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district councils; and I find, as regards these, that in twenty-eight counties and ridings (including two ridings of Cork and Tipperary) there are on the existing councils a total of 172 chairmen of district councils, only five of whom are Unionists.

If we turn to the asylums boards the proportions are equally striking. I have before me a return for eight counties in the south and west of Ireland. Previous to the Act of 1898 some ninety Unionist members were serving upon these bodies. Now there are seven. These are not specially selected counties, but are typical of three-fourths of Ireland. An examination of the political constitution, past and present, of the Irish local bodies demonstrates the complete success of the Nationalist leaders in their policy of excluding from public life all save their own nominees-who are one and all elected, not to do practical work for the prosperity of the country, but, in the words of Mr. Dillon, to forward the cause of Irish freedom.'

II.

The quotations from speeches given above-which are mere samples of a mass of similar utterances-serve to show that the local bodies are admittedly for the most part mere pawns in the Home Rule game. An examination of the manner in which their 'patronage' is bestowed exhibits one of their methods by which that game is played. Not merely is a man who happens to be a Unionist excluded from all participation in local public life, but he is also debarredexcept in very rare instances-from employment in the service of the local bodies. There is, be it here remarked, a fundamental difference between legitimate political patronage (such as the appointment of an alderman whose politics are those of a majority and who is in other respects a suitable person) and the illegitimate promotion of the interests of your own supporters apart from personal qualifications. The former is the system recognised in England; the latter is the practice of the branches of the United Irish League, which in Nationalist Ireland masquerade under the name of local institutions. Only too frequently the best qualifications which a candidate can possess for any appointment within their gift are that he should be a pronounced advocate of separation and a violent anti-Englander.

Let a man be imprisoned for cowardly intimidation, and directly he is released he will, in all probability, be rewarded by employment under a local body. The following table will show the extent to which these tactics of exclusion are adopted. It is, I believe, a complete and accurate return of appointments of Unionists to any official position made by nineteen county councils since the passing of the Local Government Act of 1898. One word of explanation is necessary, however, in connection with the remarks contained in the last column. A certain number of officials were transferred from the grand juries. These for the most part have been retained, since dismissal means that

the local authority have to pension the official whose appointment they terminate. Thus a certain number of Unionists have doubtless remained in the employment of the county councils. When, however, an opportunity arises of making a fresh appointment, the vacant post is never given to a Unionist; and the reason is, as all Ireland knows in spite of barefaced statements to the contrary made by members of the Government, that it is because he refuses to sacrifice his political and religious convictions to his personal interest. RETURN OF APPOINTMENTS MADE BY NATIONALIST COUNTY COUNCILS IN IRELAND OF UNIONISTS TO ANY OFFICIAL POSITIONS SINCE THE PASSING OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT

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It will be seen from the total figures in this return that in these nineteen counties and ridings in Ireland, with a population of 1,777,802

Roman Catholics and 151,568 Protestants, the county councils have only appointed five Unionists to any position of emolument in their gift since the passing of the Act in 1898.

These five Unionists were as follows:

In Clare, a deputy road surveyor.

In King's, a Scotch specialist on agricultural instruction.

In South Tipperary, a medical superintendent of the asylum. Let me finish this section with a quotation from an article by 'Pat,' a professing Catholic, who is also the author of Economics for Irishmen, a most remarkable book which should be in the hands of every student of the Irish problem :

The board of guardians and district council, in their capacity as the local branch of the United Irish League, hold a secret meeting in a public-house, with the priest in the chair, and, under his direction, decide what they are to do at the public meeting in the board room afterwards, even to the appointment of a sub-sanitary officer-that is local government in Ireland.

III

In addition to the exercise of their patronage on the principle that superior professional or other qualifications on the part of a candidate are to be deliberately set on one side, for the sole reason that he belongs to the creed and political faith of the minority, the Nationalist local bodies have another method of obeying Mr. Redmond's command 'to carry on the National work in their council chambers '-I allude to their surreptitious attempts to finance the League out of the rates by only giving contracts to, or by preferring members of the League to others. So bad, indeed, had this system become that the late Government were compelled to pass a statute in 1902 (2 Edw. VII. c. 38, sec. 18) to oblige local bodies to record the reason why tenders were accepted or rejected, so that the auditors might see where an undue preference was given. A typical example is the well-known case of the Mullingar Guardians, the facts of which are as follows:

At a meeting of the Guardians of the Mullingar Poor-law Union, held on the 8th of September, 1902, a resolution was passed that no person but a Nationalist should be accepted as contractor to the Union of Mullingar.'

At a meeting of the Guardians held on the 25th of September, 1902, tenders were received for the supply of oatmeal. A Mr. Ross tendered 117. 98. and a Mr. Daly 141. per ton. The latter was accepted.

The Local Government Board wrote for an explanation, and received a reply dated the 9th of October, 1902: The Guardians beg to inform your Board the reason they had for accepting the highest tender for oatmeal was that Daly was and is a member of the United Irish League, and the others were not.'

Proceedings were immediately instituted by the Government to declare the contract void, and the Court of Chancery, on the consent of the Guardians, made the necessary order for the purpose,

Again and again have local authorities made similar attempts to misuse their powers, and but for the audit of the Local Government Board there can be no doubt that the practice of penalising Unionists by undue preference given to members of the League would become almost universal. The great safeguard, however, which exists at present against maladministration-the foundation of the whole success of the Local Government Act-is the audit. The local authorities know that the auditor will surcharge illegal payments, and that if it is a case of wilful maladministration or reckless extravagance the Local Government Board as the appellate tribunal will uphold the auditor.

Under Mr. Birrell's Bill all this is altered. Make the decision of the Local Government Board subject to the approval of an elected body and you will see every Roman Catholic institution subsidised from the rates. There will be favouritism and reckless extravagance. No persons but United Leaguers will get contracts, and the highest will be accepted with impunity. The Mullingar case will be repeated openly. There will thus be a premium for joining the Nationalist organisations; and the 650,000l. contributed by the British taxpayer to buy off Mr. Redmond's opposition will disappear like Oliver Twist's helping of porridge-and with like demands to follow.

Under the existing system of government in Ireland an auditor's decision in a case like that of the Mullingar Guardians is upheld, but under Mr. Birrell's 'reform' any auditor who objected to a United Leaguer receiving undue preference would be simply transferred by the Nationalist council to another district-or dismissed!

Enough has been said to indicate broadly the spirit in which the Local Government Act of 1898 has been worked by the Nationalist organisations. The quotations and statistics given are in no way complete. They are merely typical examples which can be multiplied ad infinitum, and those who care to study further Irish local political life can find ample material in Mr. Ivan Müller's recently published book, Ireland To-day and To-morrow. Admitting, therefore-and the fact is not contradicted by the Nationalist leaders themselves-that the powers given to the local bodies have been used wherever the Nationalist influence predominates for the purpose of improving the Home Rule machinery, can any reasonable man doubt that the control over the administration of the country, over the finances, and over the public servants of the Government departments, will be used for any other object? These powers are very real. I have already referred to the question of the audit. What will be the position in regard to the administration of the law connected with local government!

Then, again, the matter of education. The religious question enters into every detail of Irish life. An attempt has been made to discount the value of the electoral statistics of the county councils

on the grounds that in certain Protestant counties of Ulster there are a very large majority of Protestants elected to serve on the local bodies. That these Protestant majorities exist in some seven of the Irish counties is perfectly true, but it in no way affects my argument.

If both parties want to fight instead of one, does that fact add to your reasons for removing the referee who sees that they fight fair? It is probable that under an Ulster majority on the central council Roman Catholic institutes would suffer. It is equally probable that under a Roman Catholic majority (which is of course a certainty) the Protestant institutions will go to the wall. Personally, I object to either result.

Finally, what will be the position of the Civil servants in the transferred departments?

On the 7th of May the Liberal party voted for the Devolution Bill in order to improve' the system of government in Ireland. Ten days previously an example of this 'improvement' was forthcoming in a demand from the Nationalist party, of so determined a nature that the Government were compelled to yield, for the removal, solely on the grounds that he was a Unionist, of a man whose best energies and money were being given whole-heartedly to the work of Irish development.

The question of Sir Horace Plunkett's efficiency did not arise. His dismissal from the sphere of activity in which he was engaged, and the termination of his efforts on behalf of Ireland, were brought about simply because, in the words of Mr. Dillon, he is a Unionist and an enemy of the Nationalist party.'

What an object-lesson for England on the eve of a measure for the government of Ireland according to Home Rule ideas! What a dilemma for those Liberals who profess to believe that Nationalist administration will not mean the social and political outlawry of the minority!

Can any reasonable man doubt that, as Mr. Dillon in the past has urged the local government electorate 'to give their vote to no candidate who is not a member of the United Irish League,' as he now objects to the retention in an administrative office of a man because he is not in favour of Home Rule-so also will he and his colleagues, in the future, make use of any fresh powers which may be given to them simply as weapons to strengthen their own position? There can be but one answer. I ask, therefore, with Ireland deliberately administered in this spirit, the sole object of which is to further the interests of a particular political party, irrespective of the development and welfare of the country, what chance can there be of such firm and wise government as can alone make for prosperity and peace?

GERALD ARBUTHNOT.

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