13 JULY 1912, Page 3

On Wednesday Mr. Asquith, in receiving a deputation from the

Belfast Chamber of Commerce, not only refrained from pooh-poohing the objections of North-East Ulster to being forced away from the jurisdiction of the Parliament and the Executive at Westminster, which they trust, and placed under a Parliament and Executive at Dublin, which they distrust, but also made some very striking general admissions. Mr. Thomas Sinclair (to whose good sense and high character Belfast and the Unionist Party owe so much) pointed out that not only would the Bill render necessary Customs barriers, which were wholly destructive to Free Trade, but that it was a great injustice that the Bill should be inflicted upon them at a time when the prosperity of Ireland was advancing by leaps and bounds.