THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1924. THE IRISH BOUNDARY PROBLEM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19199, 16 June 1924, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1924. THE IRISH BOUNDARY PROBLEM.

It is clear that the expedient adopted by the British Government with a view to finding a solution of the Irish boundary problem is not regarded with by any means unqualified satisfaction in the Free, State. Mr Cosgrave and his colleagues no doubt take the view that the British Government is doing its best to carry out its undertaking that effect shall be given to the Treaty, but utterances last week in Dail Eireann are indicative of the existence of a strong spirit of impatience' on the part of a section of its members, one of whom has darkly hinted that unless Article 12 of the Treaty is implemented within a limited time his party will adopt a definite course which will be prejudicial to the new era brought about by the Treaty, and to the relations between Southern Ireland and Great Britain. Talk of this kind is unfortunate at a

juncture the delicacy of which is manifest. It is all too symptomatic of a reawakening of the plundering antagonism between Northern and Southern Ireland over this boundary difficulty. The Free Staters stand upon the letter of their bond; they conceive that they bold the cards in the present situation. They pin their faith upon Article 12 of the Treaty, and do not admit that it or any other article of the Treaty with which it is linked requires interpretation by any judicial committee. They demand the Boundary Commission, not a commission of overseas judges appointed to determine the legal aspects of the position. The judges have an unenviable task before them, and it is inevitable that, whatever their decision may be, either the Free State or Ulster will be dissatisfied. The repudiation by Northern Ireland of the Boundary Commission rests, when all is said, largely upon the very reason which makes the Free State so insistent upon the Commission. As between the North and the South the issue is whether there shall be a transference ol territory. The Government of Ireland Act, 1920, which set up Homo Rule in Northern and Southern Ireland, defined Northern Ireland as the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone, and the boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry. Under' this definition two counties, in each of which there is a Catholic and Nationalist majority, are included in Northern Ireland, and it was to allow of any rectification of territory between North and South, under which regard should be paid to the wishes of the inhabitants, that provision was made in the Treaty for the appointment of a Boundary Commission. Lord Carson, who allows himself a liberty of utterance that is not claimed by other law lords, expressed at Belfast a week ago the contempt of Ulster for the plan which has been adopted—a plan in which Ulster has not acquiesced and to which she has, through her Government, refused to be a party. Sir James Craig, Premier of Northern Ireland, will agree only to direct negotiations between the Northern and the Free State Governments respecting boundary matters. It is impossible, however, to suppose that such negotiations would have an outcome of any value. The danger with which the whole unfortunate affair is attended is that in the Free State it is openly argued that if Article 12 of the Treaty goes by the board the rest of the Treaty shares its fate. The heat which is being engendered over the subject may not be surprising, but it is not likely to prove helpful in bringing about a satisfactory adjustment of a delicate problem.