RELATIONS WITH IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 4

RELATIONS WITH IRELAND.

Until details are available of the reported trading agreement between Great Britain and the Irish Free State it is impossible to say whether it will have any effect upon New Zealand’s trad® with the United Kingdom. If the terms of the agreement are as reported by the London Daily Telegraph it appears evident that Britain has insisted upon the application of the principle that sellers to her must be buyers of her exports also, a fact that must not be lost sight of in any further negotiations between New Zealand and the Homeland. In one respect even the suggestion of a new agreement between the Irish Free State and Great Britain is to be welcomed. It gives hope that the clouds of misunderstanding that have arisen between the two Governments are dispersing. Probably experience of the responsibilities of office has shown the Free State Premier, Mr. E. de Valera that co-operation with England is essential to the economic life of that State, and it may be that in Britain there is a wider recognition of Irish national aspirations and desires. The deadlock has lasted long enough, and the latest political action by the Free State Parliament has not been calculated to remove it. A law has been passed by the Dail “abolishing" British citizenship in the Irish Free State. Students of Irish history, however, are aware that the most extreme political defiance has often presaged closer co-operation with Great Britain, and it may be that having made a gesture of full nationhood the Irish Free State will be content to co-operate with the United Kingdom without raising contentious constitutional problems. For the good of Ireland and for the benefit of the British Commonwealth of Nations the hope will be general that the days of bickering are over, and that the Irish Free State will resume its old standing within that Commonwealth.