UNHAPPY IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1922, Page 5

UNHAPPY IRELAND.

MORE GRAVE CRIMES. TENSION IN ULSTER. SATISFACTION PROMISED. IV- Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright Received Feb. 12, 5.5 p.m. London, Feb. 10. Four armed robbers shot dead Lieut. Megan Brown, of a well-known military family, while he was motoring back from a bank at Kildare with £5OO in his possession. The assassins shot the lieutenant near his barracks, and he fell on the footpath. The assassins then entered the car and coerced the driver, at the point of a revolver, to drive away. Later they left the car. The Republican police are assisting the Irish Constabulary to scour Kildare in search of the murderers. Five Sinn Ferners murdered Thomas Sadler, a loyalist, at Butler’s Bridge, Cavan, in the presence of his wife and sons. Sadler lifted a tool to defend himself, and was riddled with bullets. The raiders then ransacked the house. A party of Ulster special police was ambushed by thirty armed men at Claudy, on the Tyrone frontier, and one constable was killed. Mr. M. Collins telegraphed to Mr. Lloyd George protesting against “Ulster constables mobilising for action against our people in the north-east area under the cover of British troops.” Mr. Lloyd George replied: “You must bear in mind the serious raids from Southern Ireland on Northern Ireland. The Northern Government is not merely entitled to but is duty bound to take every step to prevent a repetition of such outrages. So long as it is purely defensive and protective action you must see lb'” recent events justify such action.” Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Churchill saw Mr. Arthur Griffith in the afternoon and impressed upon him the gravity of the situation. Mr. Griffith replied that the kidnapped persons were safe and he was sure the Provisional Government would be able to get them gradually released. He is going to Dublin to-night in order to do everything to hasten their release. The authorities in Derry emphatically deny that a scaffold was erected and a hangman brought to the prison for the execution of Sinn Fein prisoners; no such arrangements were made. Sir James Craig has sent the following message to Ulster: “I was in close touch with the British Government throughout yesterday and to-day, and I was assured that vigorous action is being taken. The British Government is hopeful of securing the early release of the kidnapped persons, and in the meantime I have received a guarantee of their safety. If the Government’s action fails I will carry out my own plans, but in the meantime I ask for a continuation of the splendid restraint our people have shown under unparalleled provocation, which has created a feeling of ardent admiration in Britain." The Irish Provisional Government has decreed a general amnesty to all members of the navy, army and police who committed acts of hostility against the Irish

people. Seven hundred ra’lway strikers have seised four terminal stations in Cork, with the intention of working the railways.

ATTACK ON POLICE.

MACHINE GUNS EMPLOYED. Received Feb. 12, 11J5 p.m. London, Feb. 11. While a party of special constables was waiting on the platform at the Cioynes station for the arrival of a Belfast train, intending to proceed to Inniskillen, a party of LR.A. armed with rifles and machine guns entered the platform and opened fire, killing four constables and wounding and taking prisoner others. The outrage created intense excitement in Belfast.—Aus.-NJZ. Cable Assn.