The Ulster Parliament The opening of the new Parliament House
at Belfast by the Prince of Wales on Wednesday is a notable event for Northern Ireland. It would be still more notable if it meant that the Parliament which will conduct its.delibera- tions in the new building would devote itself with more diligence than in the past to legislation based on the needs of the counties it immediately represents. The division of Ireland is a matter for obvious regret and the new Parliament House is in a sense a symbolical perpetuation of it. That has to be accepted, for no one this side of St. George's Channel would dream of coercing Northern Ireland against her will, and Mr. de Valera is at present providing her with little temptation to change her mind. Unfortunately the political leaders in the North have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Their Parliament has with regularity adopted legislation passed at West- minster and initiated singularly little original legislation of its own. New men, animated by larger ideals than mere resistance to association with the South, could do much that needs doing for the area the Parliament of Northern Ireland serves.
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