The Anglo-Irish Agreement Last week we expressed the hope that
Mr. Malcolm MacDonald would advance his political career by bringing the Anglo-Irish " economic war to an end. Happily, his return to the House coincided with an explanation by his Under-Secretary of further steps taken towards a solution. The coal-and-cattle barter agreement of a Year ago is • continued and extended ; duties on Irish cattle and meat are reduced by a half or a quarter, the Irish quota of pigs and bacon increased ; the Irish Free State will reduce, • by a corresponding amount, duties on British manufactured goods and reserve' to Great Britain one-third of her imports of cement. It is hoped that the new agreement will add still further to the increase in Anglo-Irish trade which took place after last year's agreement. There begins to be some prospect of a return to the status-quo-ante-Thomas and of the settlement of a constitutional dispute by constitu- tional means and not by the attempts at economic extortion in which Mr. Thomas foolishly indulged—to the detriment Of this country quite as much as of the Free State. The first step is to create a better atmosphere. That may be the chief value of the new agreement.
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