Galway in Days Gone By
Galway in days gone by
1917
Motor duties not paid
At a meeting of Galway County Council, the Acting Secretary said that he had received a sheaf of letters from Mr. Kilkelly, the Council’s solicitor, from parties explaining why they considered that they should not be compelled to pay motor duties. Some of the letters stated that the owners of motor bicycles and cars had not been able to obtain petrol. Others stated that as they had not used the cars for a certain time, they should not be charged the full yearly tax.
Mr. Morris said it was hard on the man who could not use his car to have to pay.
The Chairman concurred.
Mr. P.S. McDonnell said he thought that the council would be going too far in prosecuting right, left and centre. However, as long as there was a resolution on the books, Mr. Fogarty was bound to act on it. They should be unanimous in rescinding the resolution.
Mr. McKeigue said a great many people had paid duty already, and it would not be fair to them to let the others off. Eventually, on the proposition of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. P.S. McDonnell, an order was made that no prosecutions be taken pending further instructions from the Council.
New corn mill
Mr. Winkle, of Kinvara, a gentleman who has shown a considerable amount of enterprise, and who keeps a Ford car always ready for hire, intends to open a corn mill for the district at an early date. Our readers will welcome and support all efforts at industrial revival in our local towns. We hope to afford further particulars of Mr. Winkle’s enterprise later.
1942
Corporation election
The total electorate for the Galway Corporation was 12,418 and the total poll was 6,046. Spoiled votes numbered 160 and the quota was 466. Four candidates were elected on the first county – Miss Margaret A. Ashe (Independent) (778); Mr. James Brennan (Ratepayers’ Association) (612); the Mayor, Ald. J.F. Costello (Independent) (602), and Mr. J.M. Owens (Independent) (471).
Unable to call motor vehicles into commission for the elections, many of the candidates engaged side-cars and other horse-drawn carts for the day to bring voters to the booths. Ald. MI. O’Flaherty, owner of a fleet of hackney motors, was among those who had to rely on the horse-drawn vehicle.
As the cars, all bearing the names of the candidates by whom they had been engaged, arrived outside the polling stations, other candidates and their supporters rushed to assist the voters to alight and to remind them that candidates other than those on whose cars they had come were also seeking election.
Returning thanks to those who had voted for him, Mr. Brennan referred to “one regrettable incident” which had taken place and was directed at him personally.
On the eve of the election, he said, two cards had gone through the post. On the front of one of these were the words, “Keep out Peelers, Tans and Jailers”, and on the back the words, “Help us to help you. Vote No. 1 the old Corporation.” He had spent twenty-six years in the prison service and never had come across anyone of a mind so depraved or debased as the author or the authors of that document.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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