FIRST SUCCESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1922, Page 5

FIRST SUCCESS.

ALL COURTS OCCUPIED. VERY HEAVY FIGHTING. WHOLE COUNTRY RESTIVE. Received June 30, 11.40 pan. London, June 30 (10 a.m.). The Free State troops completely occupy the Four Courts at Dublin, and are now attacking the other rebel strongholds. Telegraphing on Thursday evening, the Daily Chronicles Dublin correspondent stated: “The situation is growing worse. Large bodies of Republican youths have been mobilised and have seized points of vantage from which to carry on indiscriminate sniping. The Free State troops are making little impression. One feds they are losing prestige and, report says, their ardour also. “News from the country at large indicates restiveness. Women are singularly absent from the streets, though young hussies or dare-devils or cumannamban are prominent, many acting as despatch riders for the Republicans, their sex giving them immunity. “The walls of the Four Courts are of great thickness, having been laid down in the eighteenth century, when massive masonry was common. On the south side the River Liffey acts as a moat, while typical Dublin slums on all the other sides assist the defenders. Militarily speaking, high-explosive shells should be employed, but the Free Staters have no howitzers, and are not trained in the use of them. REIGN OF TERROR. ‘The worst trouble of the Free Staters is that they are being sniped from the rear, and irregulars are creating a reign of terror in other parts of Dublin. It is not too much to say that Dublin bristles with rebel forts, while barricades are set up in many places by both Free State and Republican troops. At midnight on Thursday, machine-gun and rifle fire was gravely intensified, the heavy detonations of the mortars interspersing the rattle of small arms. The bombardment by the artillery, has also increased, giving evidence that the Free Staters have secured heavier cannon. The defenders replied more vigorously as the attack became intensified. They apparently have an abundance of rifle and machine-gun ammunition. “Dublin people, who at first were inclined to regard the operations as a side,'how. now realise the grave character of the trouble, and many hundreds are fleeing to England. A woman told a pressman tonight : ‘The people are afraid to go to church, and are praying in their homes for hours for the success of the Free State troops. Many of us Irish are ambitious the price may be too heavy.’ ‘■That is what de Valera’s and Rory for a republic and absolutely freedom, but O’Connor’s price is. The people say the 1 Dublin fighting is mere camouflage to satis- • fy English clamor. Only those who do , not know the bitter factional hatreds in ! Dublin would repeat such an absurdity on this point.”

FIGHT FOR PEACE. Mr. Churchill, in the House of Commons, angrily deprecated the suggestion that a sham fight was going on in Dublin. He pointed out that people do not get killed m a sham fight. The Irish Provisional Government troops were loyally' carrying out the Treaty and that suffering. It was true there was little organisation on either side, but this was not the time to mock at those who were striking a blow for freedom and order. An Irish priest just from Dublin says: “I protest vehemently against the depths to which the irregular Republican troops have fallen. They are placing land mines in the streets, which are a terrible danger to the civilian population. These mines are laid under cover of darkness. If a pedestrian steps on one it explodes, or a man tripping over a string fires the mine. It is the duty of the whole church to protest against such inhumanities.” Other telegrams from Dublin state the continued bombardment has considerably breached the western side of the Four Courts, but the mass of the building is not seriously shaken, and the defenders are safe in the granite basement from everything except heavy’ shellfire. It is understood the defenders have dug tunnels from the cellars, whereby they hope to escape if forced to evacuate. The besiegers do not intend to storm the Four Courts, but to starve out the defenders.

CABLES AND WIRES CUT. REBEL REINFORCEMENTS. • COMING FROM THE COUNTRY. Received June 30, 10.45 pun. London, June 30. This afternoon, no letters or telegrams can be delivered in Southern Ireland. The submarine cable has also been cut near Dublin, and the only telegraphic and telephonic communication between Ireland and Britain is through Belfast. The newspaper correspondents are compelled to employ aeroplanes to aid the broken news services. The Daily Chronicle’s correspondent states rebels are entering Dublin from the provinces and are receiving equipment from some hidden arsenal. It is strange, when entering the city by road, to see people pursuing their ordinary avocations, mothers perambulating their babes, and bakers de- , iivering their bread, while again there is the j earing echo of shells and the crack of i rifles. The Free State commandant agreed ; with Rory O’Connor for an armistice to enable the removal of the dead and wounded, at the conclusion of which a bugle signalled the resumption of hostilities. ! The following proclamation, addressed to I “Fellow-citizens of the Irish Republic,” has j appeared: “The fateful hour has come at ? the dictation of our hereditary enemy, and j our rightful cause has been treacherously assailed by recreant Irishmen. The gallant I soldiers of the Irish Republic stand rigor- • ously firm in its defence and worthily up- ■ hold their noblest traditions. The sacred spirits of the illustrious dead are with us in ; this great struggle, death before dishonor j being the unchanging principle of our naI tional faith as of theirs, and it still in- ’ spires us to emulate their glorious efforts; j therefore we appeal to all citizens who I have withstood unflinchingly the oppresI sion of the enemy during the past six years I to rally to the support of the Republic. 1 We especially appeal to our former comrades to return to that allegiance and thus I guard the nation’s honor from the infamj ous stigma that her sons aided in retaining I the hateful domination over her.” The I appeal is signed: “Army Executive, 1.R.A.” Father Dominic, who was with the besieged Republicans, was McSwiney’s chapplain durins the hunger strike in Brixton Prisoo.