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Show j Tim Elealy as "The Member for Uganda." 1 I At the opening of parliament rrime I -tester Balfour declared that "one ; - 'be things which we ought to con-s' con-s' 1 r is th.- finding of money in con-'';ti:i con-'';ti:i with the Transvaal, and pos-s!'!.v pos-s!'!.v a'S(J f"r the Uganda railway." He i:' iin-.i to pledge himself to give any titii" to the consideration of Irish mat- j t'is. A.-rording to the London Stand- j ;i "1. the foiiowing colloquy and speech I took T.lace: I i""- O'Connor complained of the 'bs. net- of any promise of a day for y- dis.-ussion of Irish affairs. The ''"nnrab;.. member was proceeding to " fer jo j-,e at-tj0n 0f the government i-n imprisoning Irish members, when: l ii Sj. iiker I have stated several t nv-s th.-it this action is not an occa-for occa-for ciisetissing generally the policy yt the p'lvcrnment under the criminal 7 ,u-v 'Ireland) actt Mr. ') Vonnor With all respect. I nil not discussing the policy of the S"Tnmr-nt.. (Oh!) I am discussing i jv s'aI' of Ireland, and am giving yfl , ' :,s ;1 reason why we have a right J tf demand that time should be given J f a discussion in this house. (Na- ij lllist cheers.) fl h, ,s!,aker The honorable mem-I mem-I ! rt1S.t'Rtuled to say that time shall so ! I i0", .a.n l'v the government because it f .'" no time for discussing the griev-. griev-. f ,"(:esof Ireland, but he is not entitled II MB0n-to dt'tail uPon those grievances. 1 tail"'") Itedmnd, warmly: "No de- ' ! I r' fJ f-"nn"r I have to repeat that cot1 nl dis(,ussing the policy of the I "oW ""lenu (Ministerialist cries of am1' an,i nationalist cheers.) I : - cussing the state of Ireland. A . .Welsh member was allowed to discuss the state of Wales. (Ministerialist cries of "No," and counter cries of "Gag!" from the nationalist benches.) The Speaker The honorable member mem-ber is quite mistaken. The member for Carnarvon (Mr. Lloyd-George) commented on the fact that time was asked for the education bill, and used the argument that time should not be j given because the bill was unpopular. Mr. O'Connor said that if his honorable honor-able friend were allowed to discuss the popularity of the education bill he I (Mr. O'Connor), in reference to a coun- try in which the constitption had been suspended, might be allowed to discuss dis-cuss the popularity of the government. He had sometimes 'longed to be a Welshman (laughter), but he never had so great a longing as at that moment. mo-ment. (Nationalist cheers.) Their demand de-mand was that as the government had silenced the voice of the Irish people in Izelahd, at least in this great court of appeal their voices might be heard. Mr. T. Healy said he rose for the purpose of saying a few words on the subject of the Uganda railway. (Loud laughter.) . Speaking as a native of Uganda (renewed laughter), he wished to thank the government for a great measure of advancement, which he was sure would bring calm to Kerry and balm to Ballydehob (laughter), namely, the proposed expenditure on that country of a large amount of public pub-lic money and the taking up the time of the house with regard to a project of that description. We could not help felicitating the government upon the proposal .to spend time and money upon the inhabitants of that distant and neglected island. (Loud laughter.) Uganda was a place which had ever been foremost in his thoughts. (Renewed (Re-newed laughter.) They had been brought up to love and reverence it, and it was now a consolation that that long-neglected country should at length have won the favor and approbation of the prime minister of England to such an extent that he was prepared, at a time of great'stringerfcy', "and when the j education bill tor England was exciting excit-ing so much passion, to give to the people peo-ple of that country the hope of having a large portion of the time of the ' house of commons devoted to it. There I must be some reason for this iiattering I attention to Uganda. j He believed it was a perfectly crimeless crime-less country. (Loud laughter.) He believed be-lieved its administration . was in the hands of the most pure-souled removables remov-ables that the British empire could afford. Law and order there proceeded with a regularity of which they had no example in this country, and hence it was that the British parliament turned aside from paltry topics, such as the affairs of Ireland, of England, of Scotland Scot-land and of Wales, and devoted itself with one voice to the interests of the people of that afflicted area. (Laughter.) (Laugh-ter.) New as the right honorable gentleman gen-tleman opposite was to the office of prime minister, he had given a pledge to the empire at large which would redound re-dound through Australia, through Canada Can-ada and through every island and j kingdom, and republic, absorbed by j England (laughter)- that, however i much this parliament might have its ' I hands full, if you are a nigger, a , painted savage or a heathen roaming in the woods, he still, had a tear for you at his disposal (loud laughter), and that in his generosity he would be prepared to appeal to the chancellor of the exchequer to pour out the gold of England for the benefit of this benighted be-nighted and dejected savage. The Irish members had long gloried in the destruction of their own parliament, par-liament, because where, in Ireland where, within the walls of an Irish parliament could they, imagine such disinterestedness, such altruism, when their own country was palpitating,. thrilling and throbbing with passionate passion-ate emotion as to turn aside to contemplate con-template the condition of the niggers of Uganda? (Laughter.) Hence it was that in the future the admiration he had always felt for the house of commons would now ta something ethereal and ennobling, and they would go back to their own country with these glorious and glowing principles that Kerry might be neglected, Con-naught Con-naught might he starving, but at least that house had" an eye and a watchful care for the people of Uganda. (Loud laughter.) |