IRISH AFFAIRS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3465, 20 April 1920, Page 5

IRISH AFFAIRS.

I‘RENOH’S RESIGNATION.

AGAIN REPORTED.

LONDON, April 13.

i The Evening Standard states on high authority -that the Government has received Lord French’s resignation and that this decision is final. At the inquest on Mr _MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, Lord French and Sir John Taylor, PermanentUnder—Seeretary, declined to attend. The Crown solicitor warmly protested against the monstrous suggestion that the police were responsible for the murder. The jury, after two hours’ absence, found that -Mr Mae Curtain was murderecl under circumstances of the most callous brutality.- The murder was organised and carried out by the Royal Irish Constabulary, ofiicially directed by the British Government. They returned a. verdict. of wilful {nur«ler against Mr Lloyd George, Lord, Fl't'mch__ Mr J. I. Maepherson, and others. The jury condemned the practice of raids at unreasonable hours.

A party of twenty men at midnight atfackecl three policemen in Dunralk. They felled two, but the third fired his revolver and wounded Thomas Mulholland, who died in the Louth Infirmary. Mulholland was interned after the 1916 rebellion.

TROOPS FOR IRELAND.

POLICE SHOT AFTER MASS.

LONDON, April 18.

A brigade of Lancers, Hussars, and D1':1g0011s- has been ordered to Ireland.

' Murclel'el's concealed behind Walls near the Church -at Kilmihill, Wesf Clare, fired on a party of police leaving Muss. Sergeant Carroll was killed and Constable Collins was wounded in. the back. Several ,civili:Llls were wounded during the affray, including John Breene, who died.

R-ioters in Londonderry attacked the Soldiers’ Club and stoned and fired revolvcr shots at the police al'l*iVing‘ to ,re.§cue the oc4(':upants. "After four hours a, detacllment;‘Mo:f:' two hundréd soldiers :gr~.=tm'cd o‘rde’rL '_ .

Subseqiiently other I}ioterS'ul_lsiiccess—_ fully attacked the police barracks. in Lacky Road. Nine civilians, one soldiexwgsand one policeman ‘were injured. _ DISTRESSIFUL IRELAND. ‘ A MOST WICKED RIOT IN DERRY. I_:ONDON, April 19.

What is described as the most wicked. riot ever known in Derry began on Saturday night. and lasted many hours. It arose as a result of Wednesday’s affray, when troops fired on the crowd, which caused fierce indignation. In some quarters of the town notices were posted on the walls Warning the soldiers to expect vengeance, and. warning civilians to discontinue friendly relations with the police. A band of youths started hos.tilities at eight o’clock, attacking‘. two “soldiers in Ridge Street, which was the scene of Wednesday’s shooting. iThe soldiers were roughly handled before they ‘took. refuge in the Soldiers’ Club in Carlisle Street. The crowd smashed the doors and winudows with iron bars, and a de‘spéi‘ate ‘fight took place inside, chairs and "other furniture being used as weaplons. Eventually the soldiers won. i'l‘hey expelled the raiders, and erected {defensive lbarric-ades. Meanwhile in-‘ ldividual soldiefs‘ attempting to reach {the club were waylaid, and one was {removed to the hospital. The local police were quite unable to cope with 9the fight, and ‘large reinforcements iwere drawn from various quarters of the town. These suddenly appeared on the scene and were ordered_ to clear the street. They were momentarily successful, but the crowd, emboldened, returned to the fray, raining stones, bolts and bottles on the police. A number of revolver shots, apparently from the crowd, caused a temporary panic, and the police drew their bayonets and charged. They‘ drove the mob pell mell down the; street, "but the shots became so fre-Ii quent that the police fired two warn-J ing volleys in the air. Two hundred‘ Dorsets arrived and the” crowds were} then over-awed. Meanwhile a violent faction fight was proceeding at Ferry‘ Quay gate, which lasted three hours. The police .ifxa.de numerous bayonet charges and separated the Unionists and Sinn Feiners. When the rioting in these areas was suppressed a signal light in the sky notified an attack on Lecky Road Barracks. "All the troops who could be spared rushed in that direction, followed by fifty troops at the double. A number of revolver shots were fired at the troops en‘ route. A sergeant and five constables held the barracks against a determined and well planned attack. Four decoy mess-ages failed to lure the defenders afield. _ The attackers freely. used revolvers and boulders, beat the police behind sandbags, and drfive them out of range. All the defenders’ were slightly. wounded. Eleven civilians have been taken to hospital.