FREE STATE AFFAIRS.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19017, 7 August 1933, Page 7

FREE STATE AFFAIRS.

TENSE SITUATION.

CIVIL WAR POSSIBLE.

RIVAL ARMED ORGANISATION. United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright. DUBLIN, Aug. 5. _ Instructions were despatched this afternoon from police headquarters in Dublin to outlying stations to have men available at the shortest possible notice. Guards from more than 30 stations were ordered to report at Government Buildings. Later it was stated that 300 men had been selected as the first members of an armed force to guard Government Buildingsl Most of these men have been members of the Irish Republican Army, An old officer ot the Republican Army named Traynor, Is forming the^Guard. So serious Is'the tension which prevails that It is feared in some quarters it may lead to civil war. Mr De Valera’s new armed force It Is believed may have a violent clash with General O'Duffy’s National Guard, now described by the Republicans as Fascist Blue Shirts. Twenty thousand of the National Guards are expected to parade on August 13 to commemorate the deaths of Collins, Griffiths and O’Higgins, In the grounds of Leinster House. Planning a Coup« Republicans even suggest that General O’Duffy is planning a coup d’etat to seize the reins of government and that Mr De Valera may prohibit the parade. General O’Duffy describes the coup Idea as fantastic. He insists that his foroe Is non-military. Numerically, however, it greatly outnumbers the Republicans. It is alleged that the Blue Shirts have obtained 800 American rifles, 200,000 rounds of ammunition and a number of machine-guns. Armed members of the Republican Army are reported to be drilling every evening in the mountains outside the c}ty. The Dally buildings have been turned Into an armed camp. The Government Is not satisfied that the fire •PU Thursday was accidental. ; Fifty Givic Guards are quartered in the building with bedding and cooking apparatus and everybody who approaches is challenged. Russian Ogpu Copied. General O'Duffy In a- speech to the National Guard at Clonmel said the new speoial police force was tantamount to an Irish Ogpu. The Government was acting on false Information and making itself ridiculous in the eyes of the Irish at home and abroad. Apparently, said the general, the Government was preparing a campaign of suppression, which would be operative immediately the Dail adjourned. The National Guard was not subsidised by Britain. It was penniless, but he was appealing to the country for funds. „,'«S

PEACE WITH BRITAIN.

HOPES REVIVED.

United Press Assn. —Etec. Tel. Copyright, DUBLIN, Aug. 5.

Hopes iare revived oij a move to end the economio war between the Irish Free State and Britain. Mr De Valera and the Cabinet today gave a luncheon to Mr N. G( Havenga, South. African Minister of Finance, who is spending a holiday in Ireland, The rumour persists that subsequent discussions were in the nature of unofficial negotiations in the direction of a financial settlement.