Home Rule for Ireland

New Zealand Tablet, 27 December 1906, Page 23

Home Rule for Ireland

The following, letter appeared in the Christchurch ( Press ' of Friday last,:--

Sitj— While human nature is what it is, prone to evil " and" false jUdgnietfts and unreasoning prejudices, . we. intistf be prepared to expect differences of opinion upon all -vital "questions affecting tire public interest. 'liiis, if" it serve no other purpose, at least secures us from- the danger of sinking into a" state of dull monotony of' thought and, action that would be^ at once disastrous to all human progress and endeavor. On this ground-, then, 1 claim the' right to -differ with you nofy, as I have often differed with you before, on the Home Rule question. In your leader of December l'.Hh you seem to' me- to be singularly, and, may I say, unpat-d'onably defective in 10-gic. " While we are always glad,' you -say 7 '.to welcome public men from the Home Country,- and to listen to their views on putilic qucstiblis, we'-doAnot agree that the people o.f. this Colony should beY asked, to express an opinion on Home politics, especially upon matters with which we have no immediate concern.' "Now, sir, if Ireland be, as you say it is, an integral ,. part of the" United 'Kingdom, and if -New Zealand be, as it undoubtedly is, an integral part of the British Empire, we have a right,

An Unqualified Right,

to give ah expression of our opinion upon any great question affecting the" interests of" the Mother Country, or any part' of it,- else why did the late Mr, Seddon send out ten contingents to the Transvaal to assist England in suppressing the Boers ? Further, what object would any public man ' have in coming to this Colony to be welcomed even by the editor of the < Press,' U he dare not try to elicit from the people • whom he addresses an expression of their opinion. ? 'If you are glad to welcome him, as you say. you are, and- glad to listen, to his views on public questions, what obliquity of vision is it that prevents you from seeing it is to get an ' expression of your opinion and to enlist your sympathy in his cause that he travels 1-200 miles to speak "to you? No one on earth today even suggests • that Ireland is well governed, and ' if myt, why rv tfdfc ? And no one denies the right to a member of the Imperial Parliament to state a case for his constituency in any part of the Empire, if by doing so 1 he' hopes t5 obtain some advantage for them. If the permissiou to stale a case be acceded to him,he has a right to expect an expression of opinion upon it, and -in the case under 'discussion that opinion has been '"given not only by hundreds - and thousands, but by millions of people who have heard Mr. Devlin tell of His~'cjb\int J ry's J wrbngs. You say 'WS.% Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom. Then, if ib be so, why in the name of _ justice and' fair play is it "the only spot on the wide Empire of England -where -one" can never get out of «ght of poverty -and all the concomitants of povjerty, " idleness, thriflTessn'ess, dirt and discontent ? Why is it the only spot in " the" Empire where ri&n and deca'v arid desolation stare you in the face everywhere you go, and' meet you at every turn of the road ? Why is it the only place in the Empire from which its people are flying as from a plague swot, or. why is it the only- place in the Empire where hope is "dead and evetv incentive to industry -is crushed^out'of- men's Ke'aTts Utterly^? If it be an integral * part of line Empire, why does it riot share in the Empire's prosperity ? \£Uat docs the Empire's extension, the success of it's a'tnYs on land or sea, the increase of it s wfeal'tti. the expansion of -its commerce. matter to Ireland"? "Not two rows of pins ; her only interest in these thftfgs is the amount of taxation they heap upon her shoulders. To say .''"therefore, "that that unfortun- , ate country is an integral part of the United Kins;doih is unmitigated clap-trap. However, as mv opinion goes" only fo~r what it is worth, I beg, sit, to submit to your readers a few facts which are as indefehsiDio and' unjustifiable as They are Monstrous, and AstouMing.

Let me ' first say that Ireland has 300,000 less of a .poDulatt'oit at the present ,time than Scotland. In the "London '"Daily Chronicle, '~ of January 20th, 1906, . Mr. Arnold .White,- writing on ' Orimeless Ireland,' tells u§ that in 1003" /there were 2114 criminal convictions in. Scotland, while dtiring the same year in "Ireland 'tttefe weie 1169, but tliat in Ireland the cost Of the " pcfltice force was for that period £1,569,214, while in ScotiaTftTifr ' iffHbTSKt&l* "only to £529,196. Now, if .Ireland be an -integral part of the United Kingdom, why, may I ask, does it cost over a million

and a half of money to ' run in ' about one thousand or mo r.e . criminals, -while it. "cost Scotland, but' half the money- to run in double the number?' According to Mr. While • Ireland is twice as crimeless and ten times as moral.' as Scotlaud and yet the law costs and the _ Land Commission in Ireland total £555,229, while the same, business is done for Scotland at a cost' of £259,373.' The- census of 1903 gives the . illegitimacy rate of Scotland as being about ten 'times that of Ireland. Again, the Local Government Board of " Ireland costs £79,875, -while the Local Government Board of Scotland manages Lo get through its work at a cost , of £15,825. in. fine,. Ireland with 300,000 less of a population than Scotland, and with but one half iis ciime, has . Lo pay two millions a yea,r mora than "that country for the conduct of' its legal business. But seiious as these financial grievances are, .they are not tliCv only- one nor- the greatest fjotii wMcL Ireland suffers ~to-day. .In a country ol which it may be safely •• affirmed that the " large majority of^ the people are Catholics, every position of trust and emolument is* given" lo 'Protestants, and from all the higher positions in the country Catholics are religiously excluded. The ■entire machinery of the law is in the , .hands "of Protestants, in - fact everything that is " ;worth having - 'in the country" is in the possession of the- dominant party. Yet in the- face of this we are told ..that Ireland is an integral part of the United. JKingdom I No, sir, the system of Government in Ireland is rotterij root and branch. It is a disgrace to England; il is the foulest stain upon her escutcheon ; it is Ihe _ one" sweltering sore upon the .body politic, it is the" vilest thing outside the Empire of the ' Czar, and the sooner we get rid of it and try some other remedy -with long suffering and patient Ireland, the- better - tor all concerned. — Yours, etc. ,

M. NOLAN.