Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1916
Post Office closure
A strong protest should be made without delay against the clumsy attempt on the part of the Government to bring home the war to the people of the West by closing the Galway Post Office from 12 o’clock to 2p.m., and thus paralysing business at the very busiest period of the day, and the period during which people from the outlying districts would need most to use this public department.
The Government appears to have lost all sense of proportion where Ireland is concerned. Surely, if the hours must be further curtailed, the busiest time of the day was not the time to select either from the viewpoint of public convenience or from that of saving public money.
No attempt was made to consult the public in regard to this restriction, which was carried out in the most arbitrary manner possible.
A sensational report concerning the Post Office got about recently, to the effect that Mr. T. Deakin, Manager of the Galway Marble Works before its decline, had been employed as local Censor. The fiction was founded on the simple fact that Mr. Deakin was employed for eight months as temporary sorter at Galway office, and subsequently got appointed as draughtsman at Renmore. There is no Censor at Galway office.
1941
Maternity hospital
After nine year’s delay which could easily have been avoided, there is a prospect of work commencing in the near future on the erection of a new Central hospital in Galway.
At Saturday’s meeting of the Hospitals and Dispensaries Committee, approval was given to the suggestion of the Local Government Department that the architect be instructed to complete the contract drawings for the maternity block, so as to enable a contract to be taken without delay for this portion of the work.
Pure water supply
After hearing further analyst’s reports on the condition of the Galway water, the Corporation decided to ask professor Rishworth to attend the next meeting with a view to discussing his plans for a pure water supply.
Next week’s meeting also will consider the proposal to go ahead with the chlorination scheme. It is estimated that it would cost about £550 to install the chlorination plant.
Professor Rishworth’s plan when submitted a few years ago was estimated to cost between £17,000 and £20,000, and the Mayor pointed out that the cost would be at least twenty-five per cent higher today.
But, as Mr Healy put it, “The health of the people is more important than money,” and the Temporary Borough Surveyor impressed upon the meeting that “something should be done straight away” as the matter was urgent.
Turf production
It is gratifying to learn from different parts of the Western Province that Connacht is replying gallantly to the Taoiseach’s call for greatly increased turf production. We are not doing too badly in the matter of increased tillage either, although there are a few black spots here and there on the map where the Government has been compelled to take drastic action.
Disturbing reports of isolated attempts to take an unfair advantage of the situation come from one or two areas, but we are glad to note that the majority of turf producers have made no attempt to profiteer. Immediate action must be taken by the authorities to check any tendency in this direction throughout the country.
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
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.
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