OUR IRISH LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 228, 26 September 1929, Page 29

OUR IRISH LETTER.

THE HARNESSED SHANNON.

I INAUGURATION CEREMONY. SERIOUS FISHERY DISPUTE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) DUBLIN, August 13. Under the auspices of the Church and the Free State Government the waters of the Shannon were turned in to the new canal, and swept on towards the power-house at Ardnacrusha. Pressing the switch at Parteen Villa., President Cosgrave raised the great intake gates a few inches, and as the water poured out, the thousands of people assembled cheered heartily. A blessing was invoked by the Most Rev. Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, in whose diocese the great scheme is situated. In his speech the president said that the filling of the head race for the first time had to proceed with great care, and the water would accordingly not be raised by much more than three inches per day. It was expected to reach a sufficient height in September next to permit of the final testing of the turbines and generators. In that case it was probable that the supply of electric power throughout the Free State from' Shannon could be begun in the early winter. Doubts had been expressed from time to time on two main questions arising out of the Shannon development. Firstly, the dependability of the estimates of the cost of construction had been questioned; secondly, the amount of power for which there would be a market when the works were completed had been pessimistically reckoned. It. was known from the, recent statement of the Minister of Industry and Commerce, that a margin of less than five per cent would cover the difference between the actual and the estimated cost of construction. Saorstat Eireann could carry out rapidly, efficiently and economically, a hydro-elactric scheme on a Bcale as large as any iD Europe. Thereby had been laid a firm foundation for confidence, both at home and abroad, in our capacity to realise those economic developments of wide national scope and effect to which they all looked forward. To the second question, as to whether the power to be generated in the power station would be disposed of successfully, 6nly time can give the final reply. The Minister of Industry and Commerce had, however, recently explained that, the consumption of electricity supplied from existing plants was increasing at such a rate as to leave no doubt that the anticipations of the experts who originally advised on the consumption to be expected would be realised in full. Indeed it was certain that even so great a plant as this is now would in a comparatively few years prove insufficient for needs.

Jurisdiction Over Waters. The Lough Foyle .fishery dispute, which began in quite a simple manner the seizing of a net belonging to Free State fishermen by the employees of the Foyle and Bann Fishery Company, Derry—promises to assume international proportions. The question is, indeed, a very serious one and pregnant with menacing possibilities. The company claims a several fishery in the waters of the Lough, and allege that Free State fishermen are trespassers. The company refuses to acknowledge the license of the Moville Board of Conservators granted to the fishermen and holds that the Royal Charter, granted to the 'Irish Society, London, by King Charles the Second, and of which the persons constituting the c-ompany are the lessees, is a sufficient warrant for their claim. The real issue was knit, however, when the company, as already intimated in these notes, sought for and obtained in the High Courts of Northern Ireland, writs against nearly 40 fishermen, together with an interlocutory injunction. Up to that point the Free State Government regarded the matter as a squabble between conflicting interests to be settled in its own Courts, but the step of the company was regarded as a repudiation of Free State rights in Irish territorial waters and implying that the Northern Government had jurisdiction over Lough Foyle. In reasserting its "unequivocal rights" in Irish waters, the Free State Government holds that the company should have brought its action in the Free State Courts. - It bases this assertion on the grounds that when the Irish Free State -was formed it included all Ireland-r-the thirty-two counties —and territorial jurisdiction in its waters inside the three miles , limit of the entire coast line. Liter, Northern Ireland "opted out" of the thirty-two counties and formed its own Government, and remains in all the possessions granted under the Act of 1920, but these possessions and powers the Free State Government asserts do not include the .control of waters adjoining Northern Ireland. In other words, the contention is that while Lord Craigavon's Government controls its. subjects on shore, the instant they step on a steamer or boat or enter the wiater to bathe they are under Mr. Cosgrave's Government. The Northern Government scouts this contention and as a matter of fact the High Court, Belfast, yesterday granted injunctions against thirty-four Free State fishermen, prohibiting them fishing Lough Foyle till the matter is settled in the courts. The Free State Government says that the Irish Society or the company must come to the Free State Courts to assert their rights, if any exist, and neither the society nor 'the company is likely to do eo.

Foul, Slander's Tragedy. Some weeks ago the funeral of an old man named Thomas Sloan, who resided at Broughshane, County Antrim, was stopped by the police, and an inquest was subsequently held. Sloan, who was 71, and resided with his married daughter, Mrs. Lizzie McAuley, died on the 7th June. The inquest was adjourned until an analysis of some of the internal organs of the dead man could be made. On the 12th June following, Mrs. McAuley poisoned herself, adding a new tragedy. Rumour with a thousand tongues had been busy, and she ended her life in that tragic manner. At the resumed inquest a few days ago, the analysis of the deceased man's stomach disclosed nothing of a poisonous nature, and it was found that he had died of natural causes. Dr. McMaster, who attended the deceased, said that ho was with him the night before he died, and was prepared to give a certificate that Sloan died of natural causes. It then transpired that two'persons, one Thomas Sloan, and a Mrs. Peters, had informed the police that they believed that Mrs. McAuley had poisoned her father, and on these representations the police,

stopped the funeral. Stung to frenzy by j the vile insinuations. Mrs. McAuley, who : had faithfully nursed her father up till! his last moment, poisoned herself, ajid at the inquest on her a verdict of suicide . while of unsound mind was returned. At the resumed inquest on Sloan, the coro- j ner spoke sternly on the malicious tongues which drove Mrs. McAuley to j her death. "I say, gentlemen," said the j coroner, "to you, and I say after careful deliberation and consideration, that her death lies at the door of Mrs. Peters and her brother Mr. Sloan. And if there is any law in the land that can be put in force to punish these people it should be put in force at once, because they are just as responsible for causing her death <as if they had gone in and dosed her with the poison she took. I will say no more, but- the matter will remain in the hands of the police, and if anything can be done it should be done. I feel strongly about it.." I Primitive Islanders. j The Irish Land Commission has formulated a scheme for the migration of some 69 families which form the population of the Inniskea Islands, off the coast of North Mayo. The families will be given holdings on the mainland, and houses will be built upon them, while the islands will remain the property of the immigrants, to be used as they wish. There is no church and no shops on tin islands, the people have to connect with the mainland by frail corracles, as did their forefathers a thousand years ago, a distance of some five miles. They are a very primitive Gaelic speaking people, and live by fishing and simple agriculture. Last week's catch of crayfish, lobsters and white fish realised some £400. Latterly death cut off a lot of fishermen, an appalling tragedy of the sea having taken heavy toll. The islands are frequently visited by French and English fish buyers during the season, but in the winter months they are cut off for weeks at a time. ,