FATHER O' DONNELL’S ARREST.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3361, 13 December 1919, Page 2

FATHER O' DONNELL’ S ARREST.

LONDON, Dec. 10. In the House of Commons, Mr J. Devlin, Nationalist member for Falls, Belfast, moved_t-he ladjorrsnunent to discuss the case of Father O’Dollnell. He said that he took this action in consequence of "the intolerable outrage that lhad been committed. He demanded ‘ the dismissal of all responsible for the insult given to a brave ofiieer .-and the. l Austl‘ali'an Army. He asked 311' VVill- - Churchill, Secretary of State for fWal', to express condemnation of the 3 unrest all—d‘tl'e-utment of Father O’Donnell, and to state what I'epar.ation would be offered for the insult and humilia:l'lon,< Ml‘ Devlin also )asked Kthat Father O’Donnell’;s exipenses i should be paid. {He understood that |the case had cost Fatlxer O’Donnell j£looo.

Mr Winston Churchill replied that he could not be expected to express regret when neither he nor his subo.rdinates had actd wrongfully. When Mr Churchill declared. that Father O’Donnell’.s treatlncn't' throughout was strictly in accordance with the King’s Regulations, Mr Devlin intcrjected: “Who supplied ‘the tissue of liese.?” Mr Churchill said that there was every ‘reason to ‘suppose thatfithe statements were furnished in good faith, and were strictly accurate. He deplored an attempt‘ to 'lna_l<c a trivial episode the cause of a‘ quarrel between Britain and AuS"[ra]ia. Forty Labour members and some LiUer'a‘ls (vsuppo-rted Mr }Dcvlin~’sl motion. . Father O'Donnell, in a lotctr to the Mlornzing Pq'st, lgrotcsvs against Churchill adding insult to inrjuy by his tactics in ‘the House of Commons.. " ‘Such nie-thoq's,” [writes Father O’Donnell_, “nl.:Tko trators and weaken the bonds of Empire. I resigned my commission in order to seek reparation in the King"s Courts a-gain-st his l\[[i.nisters and their.‘ minions.”