IRELAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18458, 17 April 1922, Page 5

IRELAND.

ta WAR WITH ENGLAND. -IN INEVITABLE EVENT. BAYS REPUBLICAN ARMY LEADER. (Reuter.) Received April 16. 5.15 p.m. LONDON, April 15. Mr O’Connor, commander of the Republican forces, in an interview, stated that his forces were independent of the De Valerites. He said he would not recognise any agreement reached by party leaders. His men stood for and were prepared to i die for the republic. They would lot permit any Government to replace the republic. The only means of averting civil war was to cancel the Treaty, which he realised would mean war with England, but that must come sooner or later. Ireland’s chances now were better than they would be four or five years hence. THE MACMAHON MURDER. Received April 16. 11.40 p.m. LONDON, April 16. The Sunday Express’ Dublin correspondent states that the affidavits if several witnesses have been forwarded to the Ulster Premier iden- < tifying the murderers of the MacA Mahons (a hotelkeeper and his famJy, who were shot at midnight) as members of the Ulster special police 'rom Belfast barracks. The Southern Government has sent Sir James 3raig an imperative demand for the irrest and trial of the accused men.

■)£ VALERA’S EASTER MESSAGE FIRE-STICK IN THE THATCH. leceived April 17, 1 a.m. LONDON. April 16. De Valera has issued an Easter message, calling oh the young men and women of Ireland to remain true to the Republic. “Beyond all telling,” he says, “it is the destiny God has in mind for Ireland, the fair, the peerless one. You are the artificers of that destiny. Yours is the faith that moves mountains, that confounds cowardly reason, and its thousand misgivings. The goal is at last in sight. Steady! All together! Forward! Ireland is your’s for the taking! Take it!” MORE PUBLIC BUILDINGS SEIZED. Received April 17. 1 a.m. LONDON, April 16. || The Irish Republican Army seiz©ther public buildings in Dublin. COUP BY REPUBLICANS. iNSATION CAUSED IN DUBLIN. SEAT OF HIGH COURT SEIZED. LONDON, April 14. The biggest coup yet effected by me anti-treaty Republicans was accomplished in Dublin. At midnight 1 force of 400 seized Four Courts, vhich is the seat of the High Court Justice in Southern Ireland. The ittackers marched in two forces and met with no opposition. Several police were arrested, but later they were liberated. Meanwhile the Republicans seized the adjacent Four Courts Hotel and ejected the guests, and fortified both ! buildings, filling the windows with , sandbags. They forcibly requisitioned the services of passersby for fill- i ing the bagsjvith sand and clay.

These buildings are amongst the first public buildings which the rebels took in Easter 1916. The gravest misgivings are felt.—A. and N.Z. cable. IRREGULAR TROOPS MASSING. CONCENTRATING IN DUBLIN. Received April 16, 5.5 p.m. NEW YORK, April 14. The Chicago Tribune’s London correspondent learns thta vast concentration of irregular troops has been proceeding in Dublin over the f week-end, detachments coming from ' Cork. Limerick, and Tipperary, also Glasgow and Manchester. Houses throughout rhe suburbs are being commandeered. The irregulars have seized buildings on the quays covering the entrance to the port.

STREET FIGHTING IN BELFAST. TWO CIVILIANS KILLED. LONDON, April 14. Two civilians were killed and one wounded and four policemen wounded *in street fighting in Belfast early an Friday. —A. and N.Z. cable. DE VALERA’S ALTERNATIVE. OBJECTIONS TO PRESENT REGIME. LONDON, April 14. De Valera, when interviewed, explained his objections to the present regime. He says the army of the Republic has now reverted definitely its former independent status.

When asked for an alternative to the present state of affairs, he suggested that Dail Eireann as the Government of the Republic should continue its functions until the vote is taken. In the interim, he says, an executive which would command respect from all could easily be selected and made responsible to the Dail. “I am definitely opposed to a centralised police force, which might be made an instrument of a tyranical executive. I approve of the suppression of the courts of the Republic which still exist."—A. and N.Z. cable.