1 37, Royal Avenue,
Belfast. 21st July 1916. Dear Sir Edward Carson, Permit me to say that everyone in Ulster appreciates the
great skill you have exercised in the recent Home Rule negotiations,
and whilst we would all have desired the maintenance of the spirit
of the Covenant, yet, as regards practical politics, the exclusion
of six Counties is a better proposition than nine. The success or non-success of your venture — as far as it
will affect the excluded area — will largely depend upon the pro—
visions made for economic and simple administration of our local
affairs. You are of course aware that besides local adminis—
trations e.g., City, Urban and District Councils, there are at pre—
sent the following administrative Boards: — Agriculture and Techni—
cal Instruction, National Education, Secondary Education, Local
Government Board, Lunacy Board, National Health Insurance Commiss—
ion, Prison Board, (Irish Land Commission, Ulster instalments
should be paid through Banks in our province,) Board of Trade, Val—
uation Department, Board of Public Works, which control in their
several ways the spending of the grants which we receive from the
Imperial Exchequer, and in particular, exercise a check on the
popularly controlled Local Boards. It would appear to be physically impossible for an Eng—
lish Home Secretary to carry on these duties without setting up a
large establishment with highly paid Officials at Whitehall and
Belfast, and be the cause of a serious overlapping in the adminis—
tration. It is the opinion of many that this work should be
carried out under the control of one individual, as Secretary for
Ulster, alone responsible to Parliament for the control of these
Boards, and having his permanent offices in the Capital of Ulster. If the procedure for Private Bill Legislation for the ex—
cluded area could be modelled on the Scotch system, with their
local Enquiry and Provisional Orders confirmed by the Imperial Par—
liament, it would certainly mitigate the grievances which the
smaller Urban Councils in Ulster consider they suffer from. 2 Once the new system of administration in Ulster has
been set up, we will have many fractious critics in our own party
community, and it is felt that now is the time to simplify the
Local Government Administration, and give inducements to our
best local men to offer their services to public boards, the per—
sonnel of which has unfortunately been latterly deteriorating. We will, no doubt, also require our own High Courts of
Justice in Ulster, our own Land Registry and Deeds Registry, and
in this respect it is suggested that it would be advantageous to
the commercial Community if the County Court were given a wider
Jurisdiction, and the time of the County Court Judge not taken
up with small debt cases, which could easily be transferred to
the Petty Sessions which might be given more stringent
powers as to enforcing Decrees for debt. It is to be presumed that the six excluded Counties will
have their proportionate share of the grants under the Financial
Provisions in the Home Rule Bill, and that the position of the
Lord Lieutenant, as affecting the six excluded Counties, will be
abolished, and possibly the individual appointed to have control
of the Ulster affirs will take this position as the Head of the
Magistracy. My excuse for writing this lengthy letter must be my
fervent wish that the administration of the six excluded Counties
may be a pattern to the other parts of the United Kingdom Yours sincerely, R.I. McConnell Sir Edward Carson, K.C., M.P.,
5, Eaton Place,
London, S.W.