NORTHERN IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1922, Page 5

NORTHERN IRELAND.

PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS. TENSION INCREASING. MILITARY OCCUPATION, By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. London, March 24. The tension between the Protestants and Catholics in Ulster is increasing hourly. It is understood that Mr. Collins is coming to London immediately, but there are indications that Sir James Craig may be unwilling to confer with Mr. Collins again, in view of the results of his last interview. Circumstances are drifting towards the military occupation of the affected areas, which will not be confined to border districts. General Macready regards the situation as most serious. Bombing and shooting in the east end of Belfast is continuous. Mr. Mac Griffin, Home Secretary of the Northern Parliament, said he deplored the occurrences on Thursday and Friday. Every step was being taken' to bring the murderers to justice, no matter to what class or creed they belonged. The Omagh Constabulary, searching Lough Msteßory, found in a trench 52 hand-made bombs and a box of stolen police bombs. Terrorism at Trillick, where three Catholics were shot on Friday, is so great that neither Protestants nor Catholics go to bed at night. Families sit beside the fire all night long. If they hear footsteps outside they dash from their homes. All clothing is packed in boxes hidden in fields. Money is secreted in hollow trees, where the police occasionally discover it. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

POLICE BARRACKS ATTACKED. MAIL VAN AGAIN RAIDED. HEAVY BILL FOR DAMAGES. Received March 26, 5.5 p.m. London, March 24. There was much firing in Belfast on Friday night. Five persons were wounded, including a child three years of age. Since Monday Sinn Fein armed men seized twenty Ulster motor cars and lorries, especially those belonging to commercial travellers and carrying samples. An armed gang attacked the Constabulary barracks at Strathbane. Fierce gunfire ensued for twenty minutes, when the Verey lights sent up by the police brought soldiers of the Rifle Brigade to the scene. The attackers then fled. Twelve armed Sinn Feiners stopped a train from Belfast, raided the mail van and stole the registered letters. This is the third robbery on the same train in a fortnight. The bill for paj'ment of Sinn Fein outrages just presented to the British taxpayers amounts to £1,997,500 for compensation paid to victims, apart from £750,000 paid to the Northern Government as compensation for damage to life and property in Ulster, and the £1,000,000 payable to the Northern Government as a contribution to the abnormal expenses in the present exceptional circumstances.

MYSTERIOUS EVENTS. DOCUMENTS SEARCHED AND STOLEN Received' March 26, 5.5 p.m. London, March 25. Scotland Yard is investigating a mysterious event at the Irish Office Intelligence Department, Westminster, when all the documents and files were searched. Important confidential documents were removed recently from another department. The Ulster Government is offering a reward of £lOOO for information leading to the conviction of MacMahon’s murderers. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. MURDER IN BELFAST. ASSAULT BY ASSASSINS. London, March 24. A barman at Macmahon’s saloon in Belfast died of wpunds inflicted by assassins. This makes the deaths at Macmahon’s five, and two other sons are .not expected to survive. The assailants rushed upstairs, pulled the male occupants from their beds, took them downstairs to the sitting-room, lined them against the wall and shot them. Mrs. Macmahon and her daughter were placed in another room while the shooting was in progress.