GUIDANCE OF YOUTH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 October 1931, Page 3

GUIDANCE OF YOUTH

— By Telegraph-

irish public safety bill becomes operative at once MR. COSGRAYE'S STRONG PLEA

Rec. Oct 18, 11 p.m. LONDON, Sunday. "I want solemnly to warn the parents, sisters and wives of every young man connected with the unlawful organisations and to persuade them to withdraw. They will be severely j treated if they eontinue," said the President of the Dail, Mr W. T. Cosgrave, .in a final speech before the voting on an amendment to the Public Safety Bill in the Senate, where it was passed by 41 votes to 15 votes after much vigorous criticism. Mr Cosgrave later said: "Our sincere hope is that Irish commonsense and innate sanity will reduce to a minimum the use of the strong powers and drastic punishments provided for under the Act." He again appealed to parents and others who have a special responsibility towards young men and women who have been induced to join unlawful associations not realising the extent of their distructive programme, which is condemned by every Christian minded man. He added that the State must proteqt the people from everything involving the destruction or downfall of the Irish nation. Those *who had been misguided need not fear punish- ! ment, provided they seize the opportunity and recognise that laws for the good of the State are the only sure means of achieving ultimate happiness and prosperity. Senator Douglas declared that the Irish could not be coerced. Colonel Moore, who served with the Connaught Rangers in the South African war,. declared that the military tribunal and death sentence would [ be as deliberate a perversion of justice as anything that the Irish Republican Army had done. He had refused, while in South Africa, to preside over a similar Court Martial. i Mr O'Sullivan, Minister of Education, said that the stock-in-trade of those with whom the Bill dealt was coercion and terrorism. If the situ- • ation got out of hand, the country might be broken up and ruled by local committees of gunmen. ; Senator O'Doherty interjected: "You and your associates first broke up the country." The Governor-General immediately signed the Bill, the Cabinet making it operative at once. A special edition of the newspaper "An Poblacht," which appeared immediately after the passage of the Bill urges the Republicans to stand ! fast and adopt a policy of "passive en- . durance."

(Press Assn.-

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