IRISH PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 248, 14 July 1921, Page 5

IRISH PROBLEM

SINN FEIN DELEGATION TO CONFERENCE TO ARRIVE IN LONDON TO-MORROW By Telegrann—Press Association—Copyright London, July 11. Mr. Lloyd George, in the House of Commons, announced the receipt of a telegram from Mr. do Valera, stating that he would arrive in London on Thursday. The Sinn Fein delegation consists pf Messrs, de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Stack, and Barton, all members of the Dail Eireann. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. RIOTING IN BELFAST MOST GHASTLY DAY IN CITY’S HISTORY STREETS SWEPT BY RIFLE FIRE AND HOUSES BURNED. London, July 11. Sunday was the" most ghastly day in Belfast’s history. Unionist mobs burned down forty-two houses, of which twenty belonged to Catholics, in Cupar Street alone. The hospital surgeons wore continuously at work for nine hours. One hospital announced at 7 o’clock in the evening that it could not accommodate further cases, and private hospitals had to be utilised. Catholic refugees from their burned homes were seeking a spot to lay their heads. Sunday afternoon’s bombardment of the area, comprising three-eighths of the city, was reminiscent of France. For more than three hours nobody except the Cown forces were out of doors. It is estimated that ten thousand rounds of ammunition were used in sweeping the streets in that locality. Fourteen are known to have been killed, others are believed to have been carried into the houses during the firing.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn. OUTRAGES ELSEWHERE. London, July 11. Shots fired from a policeman’s house in Kilcash killed a fifteen-year-old girl. Major O’Connor, a retired officer, was taken from his bed in Roohestown, Cork, and shot dead. The bodies of four soldiers who were kidnapped in Cork on Sunday were found two miles outside the town. The mon had been shot.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn. BEGINNING OF THE TRUCE MARKED BY SHOCKING CRIMES. (Rec. July 13, 1.5 a.m.) London, July 11. Reports of shocking crimes marked the beginning of the truce. Sinn Feiners shot Eric Steadman," an ex-soldier, at Tullamore. The body was labelled "Convicted spy. Sooner or later we get them. Beware!—lra.” Two men shot Sergeant King dead at Castlereagh while he was walking to the barracks. Private Letter, who was walking unarmed, also was ehot dead at Doneraile. Armed masked men dragged John Poynton from his bed. and shot him dead at Portarlington.

■ The tension continues in Belfast ■Rioting was renewed at 11 o’clock this morning, an hour before the truce operated. A number of attacks wore mode upon the police. Sinn Feiners also fired upon an Orange procession, which returned the fire. Snipers were active. Six persons were sent to hospital. Sinn Feiners attacked the police bread van, severely beat the driver, and burned the van. The week-end deaths are now eighteen, and the wounded total a hundred. Curfew was reimposed in Belfast to-night.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.