TROUBLED IRELAND.

Wairarapa Age, 16 March 1922, Page 5

TROUBLED IRELAND.

POWERS FOR ULSTER. TO MAINTAIN ORDER. (Press Association—Copyright.) London, March 14. —The Uistei Parliament was opened to-day. Th< King’s Speech promised measures con fetrnng on the Government such additional powers as. may be necessary for the prevention of crime, the preservation of peace, and the mainten ance of ordier. Field-Marshal Sir H. Wilson has agreed to proceed to Belfast to assisi in restoring order. MARTIAL LAW OPPOSED. ULSTERITES’ FORTITUDE. (Received 8.30 p.m.) London, March 14. —Sir James Craig, speaking in the Ulster Parliament, said the government’s attitude on the boundaries question had not altered. It could not consent to any change of the boundary fixed by the 1920 Act. It must recognise the fortitude of the people of Ulster in face of provocation. The nearest approach to the conditions in Belfast were those on the Rand. He pledged his word that whatever scheme Sir H. Wilson recommended would be carried out, regardless of cost or consequences. He opposed the suggestion of martial law; he felt instinctively that if the conduct or city affairs were handed over to the military, who controlled through Dublin from Westminster, it would mean a return to the old chaos. The new Bill would strengthen the law; it empowered the Courts, in certain cases, to order convicted males to be flogged. The kidnapped people had been released, except the specials aijested at Clones ; these could secure release immediately z but on unacceptable and humiliating terms ; they must be released unconditionally.—(A. and N.Z.) PENAL SERVITUDE FOR KIDNAPPERS. London, March 14. —Mr Justice Wilson, at the Fermanagh Assizes, sentenced 11 Sinn Fein leaders, charged with wholesale kidnapping in Ulster, to 10 and five years’ penal servitude.