August 18, 2011

Date Published: {J}

1911

War of words

At Kinvara Petty Sessions on Wednesday, a summons at the suit of Michael Lynch (for whom Mr. Daly, solr., appeared) against a local woman was called.

Mr. Daly explained the case. This woman had been continually abusing the plaintiff, who was a sub-sanitary officer. When inspecting this lady’s premises on August 2, he was subjected to most slanderous language by her.

She lived opposite him, and repeated this language on the 4th, 6th and 12th. The man was continually annoyed by this woman. Now the woman took to the bed the day before the court, but the doctor refused to give her a certificate.

The father of the defendant having given an undertaking that the language would not be repeated, the case was adjourned for a month.

Fares complaints

Numerous complaints are made about the fares charged by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company for tickets on the special trains run to Galway Races on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition to the fares being a bit excessive, the runs were unsatisfactory, long delays being experienced at Athenry. On Wednesday, the outgoing journey occupied nearly two hours. On the return journey the train left Galway at 7.40pm and arrived at 9.45pm.

1936

Train delay

The morning train from Athenry to Limerick on Saturday was nearly an hour late leaving Athenry on Saturday morning last, and many people attending the market in Gort, Ennis and Limerick were inconvenienced.

Those who left the train at Gort met passengers who were waiting at the station there for the up train from Limerick, which was, as a consequence of the lateness of the down train, also late. Many of the passengers from Athenry and Ballinasloe, who were kept waiting for nearly an hour at some of the stations, expressed much criticism quite publicly at this unexpected inconvenience on the Holy Day.

The reason for the lateness of the train was due to the fact that the morning train from Dublin was an hour late at Ballinasloe and Athenry, where the people waited patiently for an hour also. A passenger from Ballinasloe to Gort, who was also an hour late arriving there, was bitter in his criticisms to the writer (who was also an hour late).

Many of the remarks expressed by this passenger cannot be written here, but one outstanding remark, which, no doubt, many will agree with, was that if the morning train was an hour late in any other country in the world but this, there would be a public inquiry into the case.

The passenger in question, who had a few hours business to transact in Gort before he returned on the evening train, was, he said, unable to complete that work, and would be compelled to return another day to complete it, or otherwise spend the weekend there.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.