IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1918, Page 5

IRELAND.

TROUBLE IN IRELAND. SIGNING OF A COVENANT. EXTRAORDINARY SCENES IS CHURCHES AND ELSEWHERE. Received April 22, 5.15. p.m. London, April 22. Extraordinary scenes oecorred in Roman Catholic Ireland. In practically every church the priest celebrated intercession masses thu« the people, might be delivered from conscription. Celebrants outside the churches administered the pledge against conscriptionBishop Coliolas, itta&risterlaf tea pledge outside Cork Catehdral, advised the Sinn Feinera, to be on their- guard j against unauthorised orders. The Bishop of Ross administered the pledge to three thousand at a public meeting at Skibbereen, and said if the, people of Ireland were calm, cool, and determined the conscription order would never bo made. Elsewhere during the masses the priests announced from the altars that the people must assemble at certain halls and schoolrooms to sign the covenant against conscription, which the bishops had drawn tip on Friday at Maynooth, and which the political leaders endorsed. Thousands waited in queues in order to sign. Where their menfolk were unable to attend tho women signed instead. Ten thousand attended a single meeting in Tipperary. A thousand delegates attended a trade union convention at Dublin and passed a resolution pledging the delegates to resist conscription every possible; way,. They called for subscriptions to finance an anti'conscription campaign, and summoned tlie workers of Ireland to, abstain from work on Tuesday next as a demonstration of-loyalty to the cause of Labor in Ireland; and for tlie purpose of enabling every man and woman to sign the pledge against conscription. , Renter Service. S London, April 21. Mr, Devlin, 51, P., in a speech at Belfast, advised the Irish to refuse to register for military service, and to spit on the tribunals and refuse to go. RECRUITING RUSH CONTINUING. PASSIVE RESISTANCE URGED. London, April 21. The recruiting rush continues in Ireland, especially in Ulster, but it pxtends eolith and south-west. The conviction grows that the application of conscription will rapidly .terminate peacefully. The Government is determined to brook no opposition after flie passage of Home Rule. There is an optimistic belief in London that tlie bishops and priests have taken charge of the anti-conscription moyement in order to prevent extreme measures. They counsel passive resistance and the exhaustion of every legal means, but ?o rebellion. The police have removed all arms and ammunition, including' repairs, from Irish gunsmith's shops. Masses and intercession have been celebrated to avert conscription. A meeting of fifty-four Irish members of Parliament in Dublin passed a resolution, to'remain in Ireland to cooperate with their constituents in opposing conscription, which was one of the most brutal acts of tyranny and oppression of which any Government could be guilty. ' ~ ' The Observer severely criticisek' the action of the Irish bishops and accuses some of desiring a German triumph as a judgment on the French Republic's legislation, adding that the present attitude of Ireland provokes despair on both sides of the Atlantic of the Irish question and its perversities. FEDERAL HOME RULE. ASSUMING TANGIBLE FORM. London, April 21. The political correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says that the movement favoring Federal Home Rule is assuming tangible form at Westminster. Three Radical and one Unionist resolution have been tabled in the House of Commons. I / Mr. Robertson, M.P., writing in the Daily Chronicle, urges that Federal Home Rule would eliminate tho Ulster grievance. A Cork telegram reports that the political atmosphere is electrio. People are leaving the large towns and seeking lodgings in the country. Probably most, of the colleges and universities will Be closed shortly, enabling the students to return home.