PEACE WITH IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1935, Page 4

PEACE WITH IRELAND.

Apparently the reconstruction of the National Government in Great Britain is accepted as certain, although the two Ministers most concerned, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald and Mr. .Stanley Baldwin, have refrained from any public statement. It has been stated that Mr. Baldwin will succeed Mr. MacDonald as Prime Minister, and assuming there is to be any change in the Premiership Mr. Baldwin is certain to be chosen for the position. Not only is he the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, but' he has, during the past few weeks, once more acted as spokesman for the whole nation in regard to defence and international affairs. It was rumoured in London on Monday that one of Mr. Baldwin’s first actions as Prime Minister will be to re-open negotiations with Mr. de Valera in the hope of healing the breach between Britain’ and the Irish Free State. The history of the dispute is fairly well known, but it had its roots in the desire of some of the Irish for complete independence from Great Britain. For them Dominion autonomy is still acceptance of a foreign suzerainty, and Mr. de Valera has made this feeling articulate throughout the State. He ignores treaty conditions because he and his followers opposed them when they were agreed to by the representatives of Ireland, and in every way within his power, short of declaring the Free State a Republic, he has weakened the tiel between Great Britain and Southern Ireland. But however successful politically, the Irish leader has found the economic health of the Free State seriously threatened by the disputes with England. The markets of Great Britain are almost vital to Southern ahd Western Ireland. The Irish markets were valuable to Britain also, but she has shown, without much difficulty, that they can be done without and the volume of her trade remain unimperilled. In such circumstances some approach has been made by the de Valera Ministry to a 'more reasonable attitude. If this is maintained and negotiations are to be re-opened with a Minister at Whitehall who has not been associated with the squabbles of the past, there may be some hope of settlement. Judging from the history of Irish politics the likelihood of a better understanding is all the greater for the recent vehement .utterances of Mr. de Valera that nothing but complete independence will prove acceptable to him and his followers.