IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 17325, 13 April 1920, Page 4

IRELAND.

MOUNTJOY HUNGER STRIKE. ' IMPORTATION OF MUNITIONS, Press —By Telegraph—Copyright. f Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, April 12. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed outside the Mount-joy Prison, when a crowd of 2,000 people, including’ manv friends and relatives of the hunger strikers, collected, clamouring all day for admission to the prison. Hundreds dropped on their knees, while girls recited the Rosary in the Irish language, the crowd responding in the Latin of the Missal.

Earnest Roman Catholics are debating whether suicide by a hunger strike is immoral, and whether a priest can give absolution to the dying hunger striker. A sensational story is current in Edinburgh concerning a German and Russian attempt to import tanks, ammunition, and arms into Ireland. It is alleged that two vessels were placed under Admiralty surveillance in a Scottish port owing to the discovery of a whippet tank cleverly camouflaged and arms concealed among the bunker coal. There was an attempt to transfer the sinister cargo from the German vessel to a Russian ship, in the hope that the later would not he suspected, and this led to the discovery. GUARDING THE GAOL. LONDON, April 12. (RtKcived April 13, at noon.) Companies of soldiers hold the streets converging on Mountjoy Gaol. Two tanks are ready, with Lewis guns in position on the footpath. There is also a force of police sufficient to preserve order. The heavily-armed soldiers look rather sheepish upholding the authorities’ dignity. The police admit that a popular outbreak is not expected, and explain that, the tanks are only out for exercise every day.