The Daily Graphic of Wednesday contained a very interest- ing
and important article adducing a new argument against the coercion of Ulster. Large towns in England and Scotland often desire to incorporate adjoining smaller districts or boroughs. Now it is the invariable practice of Parliament, before they grant the Parliamentary powers required for such absorption, to ascertain the wishes of the smaller community, and to refuse to allow the annexation if there is a local majority in the district or borough against such annexation. Take as an example the remarks of the Chairman in the case of the Wigan Extension Bill, 1889 :—
" Then the question comes to this : Are we, as a Parliamentary Committee, to put the populations of the proposed new areas into the borough of Wigan, to be administered by one common Cor- poration, against the strongly expressed desire of the inhabitants of these districts ? All I can say is that if we do so we believe we should be acting in a spirit entirely opposed to the present spirit of legislation, which consults the people as to what it desires its destiny to be."
Further, in 1908, in the case of the Potteries Federation Bill, the chairman made the following statement :— " To overrule any body of opinion of this nature is a serious matter, and one which would be certainly contrary to the best traditions of English political life."
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