27 DECEMBER 1919, Page 1

The Prime Minister went on to say that lie would

recommend the establishment of two Parliaments in Ireland, one for the North and the other for the South. He mentioned four different ways of defining the " North "—Ulster as a whole, county option, the North-Eastern Counties, and the Six-County Area with Roman Catholic communities eliminated and adjacent Protestant communities added. He hinted, but did not say clearly, that he preferred the last definition. Each of these Parliaments would elect twenty members to a Council of Ireland, and could surrender to it any powers of which they chose to divest themselves, such as jurisdiction over railways and canals. If the Northern and Southern Parliaments decided to surrender all their powers to the Council, they could do so. Ireland would then come under a single Parliament, upon which further powers, over taxation and the postal service, would devolve automatically, without further reference to Westminster. Ireland would be represented in the Imperial Parliament by forty-two Members.