IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1918, Page 5

IRELAND.

CONSPIRACY WITH GERMANS. . ' CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.London, May 20. The Daily Mail understands that Government has conclusive evidence ol an Irish conspiracy policy with the Germans. Clearly it was hoped that a great insurrection would synchronise with the supreme moment of a gigantic Western offensive. IRELAND'S NIGHTMARE. For months the knowledge that a new conspiracy was maturing weighed on Ireland like a nightmare. The tangible evidences of the plot were numerous, ineluding the looting of arms and explosives and toasting by orators. All Irish loyalists were convinced that Germany was at the bottom of the trouble. She believed another rebellion was possible should the Allies meet serious reverses in Prance. The authenticity of the evidence is unquestioned. The Times, in a leader, says: "It is most necessary to publish the evidence immediately, so as to disnel the cloud of sensational rumors afloat.'' The Daily Mail's Dublin correspondent says: "It'is believed the Sinn Feiners prepared for the decentralised control of the organisaton in the event of the central committee being put out of action. The most important documents were de. stroyed or removed. The anti-conscrip-tion fund, totalling £200,000, remains in the hands of the local trustees.!— United Service. PRISONERS REMOVED. CROWDS CHEER REBELS. London, May 20. The arrests number over a hundred, including 73 Sinn Feiners, and the prisoners sailed from Kingston to Holyhead on Saturday. A huge crowd at Kingstown cheered the prisoners, the crowd shouting: "Up with the rebels and smash the Nationalists." The police later dispersed the crowd, which was commencing to Ring "The Soldiers' Song." Arrests continue in Athlone, Galway, Cavan, Casliel, Sligo, Dundalk, Kilkenny, Clonmel, Roscommon, and Cork, but principally in Dublin. Four Sinn Fein members of Parliament have been arrested, apart from Mr. Ginnell, who is serving six l months in Mountjov prison. Practically the whole governing body of the Sinn Fein movement is in custody. '' The general belief is that the Catholic clergy will now abandon their original attitude of stern resistance. A wellknown Dublin priest said on Sunday: "If it is true that a German plot existed in Ireland the great majority of Nationalists would withdraw tlieir sympathy from the Sinn Fein movement and centre their hopes for an Irish settlement by constitutional methods under Mr. Dillon's party." It is believed in Dublin that Mr. Dillon may decide to bring back his followers to Westminster and interrogate the Government regarding the German plot, especially as Lord French's proclamation virtually admits that the conscription policy has failed.—Auf. N.Z. Cable Association. ARRESTS CREATE SURPRISE. PRO-GERMANISM DENIED. London, May 20. The Dublin correspondent of the Daily Chronicle says that the secret was well kept and the arrests came as a surprise to the affected persons, also to everyone outside Dublin Castle. The printer of the proclamation was entrusted only with the headings and formal parts, and afterwards typewritten copies of the effective parts were pasted in the blank spaces. The first intimation Dublin residents had of anything unusual was the continuous barking of dogs for several hours after midnight, while motor lorries with prisoners were driving through the streets to Kingstown, and early risers found a large number of soldiers guarding the jetty, and learned that the Sinn FeinerS were on board a warship. The arrests had nothing to do with the anti-conscription campaign or the Sinn Fein organisation or seditious speeches. Some of the prisoners weTe not Sinn Feiners. Every arrest was solely based on the suspicion of treacherous communication with the enemy. It was rumored that incriminating documents were found on a man captured in a collapsible boat, also on another captured off Kerry. The correspondent says: "I believe something more definite found its way to the British Government from the friendly country which exposed the earlier plots against the Allies, always in the nick of time. I firmly believe the prisoners will not be court-martialled or brought to public trial. The Government will scrupulously abstain from I giving a,ny excuse for disorders among the Irish public. "Irish newspapers unitedly deny that there is any pro-Germanism in Ireland, therefore the Government must recognise the necessity of justifying the arrests by the production of satisfactory evidence. The arrests are a war measure, and do not imply the revival of the clauses of the Coercion Act, but war measures must be well grounded. The Government must not lose time in proving to Ireland and the whole world that the plot is genuine. "It ia unfortunate that the belated and grudging withdrawal of conscription which the proclamation announces is annulled for the moment by the sensational arrests , and the discovery of the plot.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assoc.

SINN FEIN EXECUTIVE. NEARLY ALL ARRESTED. Received May 21, 11.40 p.m. London, May 20. The official members of the Central Executive of the Sinn Feiners totaffed 30. Only seven have not been arrested, and these include two 'women and three priests.