LAW-ABIDING IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 September 1919, Page 2

LAW-ABIDING IRELAND.

To tho Editor. Sir—On March 26th,, 1919, Lord .Tuatlcfl O'Connor addressed the Cork City Grand Jury as follows: —"This Assize concludes the criminal business for Minister, and perhaps I ran* be allowed ono or two observations on tin criminal business as it occurs to ray mine' The most remarkable fact that I have observed is that there was only one case of sexual ofturn KM M ttWM ANMW. SM It • ut

tnarkable thing. I wonder if It Is paralleled In.any community in the world considering the population of this provlnoe of Munster, donBldering the time that has elapsed! StiXUal oftonces are practically non-existent Itl the province of Munster. That Is a matter of which you may be well proud, and I congratulate you upon It. The other crimes that have beon reported are neither alarming in number nor In character. In County Clare, for example. I had to remark upon the marked diminution In the ordinary crlmo, and If matters rested there, of course, affairs would be er.tlrely satisfactory, but you know as well as I know that side by side with this comparatively crimeless condition of Munster thero exists political unrest which Is fraught with danger and disorder. How long that state of things will continue I know not Whether thero is any remedy for It, and what Is that remedy, is not a matter that you and I can discuss here, but certainly the curious contrast I have referred to Is one that must give reasons for serious thought to all well-wishers of the country and to those In authority over us." The above testimony cannot be said to result from prejudice and the heated imagination of a partisan, but is the Impartial verdict of the calm and unbiassed mind of a Judge of the Assize Court In rebel Cork—l al "i etc -, IAS. McKENNA. hew Plymouth, 13th September.