IRELAND

Southland Times, Issue 18840, 5 June 1920, Page 5

IRELAND

HOME RULE BILL. IRISH PARLIAMENT'S FUNCTIONS. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.,/ LONDON, June 4. (Received June 5, 12.10 a.m.) In the House of Commons on the Home Rule Bill, Captain Coote moved the omis sion of the provision reserving to Imperial control the armed forces of the Crown. He suggested that “if we give the Irish Par Lament control of the armed forces things will come to such a pass that Irishmen will be compelled to unite.” Mr Long said that the fact that additional troops were still being despatched to Ireland proved the determination of the Government to do everything to restore order. Ex-service men in Ireland were being hounded out of the country by the Sinn Feiners, yet it was proposer! in the amendment to transfer to the Sinn Feiners control of the armed forces. There was no comparison between Ireland and the dominions on this point, and any attempt to hand over the military forces to the Irish Parliaments ought to be resisted to the uttermost.

Sir Edward Carson opposed the amendment and appealed to the Government to modify the bill with a view to delegating certain specific powers to the Irish Parliaments, which ought to be enlarged in (he future, while real strength and power was left to the Imperial Parliament. He believed, moreover, that the bill would lead to separation, and he said the people of Ulster were complaining that the Government were kicking them out. The state of things in the South and West, was hideous and disgraceful to the British Government. The amendment was negatived without a division.

ATTACKS ON COASTGUARD ' STATIONS. ADDITIONAL TROOPS LANDING. LONDON. June 3. (Received June a, 12.0n a.ui.l Sinn Feiners attacked and destroyed five more coastguard stations. A Government troopship is landing soldiers with full equipment at Bantry Bay. Other contingents, equipped with camping material, are disembarking at other places. Two thousand marines are going to Queenstown to be distributed tunong the various coastguard stations, owing to the recent Sinn Fein seizures of fog signals and rockets, which put the signalling stations out of action. AMERICAN SYMPATHY WITH IRELAND A HOUSE RESOLUTION. WASHINGTON, June 4. (Received June 5, 12.55 a.in.) By a vote of 343 to 3 the House of Representatives adopted a resolution expressing the sympathy of Congress with the Irish cause. It is said that the Speaker informed them that he would not permit the House to give consideration to such a measure. Mr Gillctt’s word is final in the matter. PATROL DUTY IN IRELAND. EXPERIENCE OF A SOLDIER. A BED OF THORNS FOR THE N.C.O. Ireland is not a home from home for the British soldier under present conditions according to the story told tt Times reporter by Mr Henry York, late Quarter-master Sergeant in the Welsh Fusiliers. Mr York, who is resident in Invercargill, was stationed in Ireland for over two years, leaving his regiment in March last. Having enlisted at the outbreak of war, ho has had considerable experience of other than peaceful walks of life, hut his memories of Ireland seem even less pleasant than those of the actual trenches. “We were continually on the rpti vive,” he said. “Gratefully into bed after being up most of the previous night on fluty, and an officer’s voice would dispel the dreams of the tired. The Sinn Feiners. or someone else with a grievance, would have shot a policeman, burnt down a house, broken into a shop to secure arms, nr something as inconsiderate and it would be uniform again and long prowls in an attempt to locate the law breakers. Or perhaps a ‘wanted’ man had been located. A squad of us would march away to arrest him while he was in bed (the way that all arrests are carrier! out in Ireland). This kind of tiling would go on for a number of nights in each week, with occasional variety in the shape of riot quelling. The lot of a soldier was truly not happy.”

Mr York was stationed in the counties of Kerry, Cork, Limerick nn.il Clare at different times, and. he declares, his experiences seemed to be always extraordinary wherever he. went. His regiment was nt church at its camp in North Wales in 1918 when the padre announced that it was under orders. No time was lost ami the troops had to double back to their billets. That night they found themselves at Holyhead bound for a destination unknown, and the same day all Irish regiments were transferred from Ireland and replaced hy English. Scots and Welsh soldiers. At least, so he believes. With such an adventurous touch to the beginning of (lie campaign it was to he expected that exceptional things would eventuate and the calls that followed this first one were generally on a par in point of suddeness.

The Irish people are evidently adaptable, so Mr York states and business appears to progress quite smoothly under abnormal conditions. When an outrage is perpetrated there is a mild evidence of excitement and interest for a little while, but it soon dies. The death of a policeman by foul play while he is patrolling a lonely country road is now almost taken os one of the ordinary events of the day. So far as the commercial activities are concerned, he stated that the people seem alive to business, and. in many places, hear themselves with friendly mien towords the soldiers when the latter are off duty. But he would not say that the people are necessarily mer eenary because they so hear themselves, Many, he declared, seemed quite unsympathetic towards “president" de Valera, but the terrorist methods employed causer! most of these to hide their feelings. It is no uncommon thing, he says, to see notices ip the country districts, posted up by de Valera’s followers, threatening death to anyone fraternising with “the enemy’s police or military.” And the threat was not always empty. In other cases, too, girls seen speaking to soldiers had been attacked and. their hair cut short to brand them as traitresses in the eyes of all true Irishmen. Through these methods many of the Irish have outwardly affected the “republic's” col ours.

Mr York puts the number of troops in Ireland last March down at 40,000. On the other hacin, he is sure that the Sinn Feiners could raise an army of 300,000. Their trouble, however, is a shortage of arms and every precaution is taken tn keep these from them.