THE HOME RULE BILL

New Zealand Tablet, 30 May 1912, Page 11

THE HOME RULE BILL

INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS EXPOSITION OF ITS MAIN PROVISIONS On -Thursday afternoon, April 11, Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, introduced the long-expected Home Rule Bill in a speech of about two hours' duration. There was a very full attendance of members, many of whom had secured their seats as early as 8 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Asquith, who was received with cheers, said he need not. go back before 1893, as Mr. Gladstone's speech in introducing the Home Rule Bill of that year was a perfect exposition' of the historic case between England and Ireland. He would take up the case where Mr. Gladstone finished, and asked how far was the demand for Home Rule affected by subsequent events. Since 1894 Governments had come and gone, yet through the shifting issues and changing policies the constant insistence and persistence of the Irish demands remained unchanged. He dwelt on Ireland's preponderant vote for self-government, and said that Ulster sent to the House of Commons 16 Home Rulers out of its 33 representatives. The opposition to Home Rule by a majority in the north-eastern counties of Ulster was a factor not to be ignored. But (said the Prime Minister) we cannot, and we will not, for the sake of a minoritya relatively small minoritywhen every possible care is being taken to safeguard their special interests and susceptibilities, veto the verdict of the vast body of their countrymen. They would (he continued) be refusing to recognise the deliberate constitutional demand of the vast majority of the nation, and ratified time after time during the best part of the life ; of a generation. Mr. Gladstone's position was fortified by later experience, but while Ireland was consistent in her political claims in other respects she had not stood still. * He was glad to acknowledge that the improvement in the conditions of social order was due to a variety of causes (both material and moral), and had deprived one of the arguments which used to be employed against Home Rule of its cogency. Home Rule could no longer be described as a course of despair and as a concession to violence. The social and economic condition of Ireland and its relations with the

United Kingdom had been affected since 1893 by legislation, such as the. Local Government--Act, the Land Purchase Act, the University Act, and the Acts which established Old Age Pensions and National Insurance. Measures such as these would be a tardy and inadequate set-off against the evils wrought, as Irishmen would say and believe, by over-taxation, by depopulation, and the legalised confiscation of the property of "the tillers of the soil. The operation of the elective bodies, such as the County Councils, which had now been at work for over fifteen years, had not been attended by the jobbery, maladministration, and persecution of. minorities, which was predicted as the result of self-govern-ment in Ireland.' . 'For myself (continued the Premier emphatically), while recognising to the full the priority and the urgency of the Irish claim, I have always presented the case for Irish Home Rule as the First Step • to a larger and more comprehensive scheme of local government. I said so with the utmost distinctness in the speech I made on the second reading of the Bill of 1893 and in the twenty years which have since elapsed there is not one year which has not illustrated and emphasised with ever-growing cogency and clearness the imperative need in the interests of the Empire as a whole for the emancipation from purely local concerns i and considerations of the Imperial Parliament. After a quarter of a century of parliamentary experience he v declared that they would never get the parliamentary concerns of the different parts of the United Kingdom treated either with adequate time, knowledge, or sympathy until they had the wisdom and the courage to hand them over to the representatives who alone were immediately affected. The present system was one of centralised impotence, and in the meanwhile were they doing their duty to the Empire at large, with its everincreasing appeals on their attention and interest? From the Imperial point of view that was the case for Home Rule. The task was too large and complex, the conditions' too varied to admit of its being accomplished at one blow and in one single measure. What they were doing now they should do with a distinct and direct purpose. Home Rule in its larger sense, in his opinion, rested upon the necessity and was due to the honor of the Imperial Parliament. And let him point out further that such a process was in direct accordance with the spirit and the tendency of Imperial development. Since 1893 they had seen within the Empire the formation of the Australian Commonwealth, the grant of self-government to the Transvaal, and the erection of the Union of South Africa. They now knew how futile were the predictions made in regard to the Transvaal—as futile as would be the predictions in regard to Home Rule. The case of the Transvaal was strictly analagous with that of Ireland. He would be a bold man who would assert that the case of Ulster presented more difficulties or ought to be less capable of solution than that of Boer and Briton. Living side by side in a territory which was just recovering from a devastating war, we started with a congested centre , which needed, if it was to be efficient, to be relieved of many things. Mr. Asquith then proceeded to give

An Exposition of the Main Provisions, beginning with the legislative power it was proposed to confer upon the new Irish body. There was no question of distribution or allocation as between the central local body and the supreme legislative authority. The Imperial Parliament could neither surrender to nor share its supreme authority with any other part of his Majesty’s dominions. But, while we maintain unimpaired and unchallenged the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, the Bill confers upon Ireland, in regard to Irish concerns, a real autonomy, subject only to such reservations and safeguards as the peculiar circumstances of the case require. There would be in Ireland an Irish Parliament, consisting of the King and two Housesnamely, and Irish Senate and an Irish House of Commons. That Parliament, would have the power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland. That grant of legislative power would, in the first place, be subject to territorial limitations ; in the next place there would be excluded certain

matters which it was desirable should be dealt with by the Imperial Parliament. , These were substantially the matters enumerated in the Bill. of 1893—matters like the issue of peace and war, the navy and army, treason, and a number of other matters. In addition there would be excluded certain what were described as reserved services, the first, and in some respects the most important, of which was the subject matter of the Irish Land Purchase Act. It was of the utmost importance that this system, which had been set up on the basis of Imperial credit, should remain precisely as it was. Other of the reserved services were the Old Age Pensions and National Insurance Acts, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Post Office Savings Bank, and public loans made in Ireland before the passing of this Act. Though treated as services in regard to which the Irish Parliament would have neither power of legislation nor of administration, some of these would be transferred either automatically or at the option of the Irish Parliament. The Constabulary Would be Transferred after the expiration of six years from the passing of the Act. In regard to the Post Office Savings Bank, after ten years there might be a transfer at the wish of the Irish Parliament, with six months' notice, to enable depositors to make arrangements. In regard to Old A»e Pensions and National Insurance, the Bill would empower the Irish Parliament to demand the transfer of these services after a year's notice. In addition to the excluded services, the Bill provided that the Irish Parliament could not repeal or alter any of the provisions of the Act except in regard to the special subsidiary matters. The third clause of the Bill would specially include, or rather exclude, from the possible legislation on the part of this new Irish Parliament, any attempt to establish a privileged status for privileged persons before the tribunals of the country, or interfere in any way with the. validity of mixed marriages. In the first place there was the veto of the Lord Lieutenant in the seventh clause of the Bill, which provided that he should give or withhold his consent to Bills passed by the two Houses of the Irish Parliament, subject to two limitations— that he should comply with any instructions given by the Imperial Executive in this country in respect to any such Bills, and should, if so directed, postpone giving consent, to the Bill. They believed that to be a complete and adequate safeguard for the maintenance of religious equality. If any question arose as to the validity of an Irish Act, the question would be settled, if it arose in the course of ordinary litigation, first by an appeal to the Irish Court of Appeal and from it to the Judical Committee of the Privy Council. Next Mr. Asquith referred to the Constitution of the Irish Parliament. As to the Senate of forty members, the question of course arose, by what process those members were to be selected for the purpose ? It had always been recognised -that they should not be simply elected by the constituencies who returned members to the Lower House. In the Bill of 1893 they were to be elected on a restricted franchise confined to owners of property of a certain ratable value. They did not think, on consideration, that that was a satisfactory plan. They had come to the conclusion, in view of the special circumstances of Ireland, that the. Senate should be a nominated body. It was most desirable to get into the Senate the representatives of the minoritypersons who would safeguard the interests of the minority. The nominated body nominated in the first instance by the Imperial Executive would hold office for eight years. They would retire by rotation, and as they retired their places would be filled by the Irish Executive itself. The Lower House would number 164, to be elected by the existing Irish constituencies, the unit of population for each being placed at 27,000. The effect would be that Ulster would have 59 members, Leinster 41, Munster 37, Connaught 25, and the Universities which would be retained for the purpose, 2. This would give the Counties, 128, the Boroughs 34, and the Universities 2. When there was any disagreement between the two Houses, the precedent of South Africa would be followed, and the two Houses would sit and vote together. In the event of the Lower

House persisting in a particular measure, therefore, with an elected chamber of 164 and a nominated chamber of 40 in a joint session, there should be a full opportunity of obtaining a representative opinion of Ireland. Turning to the position of the Executive, Mr. Asquith said that the ? > Appointment of the Lord Lieutenant would no longer be subject to any religious disability, and the appointment would be for a fixed term of two years. Dealing with what he described as the difficult and complicated matter of finance, he said that since 1893 in no respect had the situation more completely altered than in the financial "relations of Ireland with the United Kingdom as a whole. The true Irish revenue has risen, according to their estimate, in the coming financial year to about .£10,840,000, and the expenditure on Irish services to about £12,350,000. In other words, a surplus of two millions had been turned into a deficit, which would in all probability next year mean about one and a-half millions. The great growth in Irish expenditure on local services had been due to substantially the same causes as in Great Britain. There were three distinct causes. In the first place to new Irish requirements which made a successful appeal to the Imperial Exchequer, Land Purchase, the Department of Agriculture, and a much larger, provision for National Education. Under the second head:, there was the Development Grant, due to the theory of equivalent grants, and thirdly that by far the largest part of the whole was to be put down to Old Age Pensions, National Insurance (including Labor Exchanges), and postal services. He need not point out that under the existing system it was in no one's interest to economise. In this way a surplus, as he had said, of two millions had been converted into a deficit, and let no one suppose we had reached the end of the process. , The Revenue. •.'_' In the meantime, pending the time when that deficit would be converted into a surplus, the collection of all —with certain exceptionswould be retained as an Imperial service. The Bill would impose on the Irish Parliament the obligation to pay the cost of all Irish services, except the reserved services, which would continue to be an Imperial charge until transferred. There would be every year transferred from the Imperial to the Irish Exechequer a sum called in the Bill the ' transferred sum,' representing the cost to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom., of the. Irish services at the passing of the Act, the cost to be determined by a body called the Joint Exchequer Board. That would be the first head of revenue of the Irish Government. The second head would be .Irish Postal revenue, but these two heads would barely suffice to balance the account. It was in the opinion of the Government expedient and equitable that Ireland should be enabled not only to defray the necessary expenses of setting up the new Administration, but also to be provided with a reasonable margin. A further sum would be given ultimately to be £200,000, but in the first year and for a short term to be £500,000. After a term this would be reduced by £50,000 a year. Mr. Asquith then went on to deal with The Powers of Taxation. The Imperial Parliament, he said,, would continue to tax the whole of the United Kingdom. The Irish Parliament would have power to impose Irish taxes of their own, whether by way of addition to the Imperial taxes or otherwise. That power to impose taxes of their own. or add to the Imperial taxes, would be subject to certain restrictions, and the Irish Parliament could not impose a customs duty except on articles which for the time being were dutiable by way of custom in the United Kingdom. The Irish Parliament would not be able to interfere with any Imperial duty except in the case of beer and spirits The Irish Parliament would have full power to devise new taxes. They could reduce any tax except the enumerated stamp duties. They could freely ad to the Excise duties. With regard to Customs,, they could add, but only to the extent to give an additional yield of 10 per cent.

The growth in the receipts from the Irish Revenue other than from taxes imposed by the Irish Parliament would go to diminish and ultimately to extinguish the deficit. What would be the estimated balances if the Bill passed into law this year ? The Irish account would show on the revenue side the transferred -'sum of £6,350,000, and they would get in addition the Post Office receipts, £1,350,000, altogether the total revenue of £7,700,000. On tfie other hand, their expenditure would be £5,610,000, and on the Post Office £1,600,000, a total of £7,210,000, leaving a margin for reserve of £490,000. Taking the Imperial balance sheet, he said the whole of the Irish revenue, except the Post Office, would be £9,500,000.

The Expenditure Would Be

first, the transferred sum of £6,350,000. Then Old Age Pensions and Reserved Services, £2,650,000 ; National Insurance, £190,000 ; Land Purchase, £616,000 ; Constabulary, £1,380,000, and the collection of revenue, £300,000. That left a deficit of almost exacty two millions.

Having indicated that there would be a revision of taxation when Irish revenue derived from both Imperial and Irish taxation exceeded the cost of Irish administration, with a view to securing a proper contribution by Ireland towards the permanent expenditure of the United Kingdom, and extending the powers of the Irish Parliament in respect of general expenditure in Ireland, Mr. Asquith came to his last point—

The Future Representation of Ireland

in the Imperial Parliament. Mr. Gladstone's Bill of 1886 entirely excluded Irish members from Westminster, but in the Bill of 1893 they were retained to the number.of 80. We regard the retention of the Irish members at Westminster as essential. The Irish representation would be reduced to 42, giving Ireland roughly a member for every 100,000 of her population. Tie had detained the House longer than he had hoped, but' he trusted he had succeeded in making plain the lines upon which the Government asked Parliament to proceed in taking the first, the most urgent, and the most momentous step towards the settlement of a controversy which between themselves and Ireland had lasted for more than a century, and of a problem— laid great stress upon —which even apart from the special circumstances of Ireland was every year, and year by year, becoming increasingly vital to the efficiency of Parliament itself. We put this Bill forward', (said the Prime Minister in conclusion) as the responsible advisers of the Crown, as the embodiment of our own honest and deliberate judgment. There were at this moment between twenty and thirty self-governing Legislatures under the allegiance of the Crown, under a diversity of —economical, racial, and religious. ' Are we going to break the Empire by adding one more?' asked the Premier. The claim comes this time not from outlying quarters, but from men close to our own door, bound by the ties of kinship, associated with us in every form of social and industrial life who have borne and are bearing their shareand a noble share it has beenfor the privilege of holding together the greatest Empire the world has ever known. The claim, continued the Prime Minister, no longer falls upon deaf ears. There has been reserved for this Parliament, this House of Commons, the double honor of reconciling Ireland and vindicating themselves. THE IRISH LEADER'S VIEWS Mr. John Redmond, said whatever views may be entertained by members either for or against this Bill as it has been described by the Prime Minister, everyone will agree that this is a great and historic occasion, and that the subject which we are called upon to discuss is a vast constitutional and imperial issue. Such a theme deserves from opponents as well as from supporters a calm and serious discussion. It may possibly be considered to be the interest of' some people in this House to engender passion in these debates, and to endeavor to overwhelm the issue by personal attacks or by insulting and irritating references to the nationality and the

cherished aspirations of the Irish people; but I would like to say at the commencement of these discussions that so far as I and my friends on these benches are concerned we will not be tempted to retaliate. I therefore can assure the House that so far as we are concerned we will enter upon these discussions with A Heavy Sense of Responsibility, and we will conduct 'the debates so far as we can with self-restraint and good temper. After referring to Sir E. Carson's opposition to the Bill, and to the fact that a little over a year ago a number of prominent Unionist politicians and Unionist organs were favorable to Home Rule, Mr. Redmond went on to say:—The principle of devolving upon local assemblies the management of local affairs has at its back the sanction of the whole world. It has the sanction of the Empire. It is the foundation of the Empire to-day, and it is the bond, the only bond, of union. I think it is true to say that no community of white men within the Empire have ever asked for this right and up to this have been refused the exercise of it. What are the main arguments against the principle of self-government for Ireland? Fust, that self-government is a question of separation, and Unionists orators, especially in the country, and, I notice, more in the country than in this House, where they are face to face with their opponents, are constantly saying that the Irish people want separation, and that the Irish leaders are Separatists. I would like to be perfectly frank on this matter. There has always been, and there is to-day, a, certain section of Irishmen who would like to see separation from this country. They are a small, a very small, section, though they were once a"large section. .These men who hold these views at this moment only desire separation as an alternative to the present system. It is said that Mr. Parnell was a Separatist in disguise, and one of the commonplaces of the Unionist platform in this country is the statement that 1 am a Separatist in disguise, and that my friends are Separatists m disguise. Of course, when an assertion or that kind is made, so far as' I am concerned, I can only deny it, What is Mr. Parnell's record in this matter ? In his evidence before the Parnell Commission, which sat in 1889, he said: < I have never gone further in any. thought or action than the restitution of the legislative independence of Ireland and in 1886 he specifically accepted as a final settlement of that demand the concession of a strictly statutory subordinate Parliament for Ireland, and that acceptance by him was endorsed by the masses of the Irish people. , We on these benches stand precisely where Parnell stood. We want peace with this country, and we deny that we are Separatists and we say we are willing as Parnell was willing, to accept a subordinate Parliament created by statute of this Imperial Legislature as a final settlement ol Irish claims. So far as we.are concerned, we in Ireland regard no insult so grievous as the insult contained m the statement that we, as a nation, are intolerant in matters of religion. We believe that your Protestant and Unionist historian, the late Mr. Leckv, told the truth when he said that that never was a characteristic of the Irish people all through their history. We believe the testimony of John Wesley,after his journey to Ireland, who records in his, journal that he was received everywhere with kindness, and he speaks in the highest terms of the tolerant spirit of the Catholics of Ireland. Still, there are Protestants, both in Ireland and in this country, who do believe that, and a good many of them entertain honest views in this matter Our position on the point is-we say, 'Put into your Bill any safeguards you like.' There are many safeguards m this Bill, and it is idle to tell the House of Commons, or to tell any sensible man, that these safeguards are no use. You have got a nominated Senate. There is the safeguard of the Veto—a most far-reaching safeguard. Any Bill interfering unjustly with religion can be reserved for the decision of the King and the Imperial Parliament. Further than that, as the Prime Minister points out, it forbids making any laws which will interfere with the free exercise of any religion or make any religious belief or religious ceremony a condition of the validity of any marriage in Ireland. Any law of that kind would be vetoed by the Crown and

in any case, it would be void of itself. Further, behind that there is the»inherent supremacy of the Imperial Parliament. The Question of Finance. The Unionists said they were not only giving Ireland the management of her own affairs, but paying two millions a year to enable her to have that privilege. At present they were paying that sum for the privilege of misgoverning Ireland, and for the privilege of keeping Ireland discontented, and the weak spot in your Empire. This is surely worth considering for a moment. When the first Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1886 Mr Gladstone was able to provide an Imperial contribution of o\ millions. Seven years passed, and when he introduced his second Home Rule Bill he found.lie was unable to provide an Imperial contribution of 2| millions. The contribution has been a decreasing contribution for many years. Its history is extraordinary. In : less. than a century Ireland has contributed to the upkeep of the Army and Navy, in addition to paying out of her own taxes the whole of her own cost, a sum of £325,000,000 sterling, and it is an extraordinary thing that during the seven years in Ireland from 1846 onwards, Ireland was still contributing, although you were sending money over to keep her people from starvation, something like £2,000,000 a year to the upkeep of the Empire. You are not asked to finance the Government. You are not asked to pay anything in addition to what you are paying already, or what you will be if this system goes on for the next two or three years. I, therefore, think myself, from the financial point of view alone, that this Home Rule Bill ought to commend itself to the judgment of the people of this country. Is it not an unworthy standpoint for a great, powerful, and wealthy country like England to take up? Think what it cost to settle the Transvaal. You forgave them a'loan of £30,000,000. You gave them three million or four million sterling for other purposes. I say nothing about what you spent on the war but if instead of £30,000,000" the "sum had been £300,000,000, do you think there is any Englishman who would say it is not worth it in order to have cemented the races as it has done and turned South Africa into a loyal portion of the Empire

Mr. Redmond then dealt with the question of a nominated Senate, and other features of the Bill.

Concluding, Mr. Redmond said that in 1886 Parhell was willing to have no Irish members .at Westminister, although there were such serious questions as the Police and the Judiciary reserved to the Imperial Parliament. The Irish Party therefore had authority for the position they took up. On the question of finance he said it was a far better Bill than either that of 1886 or 1893. Viewing the Bill as a whole it was a great measure. They (the Irish Party) welcomed it. It would be submitted to an Irish National Convention, and he, without hesitation, recommended to the Convention the acceptance of the Bill. He, personally, thanked God he had lived to see that day. He believed Hie Bill would pass into law, and that it would put an end once and for all to the ill-will, suspicion, and disaffection between the two countries.