HAPPY IRELAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3242, 12 June 1911, Page 7

HAPPY IRELAND.

“NEVER SO WELL OFF,” MR BRYCE TELLS AMERICANS.

In a notable “hands across the sea” speech, Mr Bryce, at the annual banquet of the St. George’s Society held at New York recently, declared that he was fond of thinking that England and the United States were one. in the larger sense. Amid cheers the Ambassador emphasised the fact that, despite the cry that Britain was in a decadent state, she was never more prosperous than at the present time, and prosperity for one branch of the Anglo-Saxon race, he added, predicted prosperity for the other.

“England, however, did not require to lean on anyone. Her Dependencies were never more happy.” “How about Ireland?” cried several Irish banqueters. “There has never been a time,” responded the Ambassador, “when the relations between Ireland and Britaiin were better. There was never a time when the Irish people were so well off, when they had more money in the Savings Bank, and when they were nearer to ‘owning their own land.” The Ambassador then concluded with a tribute to the part taken by Mr Taft in initiating negotiations for arbitration. “We hail you of the United States,” lie said, “as harbingers of peace to the world, and hope for the time when war may be laid aside and we can live in peace with all mankind.”