Against Home Rule (1912) Part 23

From this point of view St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea should be a means of communication, constant and in every direction, between the two Islands, and not a sort of boundary ditch to be deepened and rendered difficult of pa.s.sage.

If Ireland wishes to share England's prosperity she must not build up a wall against the credit, trade, and special products of her richer sister. If England wishes to have and to foster a magnificent source of food supply, well and strategically secured against continental foes, she also must do all that can be done to encourage intercourse. To develop traffic between Great Britain and Ireland is the policy which both experience and theory point to as advantageous to both countries; to subvert this policy and make Ireland's commerce local and self-sufficing, seems to be the narrow and mistaken ideal of Nationalist aspirations.

UNIONIST POLICY.

It follows that the Unionist Party must oppose any plan for "nationalising" the Irish railways, whether by the credit of the United Kingdom, or otherwise. The policy we advocate is to be found in the Minority Report of the Viceregal Commission, signed by Sir Herbert Jekyll, Mr. W.M. Acworth, and Mr. John Aspinall, not as politicians, but experts; and in the Report of the Royal Commission on Ca.n.a.ls and Inland Navigation dealing with the question of ca.n.a.ls and water transport in Ireland.

In the case of railways, the aim should be to amalgamate them into two or three large companies to standardise as far as possible the light railways, and level them in respect of gauge, gradients, works, and rolling stock with the larger companies. Unquestionably many of the smaller railways to be amalgamated, though not light railways, need large expenditure for the purpose of duplication of running lines, straightening of curves, stations, stores, and conveniences, and many extensions and cross-lines will also be needed to connect them with the trunk lines, and to open out districts now unprovided with railway facilities. Many of these projects, though industrially remunerative to Ireland and advantageous to England also as tapping new sources of food supply, would not be, in strictness, commercially remunerative in the sense of giving fair return on capital over working expenses, and it is idle to expect that private capital will ever be subscribed for these purposes. They can only be undertaken either directly by State funds, or by money provided by the State, and lent to the large amalgamated lines at low interest. This is the policy inaugurated by Mr. Arthur Balfour, which has been of untold benefit to many districts in Ireland. Probably a public grant of, say, 2,000,000, and loanable money available to the extent of 8,000,000, would largely solve the problem. For the reasons already given it is only by Imperial credit, and under the aegis of a united Parliament and Government, that capital on this large scale can be available for these purposes.

Ca.n.a.lS AND NAVIGATION.

The problem of ca.n.a.ls and inland navigation in Ireland is a minor one, but the same principles largely apply. The Royal Commission[101]

recommended that all the chief waterways, ca.n.a.ls, and rivers necessary for inland transport should be purchased and remain under the control of the State, the controlling authority, however, not themselves, to become carriers on any waterways. At the same time, they strongly urged that the problem of arterial drainage and relief from floods should not be treated separately, but that the control of drainage works should be under the same central authority as that which is to control waterways and navigation.

It is not necessary to refer in detail to the Report. Apart from the sum necessary to buy out the existing owners of ca.n.a.ls and waterways, towards which 2,451,346 had been contributed from private sources, the Commissioners contemplated a further expenditure of about 200,000 on new works. In addition the sum of 500,000 would be required, on a moderate estimate for drainage and the prevention of floods. The pressing nature of the latter problem is once more emphatically evidenced by the wholesale injury to property and the public health by the recent flooding of the basins of the Shannon, Barrow, Bann, and other rivers. Here, again, we have problems which it is idle to expect an Irish Parliament to solve satisfactorily for years to come, or, indeed, ever. Ways and means must be an effectual bar. Drainage and navigation form only one problem out of a dozen facing a Home Rule Government needing the raising of enormous capital. Probably the Commissioners conducting the Ca.n.a.ls inquiry, who were persons of all shades of political opinion, were well aware that only under the present system of State credit could the financial difficulties be overcome.

According to their report, the State (_i.e._ the Government of the United Kingdom) were to acquire the control, which was to be carried out by an Act of Parliament, naming the Waterways Commissioners, "who should be persons disa.s.sociated from party politics."

The one dissentient out of twenty-one signatories, Lord Farrer, significantly adds that he does not favour a "charge on the public purse and new Boards of Management _until a purely Irish elected authority has agreed to pay for them_." Precisely; Lord Farrer has looked ahead. Will an Irish elected authority agree to pay for these boons, and will they be able to pay? That is a question which will cause some searching of hearts amongst all interested in Ireland's welfare;--in these pages we have attempted to give an answer.

CONCLUSION.

The conclusion is in fact inevitable. Ireland cannot have it both ways.

She cannot have financial independence and financial dependence at the same time. No Colony has ever claimed or been granted these inconsistent conditions. If Colonial precedents are cited, their essential limitations should also be borne in mind. Colonial loans are not charged on the Consolidated Fund. Nor have Colonial railways been nationalised with the money and credit of the United Kingdom, in order to favour local exports at the expense of imports from England.

Our examination of the question brings us to the clear conclusion that it is only under the existing system of a single Parliament and Executive for the United Kingdom that the problems of transit and transport in Ireland, or between Great Britain and Ireland, can be satisfactorily solved, whether from the point of view of finance, justice to shareholders, or advantage to the trade and convenience of both countries.

NOTE.--It has been suggested, since the above was written, that the balance in the Irish Post Office Savings Banks (now about 12,500,000) might be available to the new Irish Government, for advances to farmers and other public purposes. The suggestion involves the applicability of such advances for the purchase or amalgamation of the Irish railways under an Irish public authority.

Such a proposal will not bear close examination.

It is an essential condition of the existence of Savings Bank deposits that the deposits should be always available on the call of depositors; and this condition would no longer be fulfilled if the balances were locked up in Irish railways. In fact, if there was any suggestion that these balances should be used for the purpose of enabling the Irish Government to run the railways on uncommercial principles, the deposits would very soon diminish or disappear--and this apart from the question whether under Home Rule, the deposits would in any event remain at anything like their present high figure.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 92: Viceregal Commission on Irish Railways, Final Report, 1910 (Cd. 5247). Final Report on the Ca.n.a.ls and Inland Navigations of Ireland, 1911 (Cd. 5626).]

[Footnote 93: "The Framework of Home Rule," p. 174.]

[Footnote 94: Figures are taken from Viceregal Commission Reports, p.

78, Report.]

[Footnote 95: Page 78, Report.]

[Footnote 96: Page 58, Report.]

[Footnote 97: Final Report, pp. 76-83.]

[Footnote 98: We have taken the Act of 1844 as the basis referred to by the Commissioners, though it is very doubtful (having regard to the great variety of railway share and loan capital), if the terms of sect.

2 are now suitable; moreover sect. 4 requires a special Act of Parliament to be pa.s.sed to raise the money, and settle the special conditions of the purchase option.]

[Footnote 99: Majority Report, p. 76.]

[Footnote 100: "Framework of Home Rule," p. 281.]

[Footnote 101: Final Report on the Ca.n.a.ls and Navigations of Ireland.

1911. (Cd. 5626.)]