FREE STATE BILL.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15127, 18 February 1922, Page 5

FREE STATE BILL.

9 DEBATE IN COMMONS. ( A. and N.Z. Cable.) (Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 17. . In the House ob Commons Sir L\ Worthington Evans resumed the debate. He. denied that the bargain made'under the 1920 Act had been; broken. On tho contrary, the Ulster position under the Act had ; Been maintained. He submitted, ij concerning the boundary question, j that it could not be called coercion to consult the -wishes of the iiihabi- j tants. Therd should bo give and; take along tho 'boundary. That j ehpuld be something Ulster should j welcome. The acceptance of Capt. j Craig’s amendment meant tho rojec- j tion of .the treaty* and the betrayal of the Irishmen who had signed, as well as peaco in Ireland. v Lord Hugh .Cecil thought the Bill should bo rejected. It was not a proper method ol carrying out the treaty. It was the Government’s duty to maintain order until the new constitution had been framed, so as to avoid the dreadful interregnum during which there would be no Government in Ireland at all. Lord Hugh considered the interpretation of the boundaries clause rshould be in the Bill. The Government waa in the astounding position that it rested •with a boundary commission, to decide . whether it would break faith with the Ulster Government. They were looking on, in a state of interested curiosity, to see whether the Government was ' composed of cheats and liars or not. Mr. Asquith spoke for a few moments He hoped the Mouse by a significant majority, would pass the Bill in the briefest possible time. He urged the Government not to recede from the terms cf the boundary question, which was an integral part of the Treaty. Mr. F. Thomas, on behalf of the Labour Party urged the adoption of the Bill. He ■ said that the chief difficulty confronting Messrs. Collins and Griffiths was not Be ' Valera’s followers but the advocates of a Soviet republic. Captain Craig’s amendment was rejected by 302 votes to 80 and the Bill was read a second time. It was then referred to a committee of the whole House.