THE ULSTER ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17794, 30 May 1921, Page 6

THE ULSTER ELECTIONS.

The Ulster elections have resulted in an even more sweeping victory than was anticipated for the Unionists, who will command 40 seats in a House of 52. Possibly the minorities will be represented in Parliament by only vacant places, though it is easy to understand, even on tactical grounds, the anxiety of the Unionists that their opponents should sit in the new Parliament, and take their share of responsibility for shaping the future of Ulster. The feature of the election is the absence of direct Labour representation—a circumstance which indicates how thoroughly the classes have been welded by the threat of separation from the United Kingdom—and the even division of the non-Unionist vote between Sinn Fein and the Nationalists. The friends of the Nationalist Party have always maintained that it would have preserved its existence under a system of proportional representation such as governed the Ulster elections. The Northern figures certainly carry a strong inference that the eclipse of the Nationalists is only temporary, and that under more favourable circumstances they will command a very large following throughout the whole of Ireland. It may be that the establishment of home rule in the North will assist to convince the South of the barrenness of the Sinn Finn reign of terror, and so create a more favourable atmosphere for negotiation. The South of Ireland can have almost any form of home rule she prefers whenever she decides to be reasonable. The strength of the more moderate vote in the North encourages the hope that the return to reason will not be undulv delayed.