MR De VALERA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 8

MR De VALERA

Sir, —” Loyal Ulsterwoman " indicates in her brief letter that the Grand Orange Lodgo has formally protested to the Government against the honouring of this leading Empire citizen while in New Zealand. We have only to look back a few years when the late Mr Lyons, then Prime Minister of Australia, was on a visit to Edinburgh, and certain of the aldermen of that city who, it is presumed, were members of the lodge ” Loyal Ulsterwoman ” writes of. refused to. attend a civic reception tendered to him, not because he was disloyal or traitorous, but because he was of a certain denomination. The “ traitorous ” attitude of dear old " Dev ” was such that he kept the Irish masses to the plough during the 1939-45 war and supplied England, with all the food it was possible for Eire to produce. This same “ traitorous ” gentleman allowed 200,000 of his countrymen to volunteer for service in England’s armed forces.

It is true that Ulster claims to be one with England, where men from 18 years upwards were conscripted for military or other service, and woman-power came under the same Act, but the loyal Ulster people were not liable under the Conscription Act. We of New Zealand believe in the democratic rights of individuals and peoples. Can we honestly say that a man who leads his people according to the expressed view of the majority is a traitor to the Commonwealth? If we can, we could say without hesitation that the late Lord Carson was a traitor in 1914, when he persuaded the people of Northern Ireland to join hands with the south to defeat the Conscription Act of that time. Would to God ” Loyal Ulsterwoman ” would read history, where the loyal Ulstermen hounded that grand old man of Britain, Churchill, out of Belfast not 34 years ago. In conclusion. I may say, “ God bless De Valera. May his stay in New Zealand be happy and glorious.”—l am, etc.. Up Dev.