Page 7

STRIVING FOR PEACE.

STATEMENT BY PREMIER. NO CUT-AND-DRIED SCHEME. CONCESSIONS TO ULSTER. LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT. CORK COUNCIL DISPLEASED. ASSAULT ON FIRST LORD. TROOPS FOR IRELAND. By Telegraph— Press Association— Copyright. (Received March 17, 11.15 p.m.) London, March 17. The Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) made his promised statement regarding Home Rule in the House of Commons yesterday. The statement consisted of brief replies to questions held oyer last week. The Premier said that if the Unionists accepted the broad principle, then it would be possible to work out the details with something like general co-operation. The Government was working out supplementary provisions, but a final determination on some points had not yet been reached. The Government was still anxious that its offer should be considered on its merits. Jurisdiction of Viceroy. Mr. Asquith declared that, if the Government proposals were rejected it was a waste of time to formulate details for discussion. He was not prepared to put a cut-and-dried scheme on paper, as he wished to keep the discu&sion to the main issue. If his proposals were accepted, the Bill would require administrative and financial adjustments. The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland would have no jurisdiction over the excluded area. The Government had not been much encouraged by the reception accorded the proposals. Retort By Mr. Asquith. Lord Robert Cecil (Unionist M.P. for North Hertfordshire) asked whether there was any precedent for any Government declining to give details of a proposal until it knew whether the Opposition would accept it or not. Mr. Asquith at 'once retorted that he did not know of any precedent for a Government going as far as the present one was going. " A Hypocritical Sham." Replying to Mr. Bonar Law (Leader of the Opposition), the Premier promised an opportunity to discuss the proposals at the earliest possible date. Sir E. H. Carson Interjected the remark, " The course the Government is now taking shows that the proposals arc a hypocritical sham." Mr. Bonar Law has given notice of a motion censuring the Government for not formulating its Home Rule Bill amendments and requesting their formulation before the resumption of the debate on the second reading of the Bill. The County Council of Cork, after a heated discussion, has passed a resolution, by 13 votes to 9, repudiating Mr. Asquith's Home Rule compromise. Incident at Bradford. / When leaving Bradford yesterday after making his speech on Irish policy, a man struck Mr. Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty) violently in the face, and escaped in the crowd. • The Daily Mail says the Government has discussed the question of the disposition of troops in Ulster, and intends to send troops there before the Home Rule Bill is passed.