6 JUNE 1914, Page 3

The Irish correspondents of the Morning Post and the Times

describe the visits of numerous political deputa- tions from Great Britain, and the remarkable effect which direct contact with the Irish problem appears to exercise on the minds of unprejudiced people. Perhaps the moat notable instance of conversion is that of the West Staffordshire deputation, which recently visited Dublin, Cork, Bandon, Longford, Sligo, Enniskillen, Omagh, and Belfast. The signatories of the Report, of whom eight out of thirteen are Liberals and one a Labourite, are unanimously of opinion that to force the Home Rule Bill on the statute book without an appeal to the electors of the United Kingdom by a General Election or Referendum will bring about civil war. In this context we may note the striking letter in Monday's Times in which Sir W. Nussey, the Liberal Member for Pontefract from 1893 to 1910 and a supporter of Gladstonian Home Rule, declares his belief in the sincerity and unalterable determination of the Ulster Volunteers, and holds the Government responsible for the present state of affairs.