IRISH PEACE TERMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17846, 29 July 1921, Page 5

IRISH PEACE TERMS.

SINN FEIN'S ATTITUDE.

INTERIM REPLY BY DE VALERA

NOT VERY FAVOURABLE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. A. and N.Z. LONDON. July' 27. The Central News Agency state? that De Valera has sent an interim reply to the Cabinet to-day. It is not a final answer, btit is incidental to the negotiations. It is understood that it is less favourable than had been anticipated. GOVERNMENT'S PLANS. APPEAL TO COUNTRY HINTED. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Jtdv 27. Replving to a question in the House of Lords, Lord Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor, said that opportunity would be given for an expression of opinion on the Irish settlement proposals before Parliament prorogued. The matter contained in the proposals unquestionably .would be much discussed. If Ireland accepted them the Government would either meet with the necessarv support in Parliament, or would consider whether the necessary support was likely to be forthcoming elsewhere. ' The Marquis of Salisbury, speaking with reference to Irish affairs, said: — "We are seeking a statement by. the Government, and we are opposed to its indefinite delay, as it might be believed that we approve of the methods pursued, whereas we feel great shame is involved in the negotiations, and we are only awaiting an official statement in order to make our position clear." Lord Birkenhead replying, said he was puzzled by the Marquis of Salisbury's references to shame. He did not know for whom Lord Salisbury spoke. He (Lord Birkenhead) and all his Unionist colleagues were utterly unconscious of shame either on account of the negotiations or of the terms offered. NORTH IRISH CAPITAL. THE CLAIMS OF ARMAGH. A.'ana N.Z. LONDON, July 27. The Armagh Chamber of Commerce has presented a memorial to the Northern Irish Government, urging the claims of the city, which is already the ecclesiastical capital, to become the seat of the Northern Parliament, also the political capital of Ireland. An official reply points oat that the Government of Ireland Act specifies Belfast as the seat of the Northern Parliament, which is final. DE VALERA AND AMBUSHES DOCUMENTS SUPPRESSED. A. and N.Z. LONDON, July 27. Replying *to a question in the House o€ Commons as to whether the Government was aware that De Valera, when he was captured in Dublin on June 22 had a report of the attack on- British soldiers at Drumcondra upon him. Mr. Austen Chamberlain said that the Government was fully aware of all the documents found on De Valera when arrested, but they did not propose to publish the results of the examination of such papers. IRISH MILITARY LAW. ILLEGAL DEATH PENALTY. Times. LONDON. July 27. An important judgment was given by the Chancery Division at Dublin, the Master of the Rolls ordering a writ of habeas corpus to deliver the body of Joseph Egan, who was sentenced to death for being in possession of ammunition. He said that Egan was £ried by a military Court constituted in some way unkndwn to the law by military officers. This Court had no legal status whatever and the penalty awarded had not the sanction of English law.