December 9, 2010

Date Published: {J}

1910

General Election

The electoral ‘fight’ – if one can dignify it by naming it a ‘fight’ – was opened in Galway on Saturday when the following candidates were nominated at the City Courthouse: Stephen Lucius Gwynn, M.A., Temple Gardens, London and James Leslie Wanklyn of the Marlborough Club, London. Mr Gwynn was described as an author, and Mr Wanklyn as a gentleman.

The precincts to the Courthouse was guarded by about a score police under District Inspector Mercer, of Galway and District Inspector Woods, of Oughterard, about fifty special police having been drafted in for the occasion.

For a considerable period after Mr Gwynn’s nomination papers had been handed in and accepted, there was no appearance of Mr Wanklyn, or on his behalf. About a quarter past 12, Capt. Law, R.N., rambled leisurely into the room, and left almost immediately after.

Those present were beginning to hope that we should be spared the needless turmoil and worry and trouble of an election, and that the City would not suffer the general paralysis of trade and business that a contest inevitably brings.

A little later, a gentleman arrived who stated that he had just refused to sign a nomination paper for Mr Wanklyn, who, up to that time, could not get a proposer and seconder. It was evident that the members of the puny mischief-making gang, who had egged this gentleman on to contest Galway with the sole object of putting the Irish Party to needless trouble and expense, had found it expedient to desert him at the last moment, and that he and the few supporters who remained were in sad straits.

Lawlessness

Mr. Justice Wright, presiding at the Connaught Assizes in Limerick on Tuesday, had before him a case in which Francis Lally and John Hanniffy were charged with conspiracy against Mrs Katie Higgins for affording accommodation in her house to a Mrs Margaret Mulvey, at Tallyho, near Athenry. Mulvey is a constabulary barrack servant.

During the hearing, his lordship said he was quite justified in his statement at the opening of the Assizes that there was a state of lawlessness in some parts of Galway. The jury could not agree, and were discharged.

1935

Postal boom

For the last few years, Galway has grown, and this growth is shown in the great increase in work at the General Post Office, Galway. Owing to the extension in all directions of the city boundaries, the post office has been finding it increasingly difficult to effect efficient deliveries of letters and parcels in some of the new suburban districts.

In consequence of this, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs have found it necessary to completely reorganise the local deliveries and to extend these to outlying parts which up to the present were regarded as rural areas and as such were afforded but one delivery a day.

As a result of the reshuffle, the town deliveries both morning and midday have been extended to embrace the limits in every direction of the present city boundaries and at the same time, much improved services have been afforded to many of the new districts.

New hospital

Without any formality, the new Cottage Hospital in Clifden was thrown open on Sunday by Mr. John Gallagher, secretary to the Galway Board of Health, whose energetic efforts, coupled with those of Mr. Eamon Corbett, T.D., Galway County Council, have been largely instrumental in having it put into commission.

The new hospital, completed three years ago at a cost of more than £16,000 from the Sweep Fund, was built to the designs of Mr Frank Gibney. It replaces the old Clifden District Hospital closed exactly fourteen years ago under the amalgamation scheme.

The hospital, which is primarily intended for the use of the sick poor, fills a long-felt need. Formerly, patients in need of treatment had to undergo the hardship of an arduous journey to Galway. As a result of the establishment of the new hospital, patients, on receipt of tickets of admission from the medical officers of their districts, will in future have facilities for getting the most modern treatments near their homes.

The Clifden Cottage Hospital will stand comparison with the best in the land. Two main wards, conforming to the most modern requirements as regards lighting and ventilation, provide accommodation for twenty patients – ten men and ten women. These wards form the east and west wings of the hospital.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.