EIGHT WEEKS AGO.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 120, 23 May 1922, Page 11

EIGHT WEEKS AGO.

IMPRESSIONS OF BELFAST. 10U> BY BUAHIXE PASSENGER. «I was in Belfast eiglit weeks ago, -, aid Mrs. Roberts, who wae a passenger from Southampton by the Ruahine ifhich arrived in Auckland Harbour on Saturday "'B™*- 'Tilings were in such a Lgd state that the policemen warned ffle to keep away from certain streets. it was with the greatest difficulty that I u*>-d r ' ver fouJd. be got to take my jginge from the Tailwjiy station to t j( wharf. There was very often a iwcial mark on -those who were leaving lQ country, and some of the most deferring and innocent people who were miitaken for other people Buffered death (or no other reason that those who shot fkem were suspicious of their itiovcOHlte. It was with great relief that I ] ( (t the country and found myaelf sailing across the Irish Sea T>ound for Liveri. Sometimes 1 shudder a little when [think of what might have happened to mc, but when questioned 1 said that I ifti » cw Zealandcr, and in proof of His I pointed to my luggage, which had \{ir ZcaJand. labels on it. Some cases of extreme hardship are to found near Brifast, where reprisals are made on «el!-to-do people who are practically nude prisonere in their homes. The more ijw-aMdine; people seem to be closely ivatched, and set upon without warning. For three months I lived at a mansion house not. far from Lord O'Neill's seat, gh»nc's Castle, on the shores of beautiful Lough Xcogh, the largest lake in the British hies, being three times the size of Loch Lomond in Scotland, and fourteen times larger than Windermere in England. Shane's Castle is situated in enormous £jround6, and you motor along for five miles beside tlie boundary fences on one side. When I read this morning th»t the lovely old castle was burned with all its priceless treasures, I simply (fl«d, for New Zealandcre who know nothing of the beauty of these old Irish cwtles can imagine the cruelty of deitroying forever a building the like of ffiich can never be replaced in these modern days. It does not seem more than a few weeks since I niv the noble old lord who owned the place, hi» very handshake waa a Denediction, and hie dear old wife was benevolence itself. Probably the old couple, who are over eighty years of agt, w;li not withstand tiic shock. It was often thought that Lord O'Neill's great age, and his desire for peace and hie fatherly interest in the welfare of the people Wnere lie lived, would have spared him from outrages, although when I was there people wondered when the reprisals and outrages would reach north-east of County Antrim, where come of the noblest families in the North of Ireland live. No man ever did more for any part of Ireland than did Lord O'Neill as DeputyLord Lieutenant of the County. He longed for a united Ireland, and used his money and ability to bring about harmony amongst the different factions. I could tell you pages about what I «»w in Ireland, and the conclusions I lave come to," said Mrs. Roberts, "but efter reading of this latest outrage ray licart is sore, and I feel a choking feeling in my throat. Ireland is a beautiful country, and has put its charm around n«. but for the horror of all that is happening there, it is a sad page in our history."