October 10 1923 The Six Counties are tied to Great Britain; financially, they are helplessly in the hands of the British Government – and the familiar remark that monetary affairs in the Twenty-Six Counties are also in a deplorable mess does not affect the position here… When the government of the Free State tackle their unemployment problem, they must depend on their own resources, and they have untrammelled and unlimited powers in the direction of utilising these resources to the best advantage – or to the worst.