IRISH NEWS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 159, 3 July 1886, Page 4

IRISH NEWS.

The Orangemen Arming. The New York " World's"' London cor respondent of May 31 says:— "I have discovered that the organisation of the army of Ulster has progressed to an extraordinary degree, and I have gathered startling particulars which are in secret circulation among the Orangemen in this city. The leading fact is that the organisation of a Koyali&t Protestant body ot men, pledged to resist any attempt to carry out Home Rule in Ireland by the Parnellite body, has developed enormously without anybody having the slightest suspicion of its growth. The army is already practically enrolled, and all the military details have bsen arranged with the greatest precision. A number of distinguished noblemen and members of Parliament are enrolled among the officers of ' the army,' and arms have already been provided Arrangements h<ive been made for securing cannon and horses " This story is given for what it is worth. On May 29th the police seized at Belfast a quantity of rifle?, bayonets, and swords on board a steamer from FleetAvood, a seaport of Lancashire, and consigned to parties in Armagh. Orange workmen employed at the Queen's Island shipyards attacked, on June 4, the navvies employed by the Harbour Commissioners, and overpowering them and beating them badly, drove them into the water. It was with the greatest difficulty that the injured, exhaupted, and struggling navvies were rescued. The Orangemen made the assault because the navvies, it is alleged, had previously attacked some royalists for aspersing the Home Rule movement. Intense excitement prevailed amongst the local Catholics in consequence of the attack. The Orangemen numbered 2,000, and the navvies but 100. A repetition of the historical riot is feared. Policemen, fully armed, patrolled the city, and the military were held in readiness within their barracks. Thirty Catholics were injuied, and twelve were taken to the hospitals. The body of Jas. Curry, one of the navvies, who was missing for a time, has been recovered. He waa the sole support of a widowed mother.