RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 27 March 1922, Page 5

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES

TENSION INCREASING

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYEIGHT LONDON, March. 24. The tension between the Protestants and "Catholics in Ulster is increasing .hourly. It is understood that Mr Col- ; lias is coming to London immediately, j 4»ut there are indications that Sir i James Craig may be unwilling to confer ' with Mr Collins again in view of the jresults of his last interview. i Circumstances are drifting towards j "the military occupation of the affected Area, which will not be confined to border districts. Qeneral Macready regards Uie situation as most serious. Bombing and shooting in the east end of Belfast is continuous. Mr MacGriffin, Home Secretary of th* North«m Parliament, said he deplored the occurrences ©f Thursday and Priday. j Jflvery step was being taken to bring "the murderers to /justice, no matter to what class or creed they belonged. The Omagh Constabulary, searching 4 iough Macßory, found iu.~a trench 55 ! hand-made bombs and a box of stolen police bombs. Terrorism at Trillick, .where three „ Catholics were shot on Friday, is so ! great that neither Protestants nor <Jatholics go to bed at night. Families «it beside the fire* all night long. If they hear footsteps outside they dash Jgom their homes,. AH clothing is pack#*J? boxes hidden in fields. Money is '> /fllpreted i n hollow trees, where the I ' jpolice occasionally discover it. " There was much firing in Belfast on ' JTriday night. Five persons were wounded, including a child three years of age. j Since Monday, Sum Pein armed men ' seised twenty Ulster motor cars and lorries, especially those belonging to commercial travellers and carrying samples. * ■ An armed gang attacked the Con- j stabulary barracks :at Strathbane. Fierce gunfire ensued for twenty minutes, when the Verey Jjghts sent up by i the police brought soldiers of the Rifle ! Brigade to the scene. The attackers I then fled. , j Twelve armed Sinn Feiners stopped a | train from Belfast, raided the mail van j and stole the registered letters. This ] is the> thord robbery on the same train in a fortnight. / The bill for payment cf Sinn Fein outrages just t>resenr<id to -,f e British! taxpayers amounts to £1,997.500 for • compensation paid to victims apart : from £750,000 paid to the Northern J Government as compensation for dam- ' age to life and property in Ulster, and ■ the £1,000,000 payable to the Northern Government as a contribution to the abnormal expenses in the present exoeptional circumstances. , LONDON, March 25. | Scotland Yard is~ investigating a mysterious event at the Irish Office Intelligence Department, Westminster, ! when all the documents and files were ' searched. Important confidential documents were removed recently from another department. j The Ulster Government is offering a reward of £1000 for information leadv ing to the conviction of MacMahon's murderers. 1