THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1920. THE SITUATION IN IRELAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17942, 22 May 1920, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1920. THE SITUATION IN IRELAND.

The speech, by the Lord Chancellor, of which the gist is given in our cable news this morning, supplies the confirmation of the reports of the past few days relativo to the adoption by the Government of stern measures, under Sir Nevil Macready's supervision, for the preservation of order in Ireland. The declared policy of the Government, whether the struggle be short or long, is to employ all the forces that are available to restore law and order in Ireland, and to render the Sinn Feiners' secessionaiy campaign utterly im-. possible. Lord Birkenhead affirms that the forces of Great Britain are as deeply committed to carrying to success the Government's purpose in Ireland as they were to carrying out its purpose in the late war, and if the troops now in Ireland are insufficient more will be Bent to the number demanded by the character of- the crisis. This is plain speaking, which the terrorists should have no difficulty , in understanding. The new military policy in Ireland, if it can so be called, will be primarily intended to afford protection to the police who—none too soon—have appealed for it. The work of the police has latterly been attended with so much peril, and so many of their number have fallen victim to murderous attacks, that it has become a reasonable assumption' that the aim of the Sinn Fein extremists is virtually to annihilate the police force, rendering its task so exceedingly dangerous that the enlistment of recruits will be discouraged and prevented and a state of affairs be eventually brought about under which Ireland will be deprived altogether of police protection. Courage- and tenacity have been repeatedly displayed b'y the Irish Constabulary under most trying conditions. The members of the force have ,fully merited the encomium of the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir Hamar Greenwood, who has offered them the assurance that "the Government will not fail in its duty to them." We are prepared to hear the argument that the policy of military protection is a policy that is bound to alienate Ireland, and is the last' kind of policy that should be liursued at a time when the Government is endeavouring to settle the lyish political question.. While, however, the political problem has to be settled with the least possible delay in some way or another, it is impossible that things should be permitted to go on in Ireland as they have been doing, and that a reign of terrorism should be allowed under which there is security for neither life nor property. The adoption under his regime of the more conciliatory methods recently indicated by Sir Hamar Greenwood has not met with any response such as a diminution of violent crime directed against the Government and the servants of the people. It is not without the direst provocation that the Government is proceeding to make it clear that the rebellious and secessionary elements in Ireland need not hope by more active guerilla warfare to wear down its resistance to their impossible demands. The position in Ireland may be considered as an imperative challenge to the Government to give a concrete shape to tho now practically unanimous desire in Great Britain to see self-government established in Ireland in the fullest sense that id compatible with the security and integrity of the Kingdom. The proposals contained in the Government of Ireland Bill now beforo Parliament represent an endeavour to accomplish that end. That they would be acceptable to all parties was not for a moment to bo imagined. That they would be fiercely denounced in some quarters was quite to be expected. Tho denunciations of Sinn Fein have no bearing upon tho merits of the. Government's measure. The Bill was more favourably received in a

three days' debate in the House of Commons upon its sccond reading than was really to be anticipated. While one part of Ireland has demanded what it could never hope to get, another part accepts the Bill only under protest. It is argued with some justice that any Bill relating to Ireland which Parliament could conceivably pass to-day would bo open to objection by one or other of, if not by all, the contending factions in that country. In winding up the debate Mr Lloyd George pleaded for fair treatment of a measure put forward in all sincerity as the only practicable means of dealing with the political facts. There appears to be a wide refusal in Ireland to believe that there is a real desire oh the part of the British Government and the British people to effect a settlemont and deal honestly with the Irish people. That feeling is, wo feel sure, based 011 a misunderstanding. British people are most anxious to effect a settlement. It is Ireland herself that is the stumbling-block in the way of success.