HOME RULE QUESTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13855, 19 March 1907, Page 5

HOME RULE QUESTION

SPEECH BY MR JOHN REDMOND,

A WARNING TO THE GOVERN MENT.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, March 18. (Received March 18, at 10.4 p.m.) Mr John Redmond, speaking at Bradford, said the Government- was about to attempt some scheme of devolution. It was endeavouring by tinkering with a rotten system lo reform it. Nothing would satisfy Ireland but an Irish Parliament, with executive responsibility. If the Government scheme laid a foundation whereon they could build, and gave genuine control, even of administration alone, and lightened the financial burden under which Ireland staggered, then ■possibly Ireland might seriously consider whether it ought not lo be accepted for what it was worth. A popular convention of the Nationalist forces must decide. Ho warned tho Government that it- must choo.se between trusting tho people- and passing a scheme, whether short of Home Rule- or not, upon broad, popular, democratic principles, and tho alternative of breaking willi Ireland and the National parly with the prospect of again attempting to govern by means of the rusty and discredited weapons of coercion.

SPEECH BY MR T. O'CONNOR

INTENTIONS OF THE NATIONALISTS. LONDON, March 18. (Received March 18, at 11.45 p.m.) Mr T. O'Connor, speaking at Manchester, declared thai if the House of Lord's rejected the coming measure, which must be a reality and not a sham, the Nationalists would strike a heavier blow than ever before, in the conviction that they would help to place in the same dishonoured tomb Dublin Castle and the House of Lords.'

STATEMENT BY MR W, REDMOND. (Received March 18, at 10.22 p.m.) Mr W. Redmond, speaking at. Ashington, Northumberland, said ho hoped the furthcoming measure would at least be Ilia foundation of that liberty, whereof Irishmen had been deprived for centuries.

Up to the present. Ministers havo given no indication as to tho details of ihoir Irish policy. Ministerial references to the subject, have been iery cautious. The maet definite declaration eo far 'is that by tho Primo Minister when he oxprossed a. desire to see effective control v of Irish affairs in tho hands of a representative Irish authority. If, ho Slid, an instalment of representative control were offered lo Ireland, or any administrative improvement, ho would advise the Nationalists thankfully to accept it, provided it was consistent with and led up .-to their "larger policy." Sir Antony MacDonell in August last expressed the firm belief that tho year 1907* would eee " (he fruition of many of those hopes which the best Irishmen for many years entertained." It might not, he added, bring all they hoped for, but they might make it: the source from which the whole qf their hopes might l>o fulfilled. The devolution seliemo put forward by Iho Irish Reform Association includes the decentralisation of Irish financial administration, tho devolution of a larger measure of selfgovernment, the settlement of tho-education question, and the better housing of labourers. On a previous occasion MiRedmond said "good government was not solf government. Nothing could buy from them their demand for an Irish Parliament and an executive responsible to it." In a'recent, speech, Mr Bryco (late Chief Secretary for Ireland) said: It was a great satisfaction to know that the first year of Liberal Government had been a period (luring which Ireland had remained quiet, a year during which material iiuurovcnicnta had been made in the conditions under which the people lived. He was leaving the country with very great regret. The administration of it was, no doubt, beset with difficulties. Nevertheless, ho was leaving it with hope for tho future. Ho was leaving it in the ham's of a successor whose good sense, good humour, and conspicuous abilities would cnablq him to understand the condition of things in Ireland, and very soon mako him acceptable to Iho Irish people. " There is in politics no such thing as an unsolvahlo problem," continued Mr Bryco. " Some take a long timo t;5 solve, but, with patience and sympathy, good 6onse. and gcod feeling, the Irish nroblom will not be found im;Jva.blc." They should, ho argued regard Ireland from tho point of view of its past. Not only aiow and then, but every hour and every day. They must remember that (hero wero centuries of misgovormncnt and misunderstanding, and that tho result of these centuries conlct not, be got rid of in a few weeks. With patience and sympathy, good feeling ami tact, and the application of difforent principles, tho Irish problem would ho solved, and he hoped many present would live to sec it.