MURDERS IN BELFAST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16661, 17 February 1922, Page 2

MURDERS IN BELFAST.

FIERCE ENCOUNTERS. I.R.A, OFFICERS ARRESTED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. Reuter’s Telegrams. LONDON, February 15. Sniping continues in Belfast, many cf the snipers being mere boys. This week’s casualty list includes 27 killed and 100 -wounded. Fierce shooting occurred in several districts in Belfast during the afternoon. Concealed snipers in Stanhope Street fired hundreds of shots. The troops replied and made a bayonet charge. Six men entered the office of a mill, and shot William Duffin. son of a leading linen merchant, whose only other son was killed in the war. Sinn Feiners shot dead a special constable in New Lodge Road. The police shot and killed men crawling on the roof of a publichouse in York Street. LONDON. February 10. The “ Daily News ” Dublin correspondent states that Ulster specials arrested and detained at the No wry barracks Commandant Monaclian and two brothers named Murney, all I.R.A. officers. The incident may be fraught with grave consequences. LIAISON COMMISSIONS. MR CHURCHILL’S PLAN. IXINDON, February 15. Mr Churchill, in the House of Commons, announced he had arranged for two liaison commissions to move about the frontier between the North and South of Ireland, keeping in touch with each other in order to allay unrest. He has received a qualified acceptance of the scheme from the Northern Government and a full agreement from Mr Collins. Mr Churchill said the greatest pressure was being put on the Provisional Government to effect the release of the remaining kidnapped persons. They must look for similar action by the Northern Government for the release of certain prisoners in their hands, although he did not compare the case of prisoners taken lawfully with that of those kidnapped. IRISH AGREEMENT BILL. LONDON, February 15. Mr Chamberlain, replying to a question, said the Government intended to proceed with the proposed Bill relating to Southern Ireland. He added that the lamentable state of affairs made the measure one of urgency in order to give the Provisional Government full legal power to deal with disorder. GOVERNMENT’S MISTAKE. MR BOXAR LAWS OPINION. LONDON, February 15. Mr Law, speaking in Glasgow, &aid that parts of Ireland were not far removed from anarchy. Ulster was like a powder min© where an explosion might occur at any moment. He thought the Government had made a great mistake in interfering with the boundaries of Ulster which it had set up without Ulster’s consent. Amid cheers and some interruptions, Mr Bonar Law said he thought they could send the following message to Ulster: —“ We do not intend to support you in anything that is wrong, but you can rely upon the whole-hearted support of the people of this country in continuing to you the rights Parliament lias given you.”

MR DE VALERA INTERVIEWED LONDON, February 15. Mr d© Valera, interviewed, refused to reply to the charge that a coup d'etat was beino- planned. He said : “ -Mr Collins should be asked what ho moans. Possibly it is a case of the prentice hand at. its first German plot or merely a little appeal for sympathy.*’ Mr de Valera added : —‘‘ My work is to retrieve for the nation what- it has momentarily lost, and that work can be done.’’ / ("First mention of the coup d’etat w as contained in a cabjo bv Mr Michael Collins in his appeal and warning to American sympathisers at Washington. A cable received on Wednesday stated that Mr Collins’s admission of a coup d’etat being attempted caused no surprise in Ulster, where it was known n coup d'etat to be followed by a strong attack against the frontier.)