question again." In this view he added he was fortified by the unanimous support of his Ministers, who agreed with him that one great temperance measure was as much as could be reasonably expected from any Prime Minister, and feared that the reopening of the controversy might mean a split in the Unionist ranks which would "open wide the floodgates."

It is scarcely possible that the Prime Minister believed this appeal would suffice to turn the local optionists from their purpose. A few days after the Newry speech a second Conference of the Churches reaffirmed the October decision, adding that the demand for local option sprang from conscientious conviction, and could not therefore be altered or abandoned. Temperance enthusiasts insist they have no intention of leaving the Unionist ranks, and are concentrating their efforts upon converting public opinion in the belief, as they put it, that "if the electorate of Northern Ireland demand this great social reform Sir James Craig will be ready, as he has always been in the past, to accept the verdict of the people of Ulster.'

While depression was still the rule during the year in all departments of the linen trade, with the exception of handkerchiefs and to a lesser degree of damasks, the shipbuilding yards, in spite of the coal strike, were busier than they have been, and there is a satisfactory inflow of orders to be executed in 1927. The Government increased the limit of capital which might be guaranteed under the Trade Loans Guarantee Acts to 9,500,000l., and extended the operation of these Acts to March, 1928.

A sensation was created in March by the report of the Megaw Commission which had been appointed to investigate charges of corrupt dealings in relation to housing schemes carried out by the Belfast Corporation. The Commission found that the quality of the timber supplied was bad, that certain contractors had enjoyed unfair advantages, that the majority of the Housing Committee had acted improperly, and that a number of officials had shown undue favour to contractors. The Corporation ultimately decided to dismiss the City Surveyor (Mr. H. A. Cutler), together with four leading officials of the Housing Department, and the Town Solicitor (Mr. J. M'Cormick), having leased land which was his personal property to the Corporation, automatically ceased to hold office.

The difficulty of finding rock-bottom upon which to base an embankment for the reservoir in the Mourne Mountains, led in December to arbitration between the Belfast Water Commissioners and the contractors, Messrs. Pearson. Already some 400,000l. have been spent on the scheme, and for some time back all operations had been suspended. It was now agreed that the contractors shall carry out exploratory work under the supervision of a board of engineers, which will later formulate modified plans for the completion of the work.

K

The first census since 1911-the disturbed state of the country made any attempt of the kind impossible in 1921-was taken on April 18, both in Northern Ireland and the Free State. In the interval the returns showed that the population of the Six Counties had increased by 5,350, to a total of 1,255,881.

IRISH FREE STATE.

The first effect of the Border Agreement of December, 1925 (see ANNUAL REGISTER, 1925, p. 141), was to bring about a new grouping of the political sections opposed to the Government.

Early in January the heads of the Republican organisation failed to agree concerning the tactical plan by which Mr. de Valera sought to concentrate the efforts of the party in an agitation for the abolition of the oath of allegiance, with the offer that on its removal Republican members would take their places in the Dail. The scheme was finally rejected at a Convention held in March, and Mr. de Valera, who incidentally resigned his claim to be "President of the Irish Republic," broke with Sinn Fein, and proceeded to set up a new organisation-Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny). During the year its activities were confined to public meetings, but so far as could be judged, Mr. de Valera was more successful in enrolling recruits than the orthodox Sinn Fein leaders, though both groups were heavily handicapped by lack of funds and by rapidly diminishing enthusiasm for any brand of Republicanism.

Professor Magennis, who led the opposition to the ratification of the Border Agreement in the Dail, extended the platform of the People's Party or Clann Eireann to include Mr. de Valera's demand for the removal of the Dail oath. By this means it was hoped to secure an exchange of preferences in the next election. with Republicans, but Fianna Fail refused, by a large majority, to give any support to groups inside the Free State Assembly, even though these may advocate political remedies with which opponents of the Treaty were in entire agreement.

The year began well for Labour, which, in February, succeeded in winning a by-election in County Dublin with a majority of 365. Normally, this should have been a safe seat for the Government, but the choice of a publican as a candidate did not commend itself to the voters, the great majority of whom remained at home. The blow was softened a little by the fact that on the same day the Government nominee was successful in recapturing one of the seats in Leix-Offaly from the anti-Treatyites.

More important than the success in County Dublin was the decision of Labour to remove the restriction which confined membership of the party to trade unionists, and this was followed by a vigorous campaign in the rural districts. Later in the year Labour scored a bigger success by concluding a new agreement

with Northern workers, under which, while the political movement in each area was to be controlled directly by its own Executive, the Trade Union Congress continued to be the supreme body in industrial affairs, and an interlocking arrangement between the Northern and Southern Executives promised to ensure substantial political cohesion. Labour was thus in a position to claim that it was the only group which had succeeded, in spite of Partition, in maintaining unity on an All-Ireland basis.

Towards the end of January a dispute, which raised grave constitutional issues, was brought to a head by the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to admit an appeal in the case of Lynham v. Butler, which turned upon the application of the Free State Land Act of 1923 to untenanted land. The Government, with the support of all parties in the Dail, maintained that appeals to the Privy Council should be granted only if some important constitutional principle were involved, and adopted the drastic course of passing an Act which declared that the law was as it had been interpreted in the findings of the Irish Supreme Court, against which the appeal had been entered. Ultimately the incident ended by the decision of the appellant to with draw the case.

Mr. Blythe's Budget statement in April was heralded by a showy Protectionist campaign, which gained some importance from the fact that it had the blessing of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, who, as an Extern Minister, is responsible to the Dail and not to the Executive Council. The Government, however, declined to be stampeded, and tariff extensions were confined to an import duty of half a crown per cwt. on oatmeal, and a revenue-raising tax of 33 per cent. on radio sets. As in England, betting transactions were taxed for the first time, but the ban on cash betting was removed, though the Gaming Act remained in force. By providing for the funding of non-recurrent expenditure, the Minister for Finance knocked four and a half millions off his demand. With revenue estimated at 23,750,000l., this still left a deficit of half a million, but Mr. Blythe was hopeful that in practice expenditure would not be as heavy as he had forecasted, and the Budget would be made to balance. National Loan, originally issued at 95, remained firm at 99, and in December touched 100.

While the Budget debates were still in progress, the Government, towards the end of June, introduced a Bill to provide for the appointment of Tariff Commissioners. This step was taken as part of the new official policy of "Selective Protection." The three Commissioners, members of the Civil Service, were to investigate the claims of industries which sought protection, and report under various heads to the Executive Council, which retained in its own hands the power to grant or reject the application. There were long delays in nominating Commissioners, and

the first meeting of the Tribunal did not take place till midDecember. An official document issued shortly before the meeting stated that the protected industries had found employment for over 9,000 additional workers. On the other hand, Mr. Cosgrave declared in one of his speeches that, while tariffs had been placed on 50 per cent. of Free State imports, the benefit in em ployment bore no relation to the cost of the experiment.

Another political party made its bow in September. This was the National League launched by Captain Redmond, a son of the leader of the old Parliamentary Party. Though Captain Redmond declared that his League had no connection with former or existing organisations, it was expected that he would receive the backing of elements which supported his father. If Sinn Fein silenced constitutional Moderates, it never succeeded in submerging them. Captain Redmond accepted the Treaty settlement, and his aim was to use it to restore Irish unity by a policy of conciliation towards Ulster and friendly co-operation with England. His group is the first political combination to protest against compulsory instruction in the Irish language, which is now the rule in all elementary schools. The announcement that compulsion would be applied to secondary schools in 1928 met with vigorous opposition from the Protestant churches, and a bitter controversy on the subject was still in progress at the end of the year.

At the September meeting of the League of Nations, the Free State delegation, as a protest against the Cecil-Fromageot plan, contested unsuccessfully one of the vacancies on the Council, on the ground that the scheme of election threatened to establish a hierarchy on the Council and also in the Assembly.

Politically, the Imperial Conference was for the Free State the most important event of the year. The Minister for External Affairs, who had defined his policy as "the implementation of co-equality amongst the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations," had the satisfaction of carrying practically all the points which he indicated to the Dail would be pressed at the Conference.

Bills were introduced to vary certain provisions of the Constitution. Up till 1928 this can be done by a direct vote of the Oireachteas; after that date a popular referendum is necessary. The most important of the amending measures gives power to increase the number of the Executive Council from seven to twelve, which it is expected will result in the abolition of the right of the Dail to nominate Extern Ministers.

With the exception of a few futile attacks on back-street money-lenders, Republican extremists gave little trouble up till the middle of November, when in several counties simultaneous raids were made on police barracks by armed parties, in the course of which two Civic Guards were murdered. The Government

replied by putting in force the provisions of the Public Safety Act, which gives the right in a national emergency to hold suspects without trial. Some fifty arrests were made, but the prisoners were released before Christmas.

In December two important reports, which it is expected will be made the basis of legislation in the near future, were presented. The Greater Dublin Commission, in addition to recommending the inclusion of neighbouring urbanised areas in the capital, proposed the abolition of the Lord Mayoralty in favour of the city manager system with an advisory council. The Banking Commission, which was presided over by an American expert, Professor Parker Willis, and in addition to representatives of Free State Banks included amongst its members a former official of the Australian Commonwealth Bank and a banker representing Northern interests, submitted interim reports recommending the establishment of an "Agricultural Credit Corporation" with Government-guaranteed capital to act as a clearing-house for local co-operative credit societies and in relation to business credit proposed that legislation should be introduced empowering the Government to guarantee bonds to be issued by the Industrial Trust Company of Ireland up to 1,000,0001.

On New Year's Day the first Free State Broadcasting Station was officially opened in Dublin. Its call sign was 2 RN. In the near future it is proposed to open other stations at Cork and Athlone.

The production in February at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, of Mr. Sean O'Casey's play, "The Plough and the Stars," which deals with the 1916 Rebellion, led to violent demonstrations by a section of Republican extremists. An unsuccessful attempt. was made by armed raiders to kidnap one of the leading players.

The first Free State census showed that the population of the twenty-six counties, which stood at 2,972,802, had declined by 166,866 during the last fifteen years.

On September 5 a fire took place in a hall in Drumcollogher, Co. Limerick, during a cinema show. Of the 150 members of the audience, 49 were burned to death and 50 received more or less serious injuries.

CHAPTER III.

FRANCE AND ITALY.

FRANCE.

THE history of France in 1926 is a record of violent vicissitudes in the realms of foreign affairs and finance. Two subjects engrossed the attention of the French throughout the year. They were deeply concerned with the fall of the franc, which