REBELS CAPITDLATE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2164, 1 July 1922, Page 5

REBELS CAPITDLATE.

FOUR COURTS OCCUPIED. TROOPS ATTACKING OTHER STRONGHOLDS. LEADERS LOCKED IN. [By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Friday, 11.40 p.m.) LONDON, June 30. Free Staters completely occupy Four Courts and are now attacking other rebel strongholds. A previous message declared that the two main portions of Four Courts had been captured. Commandants Mellow and Rory O'Connor were locked in a smaller building and were being ordered to surrender, but no definite advice that they had done so has come to hand. FIRING POOR AND INEFFECTIVE. REBELS ATTACK FREE STATE FORT. LONDON, June 29. The sensation of Thursday's fighting was the rebels' attack on the Bank of Ireland. The Free Staters replied, but were obliged to retreat into the Bank. Later reports state that the situation is becoming worse. The rebels planned land mines in the leading thoroughfares, and seized the Sackvllle Club. Street lighting is becoming more frequent. Three civilians were killed to-day. Irregulars occupied the "Herald" newspaper office for a time during a street fight. The general Post Office is closed, also other buildings. Fresh terms were offered to those in possession of E our Courts, but they refused to surrender and firing was resumed. An early occupation is expected, however, as the defenders' water and light supply is cut off. . j „x. Lord Clancarty, who has arrived at Holyhead, said the firing of the attacking Free Staters was very poor and ineffective, at the rate of one shot every four minutes. CITY BRISTLING WITH FORTS NOT A SHAM FIGHT. (Received Friday, 11 p.m.) LONDON, June 30. The worst trouble of the Free Staters is that they are being sniped from the rear, and the Irregulars are creating a reign of terror in other parts of Dublin. It is not too much to say that Dublin bristles with rebel forts, while barricades are set up in many places by both Free State and Republican troops. At midnight on Thursday, machine gun and rifle fire was greatly intensified, the heavy detonations of mortars, interspersing with the rattle of small arms, and the bombardment by the artillery, also increased, giving evidence that Free Staters had secured heavier cannon. The defenders replied more vigorously as the attack intensified. They apparently have an abundance of rifle and machine gun ammunition. Dublin people who at first were inclined to regard the operations as a side show, now realize the .grave character of the trouble. Many hundreds are fleeing to England. A woman told a pressman to-night: "People are afraid to go to the churches, and are praying in their homes for hours for the success of the Free State troops. Many of us Irish are ambitious for a Republic and absolute freedom, but the price may be too heavy. That's what de Valora's and Rory O'Connor's price is. People say the Dublin fighting is mere camouflage to satisfy English clamour. Only those who do not know the bitter factional hatreds in Dublin would repeat such an absurdity." On this point. Mr. Churchill in the Commons angrily deprecated a suggestion that a sham fight was going on in Dublin. He pointed out that people did not. get killed in a sham fight. The Irish Provisional Government troops were loyally carrying out the Treaty and that with suffering. It was true there was little organisation on either side, but this was not the time to mock at those who were striking a blow for freedom and order. YOUTHS AND GIRLS ADDING REBELS. AS SNIPERS AND DISPATCH CARRIERS. (Received Friday. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 30. Describing the Four Courts battle during Thursday evening, the "Daily Chronicle's" Dublin correspondent stated: "The situation is growing worse. Large bodies of Republican youths have been mobilised and have seized points of vantage from which to carry on indiscriminate sniping. The Free State troops are making little impression. One feels they are losing prestige and, a report says, their ardour also. News from the country at large indicates restiveness. Women are singularly absent from the streets, though young hussies, or dare devils, or "cumannamban/' are prominent, many acting as despatch riders for the Republicans, their sex giving them immunity. The walls of Four Courts are of great thickness, having been laid down in the eighteenth century, when massive masonry was common. On the south side, the River Liffey acts as a moat, while typical Diblin dums on all the other sides assist the defenders. Militarily speaking, high explosive shells should be employed, but the Free Staters have no howitzers and are not trained in the use of them." An Irish priest, just from Dublin, says: "I protest vehemently against the depths to which the irregular Republican troops have fallen. They are placing land mines in the streets, which are a terrible danger to the civilian population. These mines are laid under cover of darkness. If a pedestrian steps on one. it explodes, or a man tripping over a string fires the mine. It is the duty of the whole Church to protest against such inhumanities." Other telegrams from Dublin state that the continued bombardment has considerably breached the western nde of Four Courts, but the mass of the building is not seriously shaken, and the defenders are safe in the granite basement from everything except heavy shell-fire. It is understood that the defenders have dug funnels fn>m th« wh*raby *h<_;

hope to escape if they are forced to evacuate. The besiegers do not intend to storm Four Courts, but to starve out the defenders. Father Dominic, who is with the besieged Republicans, was the late Alderman McSwiney's chaplain during the latter's hunger strike in Brixton Prison. GUERILLA TACTICS. BRITAIN NOT INTERFERING. (Received Friday 5.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 29. Messages received at nine o'clock this evening indicate that it is unlikely the Free Staters will Carry Four Courts by assault, as the building offers a strong defensive position. Meanwhile, the guerilla tactics of the Republicans are developing in various quarters of the city, and this phase is causing considerable anxiety. Mr. Churchill, in the Commons, stated he had no fresh information regarding the Irish situation adding: "We are confining our assistance to supplying any material the Free Staters may require." The Provisional Government was not reporting- to him in any way. The Minister of Defence in Dublin, in a message to the Free State Army, says that while the Government denies the right of any but Irishmen to inter, fere in national affairs, it also denies the right of any section of Irishmen to bring disorder upon the country. The Government, in a further proclamation, saya a section of the Irish people are devoting themselves to destroying all functions of the Government, in a desire to embroil the people one more with the British. Money had been stolen, property confiscated or destroyed and Irish honour sullied by murderous attacks on defenceless civilians. On these misguided persons alone, rested the responsibility for any loss of life that might ensue. LONG AND DIFFICULT TASK. CONFRONTS FREE STATERS. (Received Friday, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 29. Sir Laming Worthington Evans, speaking at Colchester, said seven out of eight Southern Irishmen were loyal. The disloyalists were the desperate murderers who were now gunning. They were as much opposed to the true Interests of Ireland as they were against the United Kingdom. He was certain that Messrs Collins and Griffith intended to carry out the terms of the Treaty and overthrow the Republicans, "but don't imagine we are going to have an easy time. It is likely to be long before the rebels are completely put down. It is satisfactory that there is a loyal bit of Ireland, prepared, as part of the Empire, to fight against the rebels in their own country, Hitherto the dirty work was left to the British army; now the cleaning up is left to the Irish Government." AMERICAN OPINION. "TOO DISHEARTENING FOR REPROACH." (Received Saturday, 2 a.m.) NEW YORK, June 30. The New York newspapers express sorrow at the Irish situation. The "World" says: "All enemies of ordered Government, all upholders of the rule of ruin policy, are standing against the Provisional Government. Its task appears more obvious, its duty more urgent, because of the hostile alliance it faces in defending Ireland against conspiracy, riot and misrule." The "Times" says: "Cynics may gloat, but all true lovers of Ireland will mourn what is happening. This public spectacle is too disheartening for reproach. It is a thing calling for anxious inquiry, rather than for recrimination." COMMUNICATIONS CUT. REINFORCEMENTS FOR REBELS. (Received Friday, 11 p.m ) LONDON, June 30. No letters or telegrams can be delivered in Southern Ireland. The submarine cable has also been cut near Dublin, and the only telegraphic and telephonic communication between Ireland and Britain is through Belfast Newspaper correspondents are compelled to employ aeroplanes to aid the broken news services. The "Daily Chronicle's" correspondent states the rebels are entering Dublin from the provinces and are receiving equipment from some hidden arsenal.