26 COUNTY DOMINION.

By OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT.

Mr. Lloyd George and Sir James Craig conversed together for an hour at 10, Downing-street, yesterday morning on the Irish settlement problem. Up to a point the situation is perfectly clear. Ulster has twice refused to enter into a conference until the proposal for an all-ireland Parliament is withdrawn. British Ministers engaged in the negotiations have since been endeavouring to discover whether any other solution is possible. In pursuit of this aim they have discussed matters afresh with the Sinn Fein delegates, and yesterday Mr. Lloyd George was in a position to acquaint Sir James Craig with the purport of these important deliberations.

Great reticence is maintained in official circles as to the nature of the new suggestions placed before the Ulster Premier, but it is understood that it has now been proposed that in the event of Ulster finally refusing to make any advance, Southern Ireland should set up a Parliament with the wide powers offered by the Government, and Ulster should be left free to come into an All-ireland Parliament when she chooses to do so. Under this proposal Southern Ireland would be in possession of fiscal autonomy, while the six North-eastern counties would continue, so long as they remained hostile to the scheme of an All-ireland legislature, to be subject to taxation on the same basis as Great Britain. The offer to Sinn Fein of Dominion status for the twenty-six counties is now under discussion by the Dail Eireann Cabinet.