IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1916, Page 5

IRELAND.

MR. ASQUITH IN DUBLIN. MORE-ARRESTS MADE. "' London, May 14. Mr. Asquitli interviewed a number of rebels at Richmond Barracks. Sentries are still on guard in the chief thoroughfares. The search of houses continues, and numerous arrests are made daily. Mr. Redmond's manifesto is widely discussed. The general tendency is to support his appeal. Connolly issued an order on April 2S rallying his followers, in which he said: "We have every confidence that our allies in Germany and our kinsmen in America are straining every nerve to help us." i SCENES AT THE POST OFFICE. A WOMAN'S EXPERIENCE. ' London, May 14. A young Englishwoman, interviewed, said she was buying stamps at the Post Office on Easter Monday, and was not allowed to leave.

She was brought before Pearse and a man of German appearance. Pearse said: "We have formed a republic. Yon had better stay for there may be bloodshed. All Ireland will soon be in our possession. Before England realises the situation German armies will land to assist us." Pearse was confident about the invasion of Ireland and England. She was shown proclamations printed in German. She and other women were terrified when the shelling began. Pearse bade them be resigned, and asked them to kneel while a priest conducted a brief service, and the rebels sang, "Faith of Our Fathers." The women were taken at midnight to the back yard and helped over the wall. Two women who preceded her were shot dead. Some fell into an officer's arms, and were taken to the hospital. Some men who were detained in the' Post Office during the shelling went mad, and begged to be shot.

Several of the ringleaders of the rebels have been arrested in Galway. Those at Athenry are still hiding. PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT BELFAST. Received May 15, 5.5 p.m. London, May 14. Mr. Asquith proceeds to Belfast on Monday to attend the conferences of the civil and military authorities. He will be the first Prime Minister to 'visit Belfast since Lord Salisbury, QOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTRY. IRISH COALITION PROBABLE. '

ULSTER AND HOME RULE. NEWSPAPER OPINIONS. Received May 15, 10.35 p.m. -- ■ - London, May 15. There are widespread rumors that the Government propose to establish a provisional government, representing all parties, in Ireland. It is expected that a council will be established in Dublin, resembling the Viceroy's Council in India, upon which Nationalist and Uniosist Commoners and Irish public men will -sit, forming what will be called an Irish Coalition Government. It is announced that Lord Derby will succeed Lord Wimborne.. The Daily Chronicle says that after the manner in which the Nationalists rallied to the defence of the Empire, even a Unionist Government could not withheld Home Rule at the end of the war for at least the three southern provinces, but Ulster's consent must be won for Ulster's treatment, and the future coercion of Ulster is impossible. If the time is not ripe and an agreement is opposed, the Irish leaders might form a War Executive to prevent a continuance of the Dublin Castle system. Despite the currency 6f rumors, Mr. Redmond and Sir E. Carson were unaware of the negotiations regarding the new executive, and were not invited to Dublin to confer with Mr. Asquith and other leading Irishmen.

Nevertheless, it is evident that the calamity of Easter week has shocked Irishmen of all shades of opinion into a re-examination of their responsibilities and recriminations, Tiowever they may tend to continue. Thus, the Freeman's Journal published verbatim Mr. Dillon's speech, witli the more violent passages in heavy type. The Irish Times hopes that all Irishmen will co-operate to build up a bright future upon the miserable past. The Daily Express, in a leading article, headed, "Let the Castle Go," says that it is intolerable that a Government whose duty it is to defeat Germany should be distracted by Irish disaffection. LARKINITES OUTVOTE SINN« „ . „ FEINERS. " " London, May 14. Concerning the Skeffington secret trial, the Manchester Guardian states that some days before the rebellion the Sinn Fein executive in Dublin, by a three to one majority, voted against an armed rising. A minority of Larkinites wormed their way into the organisation without a single aim common to the Sinn Fein.

LORD-LIEUTENANT BLAMED. London, May 14. The Time.?' Dublin correspondent alleges that Lord Wimbourne did not exercise a real supervision ov%r the Castle and never influenced Mr. Birrell's policy, or want of policy, though he must have known what was happening. If he disapproved he had not the courage to resign, when, such a protest might have averted the calamity.

TRIAL OF CASEMENT. GREAT INTEREST KfluvVN; Received May 15, 9.35 p.m. London, May 15. There is intense interest in Sir Roger Casement's trial, and the demand for admission tickets is so great that tho/authorities are determined to issuejione, and the public must wait in a queue. This procedure resembles that observed in the Colonel Lynch case in 1903. Casement is in good health, though there are indications that lie is breaking down. On the first day after his arrest he was taken to Brixton gaol, under a strong armed guard, and thence to the Tower, where lie was incarcerated in the room in which Carl Lody, the German spy, spent the night before his execution. Casement, it is expected, will be brought to Bow Street Court in a taxicab, with armed guard, and thus be spared the indignity of a journey in the "Black Maria."

iSir V. E. Smith, K.C., and Mr. Bodkin, K.C., will lead for the Crown. Mr. Healy has refused a brief for Casement. Messrs. Artcmus Jones ami .1. Morgan defend Casement in his court-martial.