IRISH AFFAIRS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3567, 1 September 1920, Page 5

IRISH AFFAIRS.

MARTIAL LAW IN BELFAST.. EIGHTEEN DEATHS SINCE ' SATURDAY. Received 9 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 31. Martial law has been proclaimed in Belfast. Eighteen deaths ' occurfed, and over two hundred people were wounded since the rioting started in Belfast on Saturday. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED. Received 9 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 31'. Sir Edward Carson is appealing to Unionists to assist in the preservation of order. He states that peace negotiations have been proceeding with the Government, and that an important announcement is expected on Friday. Received 11.5 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 81. The Ulster Unionist Council announces that peace negotiations with the Government are proceeding. INCENDIARISM IN BELFAST. Received 21.5 a.m. LONDON Aug. 31. Incendiarism was spread over fourteen streets in Belfast. The fire brigades were called out forty times. AN APPEAL FROM FRANCE. Received 11.5 a.m. PARIS, Aug. 31. Le Matin, in an article headed "An Appeal to England," says it would be a breach of loyalty to our Allies not to warn them of the peril they are incurring by permitting a struggle between England and civilisation. Each refusal of clemency enhances the importance of McSweeney, whose death will spread Ireland's teachings and convince the world that England is implacable, making no distinctions between criminals and saints.

BELFAST RIOTIN GCONTINUES. RIVAL MOBS FIRING SHOPS. POLICE MAKE BATON CHARGES. INFERNO" OF STRIFE AND RIOT. FEROCIOUS FIGHTING. LONDON, August 30. ■ Rioting continues in Belfast in half a dozen centres, rival mobs setting fire to ahops and) Hooting lothers. Five were killed 1 ami wounded during the morning, including a woman killed by a revolver shot and a tehild of eleven kill Lea while trying to get home to lunch. Though the Sinn Foiners were outnumbered, many w.er.9 armed with revolvers, while the Unionists had only

paving stones and rivets. Kidneyshaped pavers weighing a pound apiece were pilefl up ready for attack and defence. Additional troops were ordered out. The police made repeated baton charges ~ As men and women workers had to run, the gauntlet of street firing and baton charges before ;hey reached workshops and offices, most of these were closed down. The workers returned home or joined rival mobs, thus increasing the confusion.

Distressing scenes [were witnessed in the Catholic quarter. Many families, taking advantage of any 'lull in the rio.ing, put their furniture into lorries or handcafts and moved to a quieter district. Families were headed by father and mother and followed by young children walking behind the carts. DUBLIN, Aug. 30. Belfast, is a veritable inferno of strife and riot. Never before have such scenes been witnessed. Business is suspended and shops barricaded. Armoured cars with police patrol areas, but no sooner do they get control in one area than fighting intense and furious breaks out in another. Sinn Feiners have been the attackers to-day. They led a melee following their stone-thTbwing at workmen's tramcars early in the morning. Stones flew in all directions, and for the 6 remainder of the day the streets were delivered over to great mobs of Protestants and Catholics, who harassed soldiers and police. The confusion was rendered worse by the screams of terrified women and girls. These have been prominent combatants, descending to hair-pulling. Indeed their aggressiveness even excelled the men's. LABOUR LEADERS' APPEAL, g TO RELEASE CORK'S LORD MAYOR. LONDON, Aug. 30. Labour leaders representing all organised British labour, appealed to Mr Lloyd George "to do a big thing" and release Mr McSweeney. Sir James Long telegraphed Lord Stamfordham requesting the King to remove his knighthood . owing to , the treatment of -Mr McSweeney .and other hunger-strikers.;