IRISH HOME RULE

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 26

IRISH HOME RULE

LONDON, October 20.

Speaking at Ilfracombe, the Chief Secretary for Ireland (Mr Birrell) said that the Government's Home Rule proposals will provide for a Parliament of two Chambers, with an Executive responsible to it. The Irish Parliament will have full representation and control in all purely Irish concerns. With a view to meeting the national dema.nd for national responsibility, Mr Birrell added that he intended to face the monetary difficulty boldly, and in no niggardly spirit. The experiment of self-government had never yet failed in the history of the world. Why, then, should it fail in the case of Ireland? He predicted that instead of being, as now, a blot on our escutcheon, Ireland would become a real integral part of the United Kingdom.

October 22.

Mr J. B. Lonsdale, the Unionist member for Armagh, speaking at Bolton, asserted that Home B.ule would produce the greatest struggle since the Civil War. The men of the North of Ireland were equal to any army that England could put in the field, and were determined not to sell their rights and liberties without a struggle

October 23

In the course of a speech Mr Redmond declared that English Ministers in the past had always .had to consider how to placate the Lords, but the framing of a Home Rule measure was no longer hampered, and it was now only necessary for the bill to pass the House of Commons to become law, in spite of the House of Lords. The forthcoming bill would be satisfactory to the Nationalists;- The Irish party had no intention of killing the Insurance Bill. .He added : "We shall amend the bill and pass it."