Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1917
Letter to the Editor
Sir, Allow me to draw the attention of Mr. Kennedy, Co. Surveyor to the scandalous condition of the road which leads from Clonboo cross towards Drumgriffin Cross, in the Annaghdown district, for the maintenance and repair of which he has been directly responsible since his appointment to the West Riding.
If this intolerable danger to public safety, not to say gross neglect of public convenience or comfort, be not remedied, I shall have something to say in the near future that may help public officials to realise their duties to the ratepayer.
Pro Bono Publico.
Pig market
Messrs. James O’Mara and Sons, Ltd., Limerick, wrote thanking Galway Urban Council for the facilities offered for the purchase of pigs in the district, and regretting that they could not at present avail of them.
“Some day,” the latter added “we hope to be able to attend Galway weekly”.
The Acting Secretary explained that they had written to a number of bacon-curers asking them to open a weekly market in the City for the purchase of pigs by weight.
Dash of slops
Mr. Young complained at Galway Urban Council of the habit people had of throwing water out on the street, so that as people passed, they were liable to get it (laughter).
Mr. Curran: I saw a person getting a dash of slops in that way (renewed laughter).
The insanitary habit of throwing waste on the street was generally condemned, and the Chairman instructed Mr. Molloy, Town Steward, to look after the matter.
1942
Soldier sold his boots
The sale of military boots by soldiers engaged in conveying turf by motor lorries from Trehill bog had a sequel before District Justice Mangan at Ballygar Court, when James Gately, Currahulia and Patrick Killilea, Bohill, were charged with unlawfully receiving one pair of boots each, said boots being the property of the Minister for Defence.
Supt. O’Halloran (Ballinasloe) said that the Private about to give evidence had already been charged in connection with the transaction.
Private McIntyre said that towards the end of November he was engaged drawing turf from Trehill bog. Gately came to him and asked him if he had any boots for sale. He told him he had a surplus pair and would take them along next day. He sold them to Gately for 12s. They usual price of them was 18s.
Lieutenant Brady, Athlone, said that the boots produced were the property of the Minister for Defence and although issued to soldiers as their kit, they had no authority to sell them.
Patrick Killilea (defendant) said he bought the boots openly from a soldier who told them they were his own property.
The Justice said that in this case he was satisfied there was no guilty knowledge and he would dismiss the charges on the merits. In the case against Gately, he would apply the Probation Act on payment of 5s. expenses and allow him fourteen days to pay this amount.
Roads funding
Galway County Council, at their annual road works meeting, decided to levy £127,625 on the county for expenditure on roads in the coming year – an increase of nearly £2,000 on the amount levied for roads in the current year.
The importance of the by-roads was stressed by Mr. P. Beegan, T.D., who said that the farmers in the out of the way places were good workers and good ratepayers and it was vital in these days when food production was so essential to the nation that the roads over which they had to travel to the markets should be made good.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
