IRISH REPUBLICANS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20316, 26 January 1928, Page 3

IRISH REPUBLICANS.

SUPPORT FROM AUSTRALIA. An Irish correspondent of the New Statesman writes on December J. ay a coincidence the annual convention of Fianna Fail took place Kmiultaneously with the adjournment of the Bail. Naturally Mr de Valera and his colleagues took advantage of the occasion to hand themselves bouquets for their parhdmcntary performances, and assured one another that their position in the country is steadily improving, which is probably true enough. But the statement of accounts, submitted privately to the delegates, which through the enterprise of the Irish Times was made available to a wider public than was intended or desired, shows that while Irishmen may be. as Mr de Valera insisted, ready to die for the Republic, and can certainly be induced to vote for anti-treatyite candidates, they draw the line at contr^ )l ’ t '“B hard cash to the cause. Of the £40,000 received during the last 12 months, somethin- less than £7OO was subscribed in Ireland, the rest of the money having come from Australia and the United States. This is a thoroughly unhealthy state of affairs, as everybody knows who has studied the history of periods in which Irishmen abroad, on the strength or paying tho piper, have gained the rign& to call the tune in domestic politics. Now that Fianna Fail has entered the Bail, and may be in office in the near future, it ought to be easier to screw money out of its supporters at home who are quite as well able to pay their contributions as adherents of Cumann na iigaadhcnl, Labour, and the National League. Hide Valera, however, is taking no chances —to jun/ge from the announcement that within a” few weeks he will again cioss the Atlantic in search of American dollars. He expects to make a record haul cn this occasion.”