DIRTY WORK AT DUBLIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1916, Page 8

DIRTY WORK AT DUBLIN.

BLACKGUARDS WHO STAYED AT HOME. WHAT THE IRISH TOMMY HAS DONE. Dunedin, May I. Mr. Frederic Coleman, war correspondent, now in Dunedin, thus expressed himself to an interviewer to-day regarding the rebellion in Ireland: —"To one who has spent months of war in close touch with the troops at the front, and has seen the magnificent work of the Irish soldiers from the very beginning, this Dublin trouble makes one's blood boil. As one, too, of Irish blood—my father was an Irishman—who has, from the great retreat in August, 1914, through the advance across the Marne and the Aisne, and then for months in sodden Flanders, seen brave boys from dear little Ireland set a mark for valor that no one could beat, a wave of indignation comes surging ov<!r the very heart of a man that such sorry work has been done by blackguards, who stayed at home when the best of Ireland's young manhood rallied round the Union Ja*k.

"I was with the 4tli Dragoon Guards, Royal Irish, for most of the first year oi the war. Another regiment in our brigade, the 9th Lancer.?, had a full quota of Irishmen. For that mater, mighty few regiments can be found that have not an Irishman in them, and some of the units, where one would never dream of finding them, have more than 50 per cent, of men of Irish parentage in their ranks. It is absolutely wonderful where all the Irish soldiers come from. Tt is by no means an oddity to find one in the kilt of some splendid Scot battalions. Stories of Irish bravery, of Irish cheer, of Irish tenacity and pluck are so plentiful at the front as to be accepted very much as a matter of course.

"The dirty work in Dublin has 'been done by a different sort of individual. This kind have none of the attributes that make uslove the Irish Tommy, and have caused him to be a universal favorite in the ranks of whatever contingent he may belong to. The Irish soldier at the front would like nothing better than to get hold of the sort of man that is responsible for such deeds as those which are being flashed over the wires from Ireland. The ringleaders of such a suicidal, insane, inexcusable policy are the men to be punished. The punishment must needs fall as well on the heads of many of their poor dupes, some of whom neefl as much pity as condemnation, though that will not save them the punishment. * ■'Finally, let none of us forget the loyalty and bravery of the great majority of Ireland's sons. They are, all but a handful, true to the Empire, and have given much for it."