HOPES AROUSED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22629, 18 January 1937, Page 9

HOPES AROUSED

ANGLO-IRISH PACT LONDON CONVERSATIONS POSSIBLE SETTLEMENT COASTAL DEFENCE FACTOR By Telegraph -Press Association —Copyright (Received January 15, r>.r> p.m.) Times Cable LONDON, Jan. 10 The Dublin correspondent, of the Times says: After five years of disappointments it would be too much to expect residents of the Irish Free State to be over sanguine about the London conversations between Mr. de Valera and the British Secretary for the Dominions. Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald. Nevertheless, there is distinct hopefulness in regard to them.

The Free State has distinctly suffered worse than Britain by Mr. de Valera withholding money. He retained £14,531,000 in three years, for which figures are available, while Britain collected £14,661,000 by tariffs. Moreover, the Free State has been forced to pay heavy bounties to retain a portion of the British market. Again, although the land annuities have been halved the Free State farmer has been forced to pay them several times over in taxes to assist the native industries established. Tinder the heavy tnritfs the cost of living has risen considerably and small farmers The majority are tired of the economic war.

Nevertheless, it is feared that Mcde Valera's insistence upon a United Ireland ivill prove to he an insuperable obstacle to a settlement. Although the desire for peace is so great, the people of the Free State will need powerful evidence to convince them that British obstinacy is the stumbling-block. The Dublin correspondent of the Sunday Dispatch says ho believes an Anglo-Irish agreement, which possibly will lead to a settlement of the main problems, includes lower duties, the Free State paying a sum almost equivalent to the withheld land annuities for the defence of the coast by the British Navv.

The writer adds that one reason why Mr. Mac Donald is anxious for an agreement is that it would enable Britain to obtain food supplies from the Free State in the event of a European war. FUTURE OF IRELAND UNION STRONGLY OPPOSED FIRM STAND BY ULSTER LONDON. Jan. 13 i It is understood that Mr. de Valera's conversations with Mr. Mac Donald were purely informal and that no negotiations are pending. It is denied that the scheme for a united Ireland was considered. Mr. de Valera returned to, Dublin i and declined to make a statement before leaving by train. The Irish limes, j commenting on his conversations, says that now a start lias been made there must be no withdrawal. The people of both countries are anxious for a settlement with Britain, and the situation is more hopeful, politically, than at any time since the Fianna Fail camo to power. Ireland, for the first time since the Act of (Tnion, had recognised a British King of her own free will, "the European situation demands a working agreement," adds the paper. Viscount Craigavon, Premier of Northern Ireland, speaking at Belfast, stated that Ulster's boundary must remain intact. The partition between Norway and Sweden was only 32 years "old, but had already been forgotten. The partition in Ireland would be similarly forgotten in another 16 years. "I'lstcr must remain intact," said Lord Craigavon. "That is our answer to those who threaten and cajole. Itis my constant endeavour to raise lister's prestige and to make her better known in the Dominions as an important link in the chain of Empire."