UNCONDITIONAL SURRERNDER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16684, 3 May 1916, Page 5

UNCONDITIONAL SURRERNDER

THE END ON SUNDAY BUSINESS OF CITY RUINED DEVASTATION IN SACKVILLE STREET JACOBS'S FACTORY THE LAST STRONGHOLD DEAD NUMBER HUNDREDS

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

ORDER TO SURRENDER. FROM PROVISIONAL "REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT." SUPPORTERS HOPELESSLY OUTNUMBERED. LONDON, May 1. On Sunday night the Provisional " Republican Government" issued the following proclamation, signed: " Pearse, Comman-dant-general of the : — " In order to prevent the further slaughter of unarmed men and to save the lives of their followers who are now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the members of the Provisional Government Headquarters agree to an unconditional surrender. The commanders of all republican .units will order their followers to lay down their arms."

COMMANDERS GIVE THEMSELVES UP.

LONDON, May 1. Official : /All the rebel commanders at Dublin haive surrendered.

THE SURRENDER, CAME DRAMATICALLY ON SATURDAY. LONDON, May 1. (Received May 2, at 10.40 p.m.) The rebels' first offer to surrender came dramatically at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon. As the cordon slowly closed on the rebels' main strongholds in the Sackville street area, suddenly a white flag appeared above the smoke at the Post Office. Pearse and Connolly, who were badly wounded, emerged and signed an unconditional surrender. SETTLING DOWN! LONDON, May 1. Very few church services were held in Dublin yesterday. The Larno-Stranraer mail ferry route across the North Channel has been reopened, and Dublin has received its first newspapers since Easter Monday.

At press* correspondents' requests General Maxwell, commanding in Ireland, has opened a press bureau.

Jacobs's factory was completely gutted by fire, and its rebel occupants have surrendered.

THE OTHER CENTRES.

LONDON, May 1. Galway and Wexford remain the most serious centres of unrest.

In Galway the town has been the scene of fighting, but the troops now have the upper hand

The police at Athenry occupy the town, but the rebels hold the ruined castle.

MILITARY AND CIVIL EXECUTIVE.

DRASTIC CHANGES CERTAIN.

LONDON, May 1

The Daily Chronicle declares that drastic changes in both the Irish military and civil Executive are certain in the immediate future, as the melancholy events of last week reflect grave discredit on the present Executive.

SPECTACULAR FIGHTING. DUBLIN CASTLE AND DAILY EXPRESS BUILDING.. FUEIOUS STRUGGLE. LONDON, May 1. The most spectacular fighting of the riot occurred outside Dublin Castle. After killing the policeman on duty, the rebels seized the offices of the Dublin Express, adjoining the Castle, and mounted machine guns there in positions dominating the Castle yard. The sentries were shot down, and the lower yard was occupied. The executive was thus kept prisoner in the Castle until the evening, when the first of the Curragh troops arrived. Fighting for the Dublin Express building commenced with sniping and exchange of machine-gun fire. Finally the military organised a bayonet charge against the front door. The troops were met with a volley of rifle fire from the lobby and the floor above, and eight of the leading soldiers fell.

A similar charge against the back door failed, but finally access was gained by a ruse. Then a furious struggle ensued. The soldiers fought their way from floor to floor with the bayonet, and 20 minutes later the Union Jack displaced the green flag on the building. Many women were among the rebels, some wearing a green uniform with a smart green slouch hat. One of them was seen to hit an officer, striking him on tho head with the butt end of her rifle. An armed male Sinn Feiner in uniform then confronted the wounded officer and said : "You are not worth a cartridge; I'll settle you with the butt." Thereupon he clubbed the officer on the head. REBEL PROCLAMATION. STRIKE FOETFREEDOM, LONDON, May 1. Tho ' following rebel proclamation was issued :—" In the name of God and those dead generations whence Ireland received her traditions of nationhood, we summon Ireland's children to strike for freedom. Having waited till the right moment, and having trained our manhood through our secret revolutionary organisation ■ and through the Irish volunteers and tho Irish citizen army, Ireland strikes in full confidence of victory, supported by her exiled children in America and our gallant allies in Europe." Tho proclamation further Claimed the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and the unfettered control of Irish destinies to bo sovereign and indefeasible.

RUIN IN SACKVILLE STREET.

DEAD NUMBER HUNDREDS. LYING REPORTS OF ALLIED DEFEATS. LONDON, May 1. (Received May 2, at 10.40 p.m.) Half of Sackville street is in ashes. The handsome shops and business houses are in ruins, and almost the only things untouched are the monuments. The deaths number hundreds..

The roofs about the Four Courts are littered with bodies.

Among the first steps taken by the insurgents was the circulation of reports that Verdun had fallen, that Holland had declared war on Britain, and that the British fleet had been defeated in the North Sea, losing 18 ships to Germany's eight. They issued a broad sheet asserting that the troops in Ireland had been everywhere repulsed, and that the populace was siding with the republicans.

THE RJ2BELS' SHOOTING.

CAPTURE OF THE LAST STRONGHOLD. REDUCED BY ARTILLERY. LONDON, May 1. (Received May 2, at 10.40 p.m.) The military declare that the Sinn Fein sharpshooters were remarkably accurate in the early stages of the conflict. The rebels ate the best meals obtainable in the hotels.

The last rebel fortress was Jacobs's factory, which was captured on Sunday,-being finally subdued by artillery.