CONDITION OF IRELAND

Waikato Times, Volume 93, Issue 14490, 13 October 1920, Page 9

CONDITION OF IRELAND

6E!N FEIIMERS’ CHALLENGE. ORDERED GOVERNMENT USURPED. KING’S WRIT DOES NOT RUN. It is well that Hie Restoration of Order (Ireland) Bill has been placed on the Stalnte-hook this week (remarks Hie Spectator of August li . But the sole value, of this measure lies in the application of it. and we shall not congratulate the Government until they show by deeds as well as by words that they mean to use their new powers. Ton often has Parliament passed Irish Bills whieh never became, and perhaps were never meant to become, operative. The statutory extension of conscription to Ireland was the last and most flagrant of these calculated legislative hypocrisies. But in the present case there is no alternative but disaster if Hie Act is not enforced. The Opposition calls it "Goercion,” implying that il imposes un-British restraints on the liberties of Irishmen. If it is ‘‘Coercion” lo check Hie committing of murder. robbery, burglary, arson and oilier crimes, the Independent Liberals and Labour no n are .instilled in their description of the Act, but on no other terms. King’s Writ Inoperative. Fop there is a powerful and wellorganised conspiracy at work in Ireland to establish a Republic by means of terrorism. The leaders set the law at defiance and compel the people to obey their decrees. We must either enforce Hie law or abandon the South and West of Ireland. There is no middle course. Conciliation lias been tried iii vain. Sinn Fein has set itself up against Hie British Empire, and the challenge cannot be evaded. Order in list be restored in Ireland at all cosls. It is idle lo talk of appealing to "moderate Irish opinion” when sober Irishmen are all frightened out of their wits by Hie Irish Republican Brotbcrlio eo and Hie assassins in its pay. Until the Government have re-established their authority in Soiilhern Ireland, and decent people may pursue their lawlul callings without fear of being shot or robbed, it is useless to consider political concessions which Sinn Fein openly ridicules. A Sign of Anarchy. The easy-going British citizen, t > whom respect for law and order is second nature, docs not realise the extent to which anarchy prevails ill Southern Ireland. For some reason or, other, tin* newspapers only mention j isolated outrages, and Hie ordinary : reader infers that these murders an i j attacks on police barracks arc exceptional incidents. But any one who iris I friends and correspondents in Ird m i | knows that the outrages reported rre hot the most flagrant examples of Hie I rebels’ work. The plain truth is that! through the greater part of the Sou Hi j and West the King’s writ has ceased to run, that the courts have ceased to | operate, (he police are powerless, and Hie local authorities arc acting not for j the British Government, but for a hostile Republican Government, operating in secret and < nforcing Its commands by intimidation. Here is a typical order, openly issued to Hie merchants of Gorki—"Sinn Fein, Cork City Sinn Fein Executive. 15 Fr. Mathew Guay, Cork, .lime 2fdh. UJ2O: A Ghana.—l have been directed by Hie Cork City Sinn Fein Executive to order you to refuse lo supply any information to the British Income Tax Authorities re the names and salaries of the persons in your employment. Any breach of this order wit! be severely dealt with.-—Win. Ivers, Secretary.” Usurpation of Government. The Comity Council of Roscommon on June 22nd las! passed a resolution condemning Hie sub-sheriff fop allowing the troops to use the courthouse, and refused to vote that part of his salary which is borne by the county. At tile same time il considered, hut did not pass, a motion for voting £I,OOO to Hie "Haymasl,■[•-General of the Irish th publican Army for the ■•■piipment and arming of (he troops of the Republic. ’ The other county and district councils act in Hie same way. They are *n’. 1 controlled by Finn Fein—inasmuch as candidates who were riot Finn Feiners were prevented in many cases from going lo the poll by threats of assassination —and they ignore (tie Government as far as they can. However, these rebel authorities will find it hard to do without. Hie Treasury grants. Dublin Corporation, for example, openly recognises "Dail Firearm,” Hie Finn Fein "Parliament,” hut is much aggrieved because Hie lawful Government refuse to pay the usual grants, amounting to £170,000. Dublin wants |o play the rebel at. our expense. The adminjs-

(ration of .justice is at a standstill. T!ic Irisli newspapers ;in< 1 private 1■ ■ 11<• rs indicate Ilia'- Sinn Fein “eunrts" aiv far 11 :.>ri■ numerous Ilian tin; (lliii'f Secrelary will admit in tin; House of Pommoiis. A wall-known Irishman writ 's ) to us:—‘'Sinn Fein is paramount. Thi'ir cnnrls sit in all villages, doing J ll sli>• t* ami injnslim'. The people themselves, I hear, don't like these cnnrls: they are said to ho ton strict: hut the decisions are carried out, on pain of death. : The ordinary law has ceased to exist. | There are no petty sessions: at the county assixcs the other day there we-e j hardly any cases, nearly all having lieen “set!led,” that is, come before a Sinn j Fein court. I went into my own village the other day: the police had been removed lo a neighbouring town: the) Sinn Fein dag and the red dag of the I Revolution were displayed from the barrack windows. Anyone in these t parts seen speaking to the police is I banished from home by order of Sinn j Fein.” Another correspondent, mentions as an ordinary incident that, in ids village a young girl who was engaged In a policeman had her hair cut off. One or [wo similar cases have been reported in the press, but we believe that these outrages .ai women are now very common in Southern Ireland. The Sinn j Feiners. like the Bolsheviks, spare j neither age nor sex. I.R.A. Censorship. The King's servants cannot travel hy 1 train in the Sinn Fein country. Any railwayman who assists in transporting; troops or police, or food or munitions ; for them, is liable to be kidnapped and beaten. The postal service has become so unsafe that law-abiding citizens dare not post important letters in Ireland. Sinn Fein agents regularly slop the mail ; trains and Up- post-carls, ride their'

c .nl.-ills mill sometimes post tin 1 letters wilii till 1 notice “Hensorcd liy J.H.A.” ; Irish ltrpuhlic.nl Army ) scrawled amiss llicm. 11 is well known ; in I re la n i i that Urn conspirators gain , I!i.• ir Uimv. li iii-rc of the i iiivrnmi'iil’s . phuis hy this means, as iMihlin fastle stiil professes to helievc in the inviolable lily uf the post. fuller these I circumstances the lot of tin* loyal fit:- | /eii who lives outside a la rare town in ' the Soiit.li or West of Ireland has he- | intolerable, lie has been deprived j of I he protection of I lie police. He lias no courts to which he ran appeal. !!•■ j imhiiol i• \ i write In luildin to express his frrievaiic.es without having his let- j h rs i 11 1ei• ci■ j l l 1 ■ 1 5. His house may !>•■ | raided any night hy armed ruflians, or even hnnil over his head. His properly is no longer safe if it is coveted oy some greedy neighbour who is intlnenliai in Hie councils of Sinn Fein. Thus! one small landowner writes‘'T ie tenants have approached us with a, view

to purchase—this time without threats —so we told them what land we were willing to sell at a reasonable price. The negotiations have now completely fallen through, as they are asking for practically the whole of the place, omy proposing to leave us a piece of land that could not he fanned, and to buy at a price, that means conllscation.” The tenants in this case are, of course, counting on the readiness of the harassed loyalist, to sell at their own I. this. In districts where, the old landowners have been bought out, Hie insurrection lias caused a, fresh outbreak of agrarian crime. Small farmers have tried lu seize the land of the large graziers, on whose industry the wealth of Southern Ireland mainly depend?, while the labourers in their turn have been incited by the Bolshevik element to attack the farmers. As for ordinary crime, such as highway robbery and burglary, it is now so common as to attract little attention. In some places, jl is true, Hie Sinn Fein "courts” have curbed the anarchists, but Sinn Fein cannot afford to alienate the desperadoes who do its bidding. Such is (he situation produced by lack of governance in what was once a peaceful country, inhabited by docile and timorous people. Wc have now to see whether at the eleventh hour the British Government will have the courage to use their new [towers in order to re-cstah-)j S l, order in Southern Ireland and to crush the criminal conspiracy (Tiat has been allowed to assume such monstrous proportions.