POLITICAL CRIMES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18591, 27 June 1922, Page 5

POLITICAL CRIMES

SIR HENRY WILSON'S DEATH

THE NATION OUTRAGED

PRESS COMMENT.

MURDER GANG AT WORK.

Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, June 24. The Daily Mail, referring to the burial of Sir Henry Wilson’s remains in St. Paul’s, says the whole nation will approve of this. The Mail warns the public that the last has probably not vet been heard of the murder gang. the paper states that it seems clear that c-there is an organised conspiracy, but no effort to terrorise tMe British people will have the slightest prospect _of success, ihe .Mail adds: “The outrage is expected to affect the Government’s position materially. Nothing since the general election has so weakened the party allegiance. 'There is a possibility that Mr Shortt’s fesignation will be demanded. . Sir Henry Wilson will be interred in the North Transept beside Field-Marshal Lord Roberts. The Times states that the burial is the only act of reparation that the outvalued nation can offer. No event has evoked such indignation, anger, and grief. —A. and N.Z. Cable.

“VICTIM OF IMPERIAL POLICY.”

I.R.A. STATEMENT,

LONDON, June 24. I.R.A. headquarters in Dublin has issued a statement that the snooting of Sir Henry Wilson, was not done at the instance of the I.R.A. If it had been, the I.R.A. would acknowledge the fact. The statement added: “Sir Henry Wilson’s death is to be deplore'!, not because it occurred apparently at the hands of Irishmen, but because he is the victim of the Imperial policy pursued by the British Government in Ireland. There is no use trying to saddle the responsibility on to Ireland or on to any other group of the Irish people. It would be hypocritical to condemn such actions as the shooting of Sir Henry Wilson while the causes that provoke such deeds remain. '

MR DE VALERA’S STATEMENT.

REPLY BY ULSTER ASSOCIATION

LONDON, June 26. (Received June 26, at 5.5 p.m.) The Ulster Association, replying to Mr De Valera, describes his statement as an outrage to decency, and foreign to the instincts of British and Irish chivalry. It might have been thought on such an occasion, when the whole world is stunned by such a murder, that the voice of Mr De Valera would have kept silent, but instead he has chosen the most solemn occasion to make statements which are not only a travesty on truth, but are maliciously designed to excuse a crime unparalleled in the tragic history of Irish affairs.”—A. and N.Z. Cable. [Mr de Valera issued a statement in Dublin to the effect that the killing of any human being is an awful act, but as awful when the victim is a humble worker as when the victim is placed on the seats of the mighty and known in every corner of the world. He slated : “It is characteristic of our hypocritical civilisation that only in thp latter oases are we expected to cry out and express our horror and condemnation. For my part I have nothing but loathing for such a conventional statement, when the plain means to secure that such awful happenings shall not occur are deliberately put aside. I do not approve, but do not pretend to misunderstand.”]

MOURNING THE DEAD.

FRENCH OFFICERS’ TRIBUTE.

LONDON, June 25. Marchal Foch and General Weygand visited Sir Henry Wilson's house. They knelt by the body, and recited prayers for the dead. Thousands of people made a pilgrimage to the house on Sunday, and stood in silence. The men uncovered. Among those who are detained is a man who was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in 1921 for shooting at a London policeman. He was released on the occasion of the Irish armistice.—A. and N.Z, Cable.

CONSTABLE MARCH’S DEATH.

PREVIOUS REPORT CONTRA DICTED.

LONDON, June 25. The previous report that one of the constables who was shot by Sir Henry Wilson’s assassins was v dead arose through his sinking into unconsciousness. He is not dead.—A. and N.Z, Cable.

THE BULLET OR THE BALLOT?

OUTRAGE CONDEMNED BY LABOUR.

LONDON, June 25. A mass meeting of railwavmen at Edinburgh loudly cheered a statement by Mr J. H. Thomas, M.P., in reference to Sir Henry Wilson: “It is our duty,” he said, “to remember that the bullet must not substitute the ballot in this country, in which no party can stand up more fearlessly against outrages of this kind than the Labour Party.”—A. and N.Z. Cable. RECOGNITION IN DUNEDIN. The Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) received a telegram from the Prime Minister yesterday asking him to fly the flags at half-mast on the municipal buildings to mark the occasion of Sir Henry Wilson’s funeral. The request was acceded to, and flags were also flown at half-mast from the various Government offices and many business premises. ADVICE TO NORTHERN IRELAND. Sir James Craig, Premier of Northern Ireland, received the following letter in March last from Sir Henry Wilson, who was visiting Belfast with a view to preparing a scheme for the -estoration of law and order: “You have asked me for my opinion and advice or. the present and future. Here they are: “Owing to the action of Mr Lloyd George and his Government, the twenty-six counties of the South and West of Ireland are reduced to a welter of ohaos and murder, difficult to believe and impossible to describe. A further consequence of the course pursued by Mr Lloyd George is seen in the state of unrest, .suspicion, and lawlessness which has spread over the frontier into the six counties of Ulster. The dangerous condition which obtains in the twenty-six counties will increase and spread unless: ‘‘(1) A man in those* counties rises who can crush out murder and anarchy and re-estab-lish law and order with a thousand years of Irish history to guide us ’it is safe to predict that this will not happen); and unless “(2) Great Britain re-establishes law and order in Ireland. “Under Mr Lloyd George and his Government this is frankly and laughably impossible. because men who are only capable of losing an Empire are obviously incapable of holding an Empire, and still more incapable of regaining it. In the face of such a state of affairs, what is my advice? “Get Great Britain warmly on your side. There never was a more fair-minded or more generous people than the men and women who live in England, Scotland, and Wales. Get them on your side. Tell them, and get others to tell them, the real truth of what is now going on in the South and West, and what is really passing in Ulster. Get those splendid Britons on youx side, for with Great Britain with you there is nothing which cannot be done—as witness

the last Great, War-ywhilst, on the other hand, with Great Britain indifferent, lukewarm, or hostile, there is but little that can lie dona “While I have been greatly impressed by the magnificent manner in which the citizens generally have enrolled in the special constabulary, and with the way in which they have met the serious situation up to the present, I suggest that you should make (a) considerable alteration in the command and administration of all your armed forces—R.l.C. ‘A’ Specials, TV Specials, etc.; (b). reclass and readjust the various categories of your police, and greatly strengthen some of them; (c) redraft your laws for the carrying of arms; (d) take increased powers for rapid and drastic action against the illegal importation and carrying of arms, bombs, etc. On these four points I am submitting separate and del ailed proposals for your consideration. ‘‘With Graat Britain in active sympathy with you in your efforts to maintain law and order, and with the great addition in strength which I hope my proposals will give you, I think that in the very near future you will see u wonderful recovery in the situation, which at the moment must cause you great anxiety.”