HOME RULE SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17361, 7 January 1920, Page 7

HOME RULE SCHEME.

RECEPTION IN IRELAND, BITTER CRITICISM VOICED

THE FINANCIAL PROPOSALS. LONDON, Dec.. 23. The correspondent of The Times, discussing the new Home Rule scheme, says that the Government will blunder seriously if it limits the Ulster area to six counties. It would suit the Belfast people, who desire 'to create a Protestant bloc, and the Sinn Feiners, whose idea is that a small area CDuld be more easily coerced; but nine counties would give a juster balance of industrial and agricultural interests, a more stable constitution, and a better chance of a united Ireland. The Times, in a leading article, supports its correspondent's view.

Mr. Garstin says that the Irish Council is the most hopeful feature of the Home Rule scheme, It is the only conceivable means of harmonising Ulster's particularism with the unity of Ireland. If the Sinn Fein are obstinate, let Ulster accept its share and lead the way. Sane nationalism would ultimately follow. Mr. J. H. Thomas, general secretary of the National Union of Railwiymen, in an article in ti;e Sunday Times, says that English trade unions have not found any difficulty in reconci'ing the workers of North and South Ireland.

Mr. Harold Cox, editor of the Edinburgh Review, describes the Premier's financial proposals as immensely superior to those in the 1914 scheme. The Irish may shout with ind'gnation, but the contribution of £18,000,000 understates the sum due on the basis of Ireland's taxable capacity.

The correspondent of The Times at Dublin states that the pulse of Ireland is 60 feverish and the country'bo disturbed that sober discussion is impossible, but the country's first verdict, as expressed in the press, is unanimously unfavourable to the new Home Rule scheme. The Ulster Unionist press retires to its familiar trenches anJ condemns the scheme without any of Sir Edward Carson's reservations. The Nationalist journals in the capital and southern provinces raise a similar loud and whole-hearted chorus of

repudiation. Their principal objection to Ulster's Home Rule veto is upheld, but the scheme is still mercilessly criticised on other grounds, particularly the financial proposals, which the Evening Telegraph declares are based on the principle of feeding a dog with its own tail Others pour bitter scorn on the whole Bill, jibing at it as utterly impossible and intended mainly for American consumption, with mean and narrow finance. xfle Irish Times says the southern Unionists will reject it because it repays their historical sacrifices and ancient loyalties with political annihilation. Mr. Lloyd George does not bring peace but the sword. Most critics consider the greatest weakness of the Bill is the vaguely sketched arrangements for the boundaries of Unionist Ulster, denouncing the new Province us a patchwork. The Irish Times says that it will surpass the worst botchery of tho Peace Coiuerence. "If the scheme has any future," says the paper, "it will be necessary to rearrange the proposed boundaries of north-east Ulster. Another vital objection is the temperamental reaction against giving six counties equality with 26." Many critics think that the bill is not seriously meant. A factor on the other side is that the Home Rule Act on the I Statute Book must be dealt with immediately if Ireland refuses what is now offered.

Long delays are certain, and calmer reflections may come after the holidays. The immed : ate verdict is not hopeful, but Mr. Lloyd George can hardly have expected anything different. Still, those who make the first Government in Dublin will need some nerve. The Sunday Observer, in a leading article urges that the Prime Minister should go straight ahead in pursuance of the Cabinet's plans for Home Rule, as otherwise he will play into the hands of the Sinn Fein. England must reach the limits of bold goodwill towards Ireland, take the moral initiative, and confront the irreconciliable wreckers with a new situation.