IRISH CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1920, Page 5

IRISH CRISIS.

GREAT DISORDER IN BELFAST. 3TKES CAUSE MUCH DAMAGE. 9y Tdegr»pß.-£res» Aaw.'-CopjxWit, Received August 29, 5.5 pan. London, August 28. Great disorder prevailed in Belfast on Thursday night. The sky wass lit up by the blaze from burning public-houses. Machine-guns and Lewis guns were fired upon snipers and stone-throwers, and one was killed and a number were wounded. Military protection was necessary to enable the firemen to extinguish the fires, of which thirty-five occurred in the Ballymacarrett district early in the morning Incendiaries set fire to the property of two Protestant traders in Dundalk, and a large drapery shop was a'.so destroyed. Two lady assistants and one male sleeping on the premises were burned to death. The flames spread and destroyed a large building adjoining, owned by a Catholic firm. During an attack on a mall car near Drumlish, Constable Mullen was shot dead, while three other constables were seriously wounded. Ambuscaders killed a soldier driving a military lorry near Cahennore, and also wounded an officer and two privates of the Cameron Highlanders—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.

HUNGER-STRIKING MAYOR. | / HIS CONDITION IMPKGVED. Received August 29, 5.5 p.m. I • London, August 28. Tiie condition of McSweeney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, who is hungerstriking, has improved, and ho has agreed to accept medical treatment. It is reported that protoicj has been added to his drinking water. He is able to leave his bed for some time daily. The Bishop of Cork, in a letter to thi newspapers, urges the release of McSweeney. McSweeney has completed the fifteenth day of his hunger-strike. Mr. O'Girady, a member of the House ■pi Commons, in a. Jetter to Mr. Lloyd George, says: "If McSweeney dies as a result of your stupidity and mulish obstinacy a deliberate charge of murder can justly be levelled against you. A test of your sincerity in desiring a rapprochement between Irisamea and Englishmen is MeSweeney's unconditional release. If you do not assent to this, then be damned to you and your Gov-ernment."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable A-33n.

SEAMEN TAKE A HAND. STRIKE FOR IRISHMEN. Received August 29, 11.25 p.m. New York, August 27. A strike has begun among the crew of the Baltic, and affected «swo thousand longshoremen. The strike is said to be a protest against England's treatment of McSweeney and Mannix. The strikers deelare that no ship will be permitted to sail for England until Mannix is permitted to visit Ireland and McSweeney is released.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.