IRELAND

Evening Star, Issue 17959, 4 May 1922, Page 5

IRELAND

LAWLESSNESS CONTINUES. STRONG HAND NEEDED. .'mjii Association—By Telegraph-Copyright. LONDON, May 3. Rebel troops continue to hold up banks, seize buildings, and cut railways in ail pads of Southern Ireland, and the people are becoming panic-stricken, not knowing where the trouble will break out next. The latest bank raids include the Charlcvillc branch of the Bank oi Ireland, where £3.000 was stolen; the Tua.m branch, £7.000; am! the Boyle branch. £6.000. [■'.vents are moving to a. crisis in Kilkenny. The buildings which the rebels occupied include the Protestant Cathedral o[ Kilkenny. The Southern Protestants angrily denounce the helplessness of the Provisional Government in the face of this gross outrage. The Free Stale troops in the district, however, are unwilling to leave the rebels unmolested in Kilkenny. A small force of pro-treaty troops under Colonel Front occupied the military barracks and gaol after an exchange of shots. The Free Staters also captured two rebel posts, with eighteen prisoners. The rebels are now attempting to recapture the prison. The Free .Staters’ success at Galway, Mullingar, and other centres was tine to the adoption of uncompromising methods. In each case the rebels were given a few minutes to clear out of the towns. 'J he rebels’ opposition immediately collapsed. The whole business of the Port o f Dublin is paralysed, owing to the seizure of the dock ofiices ami tbs fact that the rebels are using the books’ for fortification purposes. —A. and N.Z. Cable. CLOSE TO DEATH. A CROWN SOLICITOR’S EXPERIENCE. CAPTORS ACCEPT RANSOM, LONDON, May 3. (Received May 4. at 9.35 a.m.) The amazing situation in Ireland is illustrated by the kidnapping of Mr Carroll. a resident of Fermoy and Crown Solicitor at East Cork, by armed men. He was tied’ in a sack so tightly that he fainted. He was taken in a motor car to a lonely cottage in the mountains, and sentenced to death, on the ground that his activities were dangerous to the country. Mr Carroll asked to see a. priest, who pleaded tor his life. His captors agreed to ransom him for £I,OOO, but they finally accepted £550. After the cheque had been cashed Mr Carroll was released. Subsequently, owing to his warning a. Loyalist who had been threatened with death, armed men arrived at his house. In his absence his son warned Air Carroll, wlm escaped to Cork, and took refuge with the British military authorities.—Reuter. IRELAND’S CHOICE. “ No one pretends that this solution is an ideal solution, or that it lias been brought about in a, way in which, if wo had had an absolutely unchallenged directions of affairs, we should have chosen.” said Mr Winston Churchill in dosing the third reading debate on the Irish Free State Bill. “You must, not look at this settlement as if it were,your ideal; you must look at it in relation to the possible alternative. It was because we found that wo were being drawn into action increasingly, and had to face action on a greater scale of a kind which Britain cannot effectually carry through, not because of her weakness, but because of her strength, that we were brought in a grave atmosphere, cf national feeling to an attempt to make a settlement bv peaceful means even under the most unfavorable circumstances.” Referring to a suggestion that the Irish people might reject tiro treaty, Mr Churchill continued : “ I do not wish to dwell too much on the ugly hypothesis which might arise in these circumstances, but I do ask members to measure up in their minds the enormous power, wealth, and strength of Britain and the British Empire ns compared with the resources of Ireland. It ia also necessary to bear in mind the economic relationship. [reland exported last year £205,000,000 of produce, and of this Britain bought £203,000.000. Ireland bought from abroad for her own needs £205,000,000, and of that £161,000,000 from Britain. Broadly speaking, we are :hc solo market of Ireland, and eve are ilso the sole source from which she obtains iho coal to manufacture her vital needs. If you .strip Ireland of her grievance ; if, by acting in strict, inflexible good faith, you place Ireland in a position where, it she breaks the treaty, she is in the wrong and you are in the right, and she is absolutely isolated in the whole world, then the strength of your economic position emerges in its integrity.