IRELAND'S FUTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22174, 30 July 1935, Page 13

IRELAND'S FUTURE

Sir, —We cannot discuss generalities | and matters of personal opinion in the i limited space of a correspon dance i column. Mr. G. W. Blair's statement : about the land annuities is an error i of fact. The freedom of speech accorded I to Deputy McDermott by the Free State ! Government is a tribute to its toleration. Mr. Blair contrasts the " destructive " policy of President de Valera ■with the progressiveness "of the six counties. Facts will speak in answer. This -rear in the Free State there are 180,060 acres under wheat. In 1932 there were 28,000 acres. Milch cows have increased by 80,000 since 1931. Three new sugar beet factories were opened last year. In the past two years 11,000 acres have been planted under the afforestation scheme. Since the 1932 Housing Act new bouses built by local authorities total 16,910, and by private persons 9239. Factories to supply home consumption are cropping up everywhere. A cutlery factory in Kildare; a hardware factory in Limerick; a steel factory in Calow; a sack factory in Galway "will save the country nearly £2,000,000 annually. Through peat development over £1,000,000 is saved yearly on coal imports. The manufacturing of bottles and glass saved over £60,000 in 1934. Imported wheat and flour fell from £684,725 in 1933 to £281,403 in 1934. There was a saving of £600,000 in the imports of wearing apparel alone in 1934. Owing to the protection given to the home producer imported foodstuffs fell by £9,000,000 in the two years from 1931 to 1933. Nearly every make of motor is now being assembled in the Free States and toward the end of the year the new Dunlop factory will supply 75 per cent of the country's tyre requirements. If there is anything " destructive " about the policy which could bring about such an economic revolution in these few years, let our readers be the judges. Now for the " progressive " six counties. ! New Zealanders may have mistaken ideas as to the geographical importance of the six counties. Le Journal, Paris, makes the position quite clear. " This Alsace-Lorraine of Ireland, which was created by the British Government in 1920, has an area smaller than the county of Lancashire, in England, and only a quarter of the population of i Lancashire." Of this small population |416,700 are nationalists, every one of : whom desires union with the Free j State. In the six counties the unem- | ployed number 74,000. The total estii mated revenue of the six counties is £9.500.000. The estimate of the Minister of Labour, Mr. J. W. Andrews, for the current year is £6,400,000, or more than two-thirds of the total revenue, to meet official and insurance outlay in connection with unemployment. Even this would be totally inadequate but for an arrangement by which the assistance of the Imperial Exchequer is forthcoming. To give an idea of the prosperity of the ratepayer in the six counties "the following facts will be of assistance: —In Belfast the rates are 12s lOd in the pound; in Enniskillen 12s 2d in the pound, and in Derry City 19s 6d in the pound. The Belfast Board of Guardians a short time ago allotted £280,000 for special distress. Under the 1920 Act the Belfast Parliament was to pay £8,000,000 annually to the Imperial Exchequer. Not a farthing of that amount is being paid at present. The Belfast Corporation has appealed to the Privy Council against the special educational levies made on it by Lord Craigavon. In answer to G. W. Blair's question as to the desire of the Northern businessmen for union with th" Free State, let us quote the leading article of a six county paper—the Fermanagh Herald, June 8. 1935: " What prospects can Mr. J. W. Andrews. the Minister of Labour, point to while the once lucrative market south of the border is now almost completely closed to the once flourishing manufacturing and business centres of the North ? And what is the effect of this change? Stagnant trade and ruination of industry." President de Valera is not responsible for this state of affairs. The British Government is responsible by the Partition Act of 1920. The Ulster obstacle to a United Ireland is solving itself. An arm cut off from the body cannot live. The Secretary, Irish National Society.