We are strongly in favour of Proportional Representation, but we
regret none the less that the Government propose to apply it to Ireland alone in the Local Government Bill which the House of Commons on Monday read a second time. Sir Edward Carson and other Ulster Members who opposed the Bill were perfectly within their right in insisting that a method of election which is not thought good enough for Great Britain should not
be forced upon Ireland. They resent the feeling that they are being made the subject of an experiment because it does not matter whether they suffer or not The Government propose to " try it on the dog," and Ulstermen dislike being treated like dogs. They want equality of treatment, not legislative dis- parity. They ask us to emphasize the incorporation of Ireland in the United Kingdom, and not to weaken the Union by encour- aging these centrifugal tendencies in legislation. If the Govern- ment proposed " P.R. all round," Ulster, we imagine, would have little or-nothing to say against it.
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