Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 3 June 1915, Page 39

Irish News

GENEKAL. Mr. John Dunville, Master of the Meath Hounds, has been appointed Temporary Flight. Lieutenant R.N., for Royal Naval Air Service. The death has occurred at Belfast of Very Rev. Dr. Henry Laverty, one of the principal priests in the diocese of Down and Connor, who on the death of the late Bishop Henry acted for a time as Vicar Capitular. The visit of the band of the Irish Guards to Dublin had a splendid effect on recruiting. As a result of the first two days' recruiting, 355 men, a number of them wearing the uniform of the Irish National Volunteers, presented themselves for enlistment at the headquarters. Over forty constables of the Dublin Metropolitan Police had joined the Irish Guards during Easter week. Recently Lady Eva Wyndham Quin, of Castletown, Carrick, appealed through the press for subscriptions from Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Waterford counties to purchase and equip a Red Cross motor ambulance for the use of wounded soldiers. The response has proved so generous (£ISOO being subscribed in quite a short time by the three counties) that three motor ambulances will be sent instead of one, as originally intended. At a meeting of the Macroom Urban Council, Mr. John O'Shea, J.P., presiding, on the proposition of Mr. J. Fitzgerald, a resolution was passed recording deep regret at the death of Captain Robert McGregor Bowen Colthurst, which occurred while nobly serving with the Allied armies in France : and offering the sympathy of the Council to Mrs. T. Bowen Colthurst, Oakgrove; Mrs. Bowen Colthurst, Dripsey Castle, and the other members of the deceased's family. The death has occurred at his estancia in Capitan Sarmiento, Buenos Ayres, Argentine, of Mr. Patrick Dogherty. Deceased was one of the oldest Irishmen in the land of his adoption, having been born in Co. Westmeath 91 years ago. Of that span he spent 07 in the Argentine, where a local journal of repute, referring to.his death, says thai ' his sterling honesty, his manly straightforwardness, and his robust fidelity to his faith and fatherland won him the respect and admiration of his neighbors.' On Easter Monday at the conclusion of the business in the Police Court, Dublin, Mr. Lid well, solicitor, addressing the Stipendiary Magistrate, said that having regard to what is happening elsewhere, it was a matter for congratulation that while some 30,000 of 'our. countrymen assembled in the city yesterday the charges for drunkenness were less than normal—even fewer than last Monday—and it spoke well for the good conduct of the Volunteers and their friends. Mr. Drury, S.M.: I quite agree. I was up and down through the city all day, and did not observe a single instance of disorder. The Volunteers are a splendid body of men, and I was pleased to see the good order in which they conducted themselves. They are a credit to the country. DESTRUCTIVE WATERFORD FIRE. In the early hours of the morning of April 2 a fire broke out in the extensive drapery premises of Messrs. Ilearne and Co., and did damage estimated at ,£50,000. The lady assistants and apprentices, who reside on the premises, fortunately made good their escape. The flames extended to the Granville Hotel adjoining, which is also the property of Messrs. Ilearne and Co., and all its occupants were obliged to take to the street. Despite the fact that eight lines of hose were laid on by the Fire Brigade, the outbreak continued to make headway, but was ultimately prevented from attacking the stores near by, where a considerable amount of oil and other inflammable material was stored. The business carried on by Messrs. Ilearne was one of the largest of its kind in Ireland, and gave employment to about 250 hands.

THE CALL FOR RECRUITS. The Daily Chronicle'& special correspondent§in Dublin says:—All classes and creeds are working to find recruits for King George's Army. My car-driver this morning told with pride how he had four brothers at the front, not one of whom had had a scratch. Then we went on to discuss the chances of the war and the urgent necessity of hanging the pirates out of hand. Ten years ago you would never have succeeded' in getting a Dublin car-driver to get enthusiastic about the success of British arms. I am told that up.to a month ago nothing had been done in Ireland in the way of billposting or advertising, but evidently an expert in the art of advertising has been at work during the last few weeks. Advertisements have been appearing in all the daily and weekly newspapers, and the greatest billposting campaign that Dublin has ever seen has been carried out. The same applies to all parts of Ireland. Who would have thought twelve years ago that the Dublin car-drivers would have displayed recruiting bills on their cars ? The apparent improbability has come to pass. Indeed the appeals are everywhere—on shops, banks, warehouses, quays, on buildings owned by Catholics and Protestants, and by Unionists and Nationalists —with two remarkable exceptions: Liberty Hall, the centre of Mr. James Larkin's activities, looks on in bare and cold indifference. Not a patriotic poster is shown on its walls. The same may be said of Trinity College, Dublin. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE VOLUNTEERS. Mr. Redmond made no speech during the Volunteer demonstration in Dublin on Easter Sunday, but after the march past he consented to be interviewed by a number of Irish, English, and American journalists at the Gresham Hotel. Mr. Redmond, in the course of the interview, said: It was arranged at my wish that the review and march past through the streets of Dublin to-day should be purely a military function, and that there should be no speech-making. To-morrow a convention of delegates from all the National Volunteers in Ireland will be held, at which I will speak at length on the position, but I am anxious, immediately, that attention should be drawn to some features of the extraordinary and unprecedented event of to-day. A moderate computation of the number of Volunteers taking part in the review and march-past is 25,000. It ought to be remembered by everyone that 25,000 of the colleagues and comrades of these men are at present serving with the colors. Official figures supplied to me by the Irish Government verify that fact, and if one were .to take into account what are called the Ulster Volunteers who are serving with the colors, it is true to say that at the very lowest computation 50,000 Irish Volunteers are to-day serving with the colors. This, I think, it must be admitted, is a most honorable record for Ireland. It has been said, ' Why don't all the enrolled members of the National Volunteers go to the front ?' That; of course, is an absurd question, and a most malicious one. Only a certain number of the Ulster Volunteers are gone, or can go, to the front, and the same is true of the National Volunteers. But those who cannot go to the front afford magnificent material for valuable service in this country, if only the Government will have the wisdom to avail themselves of it. It will be remembered that at the very commencement of the war, speaking for the National Volunteers, I offered in the House of Commons* that they would undertake the defence of Ireland. At first my offer seemed to have been accepted by the Government, and it certainly was received with enthusiasm by all parties in the House of Commons, but from that day to this this material has not been utilised for this purpose. I am informed that 20,000 regular troops are engaged in the work of home defence, which most undoubtedly could be quite efficiently carried out by the magnificent body of Volunteers who visited Dublin today, in conjunction with their brothers in the North of Ireland, and it seems inconceivable to me that, after

the spectacle in the streets" of Dublin to-day, and the Phoenix Park, the Government will any . longer refrain from -utilising: in this way for the defence of Ireland these splendid fellows. Short-sighted people think that to utilise the Volunteers in this way might lead to a slackening of the volume of recruiting. I take exactly the opposite view, and my view is shared by all those of my acquaintance who know Ireland best. It is gratifying to know that at this moment, at the very least, a quarter of a million of the sons of Ireland are with the colors. I have no particle of doubt in my mind that, as they suffer, their gaps will be filled by their gallant fellow-countrymen at home, and it is ridiculous to say that the employment of some thousands of Volunteers on home defence will interfere with this taking place. I think that the spectacle of order and discipline in the ranks of the Volunteers to-day, and of the enthusiasm, good order, and sobriety on the part of the enormous crowds that lined the streets and the Park ought to impress everybody with the fact that Ireland is quite alive to the serious character of this war crisis, and to what her duty is under the circumstances.