HOME RULE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14008, 12 March 1920, Page 3

HOME RULE.

[By Electric Tkleg HArH — Copyriout. ]

(Per Press Association.) (-Aug. and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received Ma qch 11, at V2vlo a.m. LONDON. March 10

.The Ulster Unionist Council is understood to agree- to accept the - sixcounty proposal. There is much"excitement. . Freeman's Journal says large of troops ..have entrained for the south and west.

Received March 12, at .11 a.m. LONDON. J!arch 11, Yesterday's meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council is .generally regarded as the most momentous ever held'. The speeches were marked by an intense seriousness and wore earnest. A strong contingent of delegates from Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan Counties put up a stYenuous fight for inclusion m the northern area.

The.Daily Telegraph says that the three counties pleaded that the Ulster Covenant' •. should • not be separated from, but the inexorable' facts of the situation prevailed, and iiliey were defeated "by a large majority.- It was with : sorrowful feelings that majority voted uart of the ■ .counties out of the L lster Parliament, but mind had s to prevail over heart. It was felt that if tliev; were included the Unionist maiontv would be so small that Parliamentary business would be impossible. -

Received March 12, at 11.20 a.m. •LONDON. March 11.'

" On behalf of; the counties. Sir E. Carson, .continuing his speech. said the Council was abiding by. the covenant. He refuses any form of Government that does not include the whole province; and demands that the Parliamentary leaders should see that the new Bill is altered accordingly. When this was defeated' the meeting carried unanimously a motion'reaffirming preference of union to Home-Rule, and refusing to accept the responsibility for the new Bill, hut the new Bill is preferable to the 1914 Act, the simple repeal, of which seems unprocurable. Ulster' representatives therefore should notj accept tKe responsibility for defeating the new Bill, but should press for amendments protecting the interests of Unionists outside of the six counties.

The Daily -Telegraph, says that the upshot of the whole thing is that Ulster will not oppose the Bill; hut the excluded counties are sold.

The Morning Post states that the outstanding feature of the meeting was the frequent manifestation of the fact that the loyalists would give anything to remain as they are, and. are being pushed out. of the United Kingdom against their will, which is a deplorable return for what Ulster did in helping to win the war. The paper addsi that the Ulster Unionist business men's council also reaffirmed' preference: for union, but authorised Sir E. Carson to proceed as he considered best, because, the rejection of the new Bill would involve a. grave risk of establishing an All-Ire-land Parliament. On the other hand, the. Irish Unionist Alliance met at Dublin and resolved 1 that while recognising Ulster's claim to separate treatment, the new Bill'must be opposed by every means in their 'power; ' • Sir E. Carson in a. speech at a public meeting at Belfast after the termination of,the Council, said: that if they had their way there would be no tampering with the Union; they .warned the Government that whatever was the outcome of tainpering. that they would accept 110. responsibility, and "if disaster, resulted, the whole responsibility, would! be the Government's. At the same time he refused to ask his followers to. run their heads against the wall. They would not- participate in discussions before the ..Committee stage, when they would try'to amend the Bill in Ulster's interests. .

Received March 12, at 11.40 a.m. Sir Edward Carson added that he had'set-out to free Ulster from the Dublin Parliament and if the Bill passed he had won. He. would noi have saved the whole of Ireland, but he would have done what he cove-. for. It was all very well to say: Why not fight as before?; but t|iere was nothing' toiore to fight for, if Ulster was freed from the Dublin Parliament. It was no use pretending they could govern Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan. They had a strong Ulster in six counties, which was a better support for the other three than if they had' a tottering Ulster comprising the whole nine: He denied that the covenant had been broken. The Council's decision-was sane, wise'anil statesmanlike, not due to funk, but to sheer logic ajid reason.