THE FEDERATION LEAGUE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 932, 10 January 1890, Page 2

THE FEDERATION LEAGUE.

The meeting of the Liberal Federation League began at Manchester on December 2. Mr Gladstone delivered an address, and said that the Local Government Bill did not meet the legitimate demands of the country. He advocated granting to the County Councils the control of the police and liquor traffic, ths care of its poor, power to deal with the question of ground rents, aud a form of district councils. Ho would probably go further, and establish the parish principle of government, and thus convey to the rural population the first elements of their public education and create a sense of public duty, which is the.higher aim of statesmen. At a meeting of the Liberal Federation League .. on December 3, it was declared necessary to provide for the settlement of the question of the reduction, and disestablishment of the Welsh Church. Resolutions were adopted condemning any Land Purchase Bill for Ireland which would entail a burden on British taxpayers, protesting against the use of British funds to endow sectarian colleges in Ireland, and favouring international arbitration. It was also declared that the British policy ought to avoid any entanglement in Continental affairs. Mr Gladstone; in a speech, inspired great enthusiasm with a definite expression of the Liberal policy. He said Ireland was the leading question of the day. The Tories would have been converted to the Liberal view of the subject by this time but for the dissentient Liberals. The split in the Liberal Party would not have occurred except for the personal ambition of some Tories and their allies, who desired more to form a social party than to do political justice. The Plan of Campaign was a necessary consequenoe of the Government’s refusal to grant proper relief for Ireland. There was less crime in Ireland than in England. The country had clearly expressed a desire that there should be a change in the administration of Ireland, and the Liberals might look to the future with confidence. He quoted recent speeches of Lord Salisbury and the Marquis of Hartington as evidence that the Unionist party is now forming plans in anticipation of a decisive defeat, and then the time would come for the Liberals to appeal to the nation. The only reason for the existence of the dissidents as a party is an auti-Irish feeling ; it was the curse of their destiny. They were chained to the wheel, and must revolve or stop. He closed by giving thanks to the comrades who stood by him iu time of adversity.