The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 19, 1934 IRISH FREE STATE.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 19 September 1934, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 19, 1934 IRISH FREE STATE.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’olook in Hawera, Manaia. Kaupokonui. Otakeho, Oeo. Pihania, Opunake, Eltham. Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri. Mahce, 'Lowgarth. Manutalii, Kakaramea. Alton. ITurleyville, l’atea, Whenuakura. Waverley, Mokoia. Whakamara. OtaangU. Mereiuere. Fraser Hoad and Ararata

It is not difficult to understand the reluctance of the Government of Northern Ireland to permit the Blue Shirts to campaign in their territory. The order prohibiting General O’Duffy, the leader of the Blue Shirts, or Legion of Youth, as the organisation is officially designated, from entering Northern Ireland until further notice, follows upon declarations by both Lord Craigavon and the Minister of Home Affairs, in which they emphasised, the dissociation of the north from the troublous south. The desire of the Government of Northern Ireland, which is shared by the majority of the population, to. resist any attempt to drag them into the constant storm which at present is centred south of Ulster, is explained by practically every cable message concerning events in the Free State. Recent disturbances have been caused by the farming community, which has objected to the -enforced payment of land annuities which are not devoted to their proper purpose. But this provides only one commentary upon the seething state of unrest, of move and countermove, in which the Government of the Free State is engaged with the Blue Shirt organisation as its principal opponent. A disturbing message received suggested that some of the leaders of the Irish Republican Army, which constitutes one of Mr de Valera’s unofficial resources, are contemplating forming a new “militant citizens’ organisation.” Their plans, it was stated, visualise “a final struggle for power with the Blue Shirts.” A development upon such lines would be productive, undoubtedly, of further disorders. The success of the Blue Shirts in capturing the support of the youth of the Free State—the section, that is, inimical to the de Valera regime and the I.R.A.—is undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the militant schemes of which mention has been made. Its appeal is strong in the Free State to-day, because General O’Duffy’s policies, however hazy from the economic viewpoint, do not include an interminable continuation of the suicidal economic struggle with Great Britain, founded on the conception of a united and independent Ireland, and it is natural that the north, content with its present satisfactory partnership, find intensely loyal to the British connection, is in no haste to become involved in his somewhat indeterminate plans.