IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 May 1916, Page 5

IRELAND.

GENERAL MAXWELL'S ORDER. A THEATRICAL SURRENDER. London, May 2. General Maxwell, on Sunday, issued a proclamation warning the people of Dublin that he intended, if necessary, to blow up the areas where the rebels were entrenched,. The inhabitants in the affected areas must leave their houses, especially women and children. They would be well treated if tfyey approached the sentries under the white flag. The men must not have their hands in their pockets, but if their bonafides were proved they would also be allowed to leave.

The proclamation struck terror into the rebels, who had been in good heart for the greater part of the week. They adopted many ingenious devices to get ammunition. The guards opened two coffins at Rathmines. One contained a body and the other ammunition. They now realised the impossibility of facing cannon and the wholesale explosion of houses.

The Countess of Markiewicz was commanding the rebels at the Royal College of Surgeons on St. Stephen's Green and defended it stubbornly until Sunday morning. Then the white flag replaced the green. A British officer ordered the garrison to surrender at 4 o'clock punctually. The Countess, in a green tunic and hat, came out, followed by the msn marching in twos. She led the men to the British, saluted the officer commanding, kissed her revolver before surrendering and then announced, "I am ready." The men were disarmed and marched under armed escort to Dublin Castle, where 700 rebels were gathered.

Many Sinn Feiners threw away their rifles and ammunition and endeavored to escape in ordinary clotheu. General Maxwell therefore closed the bridges and roads.

It is calculated that the damage in Dublin amounts to two million sterling. People are concerned as to whether the Government will give them financial aid.

AFTER THE SURRENDER. QUTET AS A GRAVEYARD. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) Received May 3, 5.5 p.m. Loivlon, May 2. The Times correspondent at Dublin states that after the leaders surrendered Dublin became as quiet as a graveyard. The last act of resistance was to s6t the Post Office afire, and retire behind the Coliseum, raising the frhite flag. .PITIFUL STREET SCENES For six days no civilian could venture into the streets without risking his life. Scores of men and women and children, who faced the risk rather than starve, are now lying helpless in the mortuaries or maimed in the hospitals. A CITY OF DESOLATION. Grey smoke from the ruins in Sackvine Street still rises mournfully, and line ash hangs in the air and then fills the gutters. Occasionally a rifle shot rings out. It is a city of desolation and dead: There are piteous street scenes. A number of corpses are lying in the roadways. Priests are tending the wounded and dying, and are anxiously in quest of coffins, which are unprocurable. UNDER GERMAN DIRECTION. One captured rebel had a book, entitled, "Simple and Efficient Demolition of Railways," but the attempts to carry out its precepts were confined to the destruction of a small bridge over the western side of the river, where the soldiers constructed a temporary bridge ill a lew hours. Books on scouting have frequently been found in possession of prisoners. It is believed that the rebels acted under German direction, and one man was in partial German uniform when he surrendered.

MUNITION SUPPLIES. Their ammunition ,vas largely of home manufacture. There were salmon tin bombs containing some foreign bullets and also ancient British bullets. One rebel machine-gun did great execution from within the gates of the Botanical Gardens, and it is a mystery how it came to be concealed there without the authorities discovering it.

REBELS AT HOLYHEAD. London, May 2. Four hundred and fifty rebels reached Holyhead very dejected. Many were young men. They were paraded on the platform surrounded .by troops with fixed bayonets and theftce forwarded to an unknown destination. SLIGHT DISTURBANCES ELSEWHERIJj, London, May 2. There are slight disturbances in Dublin and the outlying districts. A body of Sinn Feiners, headed by Dr. Hayes, who are interned at Garristown (20 miles north-west of Dublin) fought the police, four of whom were wounded. Eight men were arrested, two of whom were identified as having shot a constable at Castle Beldingham and wounding a lieutenant. A PLEA FOR CLEMENCY. London, May 2. i The Daily Chronicle advises that the rebels be treated without futile vindictiveness, The court may find Casement insane. The Government should study Botha's policy. He distinguished three types. First there were leaders like Maritz, who were bought by German gold, upon whom Botha was prepared to inflict capital punishment; then others like De Wet, whose motives were less reprehensible and who received periods of detentlve imprisonment, while the rank and file were treated with conspicuous leniency. There were comparatively few Irishmen who were conscious agents to the plot, hut some derived money and supplies from Germans, through IrishAmerican channels. These should be distinguished from anti-British hot-heads.