PADDY’S BUDGETS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9836, 2 April 1923, Page 5

PADDY’S BUDGETS

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH.

A CONTRAST.

(Per Press Association, Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 31. The" Free State Budget estimates that the deficit will be £20,000,000. The expenditure includes 102 to 103 millions on the army and 11 millions on compensation owing to rebel oper-

ations. Ulster’s first financial year resulted in a surplus of £70,000, after contributing £6,000,000 to the Imperial Exchequer.

STRANGE BORDER SCENES

(Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.)

LONDON, March 31

The inauguration of the Free | State tariff caused amazing scenes on the Ulster border. Free State traders are using all kinds of vehicles to rush provisions across the border, and so evade the new Customs.

Thousands of householders have accumulated vast quantities of goods, sufficient to last them for six months. A hundred motor cars were also sent across the border.

The Free State authorities, with a view to stopping smuggling, have placed guards on the frontier.

A NEW PARTY.

GENUINE BRIGANDS NOW

(Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 31

Fifty-three tombstones in a Belfast cemetery were defaced and smashed, apparently by a gang armed with sledge hammers and crowbars. Reprisals are threatened. A roving gang known as “The Third Party,” belonging to neither side, has appeared in Ireland, robbing all classes indiscriminately. Both Free Staters and Republicans are watching the movements of these robbers.