GRIM OUTLOOK

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 70, 23 March 1914, Page 5

GRIM OUTLOOK

—* ' I - WARLIKE PREPARATION TROOPS SENT TO ULSTER. OFFICERS REFUSE TO 60. COVENANTERS BEADY. AM__nJNITION DISAPPEARS. FROM GOVERNMENT STORES. (By Cable.—Press Association—Copyright! (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, March 22. Mr Asquith (Premier), Mr Churchill (l'irst Lord of the Admiralty), Lieut.Col. .Seely i Secretary for War). and Mr Augustine Birrcll i Chief Secretary for Ireland), had a long "consultation at Donning Street to-day. The ''Observer' states that Lieut.-Gen. Sir A. H. Paget on Friday asked Brig.----(lon. Cough, commanding the Third Cavalry nrigade at Curragh. whether he was prepared to march against Ulster, and gave him two hours to decide. General Gough resigned on the spot. The resignations of the officers of the Third Cavalry Brigade and the Horse Artillery, with five exceptions, followed. Toe -Observer" recalls the action of John Churchill (Duke of Marlborough) in IRBS when he refused to fight against William 111. and the action of a number of British officers in 1777, during the American revolution, when tbe.y refused to go to America to fight against the colonists. ULTIMATUM DENIED. The War Ofiice denies that it has issued an ultimatum to officers in Ireland to serve or resi_n. No information of wholesale resignations has been received. Special magistrates for lister are being sworn in at Dublin Castle. ftr.c hundred and fifty Royal Engineers from Dublin, with trenching and pontoon apparatus, bave entrained for Belfast. An examination of the Curragh magazine revealed a deficiency of a large ■amount of ammunition, including hundreds of thousands of rounds of small arm cartridges. An order has been issued to search ordnance storemcn.in lister as they leave work. The removal of the mounted troops from Cnrraeh has been cancelled owing to the resifnration of several officers. Farl Galloway proposes a national subscription to compensate officers sacrificing commissions 'Hiecauße they refuse to do Cue Government's dirty work." VOLUNTEER MOBILISATION. Sir Edward Carson conferred with the loader* of the volunteers yesterday, and arrangements were completed for mobilisin_ the force. Mr .1. A. Simon (Attorney-General), sr>eakin_ at Manchester, denied that the moving of troops was provocative. The days of the vague negation of Home Rule were over. A sentry shot a soldier who was late for rollcall and was scaling the barrack wall at Newbridge, His condition is critical. A demonstration at Hyde Park again_t the use of the army in Tlster baa been arranged for April 4. The speakers include the majority of the Unionist leaders. I I CRITICAL SITUATION. SUSPENSE OVER NEXT MOVE. 25,000 TROOPS AVAILABLE. LONDON. March 21. The Ulster leaders are conferring at C'raigavon. A manifesto appeals to their followers to maintain calm pnd peace, with night-long activity. The Belfast headquarters stores and docu- j meats have been removed to an unknown destination. Troops have arrived at j Omagh and Armagh. The "Times" says that many of the moderate Liberals in the House of Commons are perfectly ready to agree to some variation in the rigid time-limit. Newspaper correspondents in Belfast agree that a splendid self-restraint exists among the people. Sir Edward Carson. efforts are directed to preventing possible outbreaks among ill-disciplined yonth.-._ The situation is critical owing to suspense existing over the next move. TROOPS IN TJXSTEK. Twenty-five thousand troops are availI able for Ireland, with Lieutenant-Gen-era] Sir A H. Paget in command. The principal regiments involved in the re- j shmations of officer? are the Fifth and Sixteenth Lancers and the Fourth Hussars, composing the Third Brigade. All the regiments in Ulster are English and i are under the command of BrigadierGeneral Count Gleichen. Two torpedoboat destroyers landed 150 soldiers at Carriekfergus Castle from Dublin. The Press Association states that the volunteers guarding Craigavon are armed with rilles, bayonets and ball cartridges. They stood at the salute as a Dorsetshire regiment passed. Many of the Dorsetshire men returned the compliment. Mr. J. E. Redmond, in the interests of the Nationalist cause, insists upon the abandoment of the Londonderry parade. LIMITING THE RESIGNATIONS. Mr. Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty! visited Colonel Seely (Secretary of State for War) yesterday. The latter declares that appropriate measures will be taken to deal with the officers who are resigning their commissions. Mr. Asquith believes that the Government has succeeded in limiting '.he area of the resignations. The | "'Momir.g Post" declares that the Unionists must insist upon the reinstatement |of the officers without loss of seniority. I Ten rooml. of ammunition have been i served to every officer at Curragh. where jthe Sixteenth Lancers and the Fourth Hussars are armed with, carbines instead |of the usual lance and sword. Five offiiee.rs and 150 men of the Yorkshire Light : U_f____iT' h_rw_;-._m_________t^J__«g____ i_g-^_e._i____.

TO DISARM THE VOL-TNTEERS. The guards at Londonderry have been trebled and ball cartridge has been eerved out. The movement of the troops t regarded in some Unionist circles as foreshadowing an attempt to disarm the volunteers. It, is stated that the police have planned a simultaneous raid to secure the arms in the various district-, and that the military forces have been stationed in centres which are convenient for dealing with any resistance to the raids. On the other hand, the denuding of Belfast of troops and their concentration with war material at Holywood is interpreted as , meaning it is easier to defend the etores , there against possible volunteer raids than in crowded Belfast, where 27,000 volunteers have been enrolled. Many of the inhabitants of Enniskill-tt, waving Union Jacks, accorded a rousing welcome to a draft of 200 of the Cornwell Regiment. Another drait has reached Newry, where no troops have been stationed for eight years. The sentries at Ebrington Barracks have been trebled for the first time since the abortive rising in the sixties. c KEEPING LAW AND ORDER. The Army Council, it is officially stated, some time ago instructed Sir Arthur Paget to take the necessary steps to safeguard Government property, and to assist, if summoned, to keep law and order. It is pointed out that -Ireland is a separate command and the War Office is not directing the movement's of tile troops, although General Paget is keeping Whitehall acquainted uiih what is happening, and lhe reinforcement of the Ulster garrisons is occurring in pursuance of orders given him. The Stock Ex-change is depressed owing :o the crisis. Mr. Birr.-ll (Chief Secretary for Ireland) declared last n'ght that hhe military would never be used except on ■behalf of the integrity of the K-ing's Dominion- to assist the civil power to maintain order and to secure to every minority. Catholic or Protestant, the protection to which it was entitled against the fury of religious bigotry or the t-avagery of political partisanship. USE OE THE NAVY. air. Asquith, Mt. OhurchOl. Colonel Seely, and the War Office staff were three .hours in consultation until eleven o'clock last night. Subsequently MrChurch ill summoned Prince Louis of Battenberg in urgent conference with -he Admiralty, touching any action by the navY towards Ulster. A telegram from camp _ay_ chat the War Office, in an ultimatum. has intimated that officers not prepared to s-erve against Ulster _-__t resign or be dismissed. One hundred officers, chiefly from the cavaJry, have resigned. Advice from Dublin states that the officers of lhe Fifth Lancere have resigned as a protest against the regiment being ordered north. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lloyd George), Mr. John Burns, and Sir Jcihn Simon made speeches last night emphasising the Government's determination to pass Home Rule, undeterred by threats or taunts. CONFINED TO BARRACKS. The Belfast correepondent of the '•Pall Mall Gazette" states that when two companies of the Dorset Regiment were paraded on Thnnsday, and notified of their being transferred to a place near the volunteer manoeuvring ground, the men hurried with their rifles to the barrack square, saluted, and ex-claimed, "We want no Home Rule here."' The men have been confined fro the barracks. Sir Arthur Paget _a_ arrived at Curragih. Negotiations are proceeding with the officers who have resigned. It is reported that Brigadier-General Gough, commanding the Third Cavalry Brigade at Curragh, and several officers at AMershot have resigned. Th-e Aldenshot Soul-h-Wastem Railway, it is stated, has been ordered to have trains ready to move 10,000 men to Glasgow and other ports, whence they may be readily transported to Ireland. Field-Marshal Earl Roberts baa vtsatod Buckingham Palace, and later the War Office. The King also grantad an audience to Genera) French a__ Colonel Seely. The Premier has had frequent consultations w if,h Colonel Seely and Mr. Winston Churchill. "ARROGANT PLAQUES." DEFIANT OF LIBERTY. CHANCELLOR'S FIGHTING SPEECH. (Received S-I0 a.m.) LONDON, March 22. Mr- Lloyd George spoke yesterday afternoon at Huddersfield. He said that a grave issue had arisen in the history of Democratic Government. The country was confronted with the greatest issue s_nce the days of the Stuartl tative Government was at stake in the answer to the question whether progressive bills, which the Tories opposed i were to be honoured or thrown into the | waste paper basket. The Chancellor continued: "If Liberal ism flinches an inch before those insolent, arrogant plagues, it will be unfit any longer to be the instrument for control of a great empire, and it will be time it made way for a sterner and more highly mettled "body of British progression. '•The Government means to confront this defiance of the popular liberties with resolution and unwavering determination, whatever be the hazard. We are not fighting about Ulster, but are fighting for all that is essential to civil liberty. "Orangemen profess to be shocked that force should be used for settling up a great free self-governing Parlia° ment in Ireland. When did Ulster acquire the detestation of coercion? Coercion presented no horrors wheii Orangemen evicted Catholic peasants for non-payment of extortionate rates. Ulster was a spoilt child. She has heard so much about her volunteers, that she thinks them something terrific! "The Government's proposal was to give her time for the swelling to subside, but the Opposition rejected the Governments ofTor with contempt and indignation.'' ' i As regarded the referendum, the Opposition had one in 1910. He doubted ' whether a majority of the Opposi- ' tion was anxious for settlement. If Ulster were settled, they would haare no- : policy left- Sc_____B_y and •_________> never ________ _._£__^.___rvjs___e--e___j>_. ' ,*- If