IRELAND

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1920, Page 5

IRELAND

IRISH PEACE. FURTHER DISCUSSION. By Telegraph.-Press Assn.—Copyriglt. Received Dee. 10, 7.5 p.m, London, Dec. fl. It is reported that Archbishop Clune has had a further meeting with the Premier, whom, it is understood, makes an important statement regarding Ireland in the House of Commons to-day. Collins, the head of the Irish Republican Army, whom the authorities are seeking to arrest, and who is reported to have given Archbishop Clune a message for the Premier, says the position is that Ireland has always wanted peace. If a truce is offered it will not be rejected, but they had not asked for it. The first essential is cessation of English aggression. It is reported that the Premier will announce martial law in Ireland. MORE ARRESTS. London, Dec. 9. Railwaymen in Donegal have agreed to car y troops and ammunition, and a simila. decision is expected to become general in Ireland in the next few days. Nine more Sinn Feiners have been arrested in Glasgow on a charge oE attempting to purchase rifles and machine guns from a corporal in Service Co'rps. They offered £550 for 500 rifles, and £ls each for machine guns. HENDERSON'S STRONG VIEWS. London, Dec. 9. Mr. Henderson, in a speech at Hough Green, declared it was certain that if the Government failed to give immediate consideration to the widespread desire for the cessation of hostilities in Ireland, a position of utter chaos would result more drastic than Cromwell practised. Fire and sword would be necessary to keep Ireland enslaved. The policy of the Government was producing in the minds of the Irish people the same effect as a mad flog loose in the streets. Coercion had been applied with such indiscriminate violence that the people were terror-stricken. Mr. Henderson added that there was light in the darkness. His consultations with the leaders of all classes had disclosed an earnest desire for peace and a willingness to join in reciprocal arrangements to abandon acts of violence and every form of provocation. What i was wanted was a new spirit of conciliation, a period of truce, and a conI ference with the real leaders of the Irish people. A WISE DECISION. Washington, Dec. 9. Tbe British Embassy informed the Committee of a Hundred that it cannot vise passports for the sub-committee which wished to visit Ireland to s gather first-band information on the situation. The Ambassador pointed out that the investigation would be futile until quiet was restored in Ireland, and then only by a body of highly experienced men in the laws of evidence and able to compel the production of books, papers, and records.