IRELAND

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1920, Page 5

IRELAND

MANY ARRESTS IN DUBLIN, SINN FEIN DISARMING. QUAN'Uft'Y OP ARMS COLLECTED. 9j Telegraph.—Press Asm.^Co^yritfie. Received Dec. 30, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 29. tad ; military paid extensive domiciliary visits in Parnell Square, Dublin, and about twenty arrests were made. So far, 'under the new martial law, there has not been much response in delivering arms, but arris and ammunition of various kinds have been picked up in back streets and waste lands, ownera ridding themselves in this way in preference to handing them to the authorities. The finds include shells, bombs, old apearhead daggers, and automatic revolvers.—Aus. and N.Z. Cable idssn.

THE DEMAND OF LABOR. ~£LF-QOVERmfENT URGED Received Dec. 30, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 29. The Labor Conference passed a resolution calling 'for the immediate election of a constituent assembly by proportional ■ representation to draft a scheme for Irish self-government.— Aus.-NZ Cable Assn. RELIEF OP STARVATION. fiCEEME LAUNCHED IN AMERICA. Received Dec. 30, 11.35 p.m. ' New York, Dec. 30. It is announced that prominent Irish business men have launched a fund for the relief of starvation in Ireland. The organisation is non-political and contectarian, and the work will be conducted aloqg the lies of the American relief work in Belgium. The co-opera-tion of the American and British Governmental has been sought. Mr. Hoover haa been consulted and his advice promised. Three hundred thousand dollars have already been subscribed.—Aus.252. Cable Assn.

LABOR COMMISSION; REPORT ON REPRISALS. London, Dec. The Labor Commission which investigated reprisals in Ireland report that: "Things are being done in the name of Brittfin which must make her name stink in the nostrils of the whole world. The atmosphere of terrorism which has Seen created, and the provocative behaviour of the Crown'B armed servants, quite apart from specific reprisals, are in themselves sufficient to arouse in our hearts feelings of the deepest horror and shame." The report gives details of many burnings of creameries, farm houses, private houses, shops and public buildings, and declares that the Crown's forces were guilty of arson, looting, theft, and brutality. "Oinly by repudiating the errors of the past can the democracy of the British recover its honor Only by granting Ire* land the freedom which is her .due can we fulfil, oqr responsibilities towards oar sister nation."

The labor Commission's report is voluminous It admits that it is difficult to obtain evidence in regard to reprisals and terrorism. It was misleading to describe the Sinn Fein force as an army. It wgi an army only in name, and it was formidable-because it was intangible. The report dqes not believe that the Government directly and definitely inspired reprisals and violence, but it liberated forces which it could not domi.nate; therefore responsibility rests with the Government.

The National Conference of the Labor v Puty at Westminster discussed the Irish report. Mr. A. G. 'Cameron, and other members of the Commission, reiterated tluir charges and asked delegates when thijr returned to their districts to arouse public opinion against the Government. The conference unanimously passed a resolution deploring the lamentable conditions in Ireland and challenging the Government to disprove the statements' in the GonunSasfam's report by a judicial' inquiry into reprisals.