Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1916
Pint-sized drinker
Edward Cosgrave, licensed publican, Lower Dominick-street, was summoned for supplying drink to a child under 14 years of age, Mary Madden, mother of the child (Kathleen Madden) was also charged.
Very Rev. Father Davis, P.P., who described the case as a very sad one, stated that on April 1, at 5p.m., he saw a little girl at the Claddagh carrying an open jug. He saw her drinking some of its contents.
He got off his bicycle to inquire if she attended school that week. He thought she might be only drinking milk, but he saw the signs of porter on her mouth.
The case was such a bad one, that he immediately took the jug and brought it to Sergeant Golding and asked him to make inquiries into the matter, and ascertain the name of the publican who sold the porter to the unfortunate child.
The publican was fined £1 1s and Mrs. Madden 1s.
Rising appreciation
At Loughrea Petty Sessions, a small number of unimportant police cases having been disposed of, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:
“That we, the Justices of the Peace, hereby place on record our high appreciation of the good services rendered by all ranks of the R.I.C. in this district during the Sinn Féin Rising.
“The we sign to submit to the notice of the Inspector-General the excellent manner in which the District Inspector of Loughrea acted throughout these disturbed times, always displaying energy, tact and resource.”
1941
Major city fire
A fire which destroyed the premises of Messrs. Thos. McDonogh and Sons Ltd., Merchants’-road, Galway, during the small hours of Whit Monday morning caused damage to buildings and stock estimated at £50,000 and consequential damage which, it is believed, will total another £50,000.
The premises which vanished in the great blaze that raged for four hours, and necessitated the temporary evacuation from their homes of some twenty families residing in the vicinity, included: sawmills, hardware dept., linoleum stores, main office, glass stores and polishing shop.
Members of the L.D.F. and the L.S.F., a contingent of Gardaí, and hundreds of civilians laboured strenuously to assist the fire brigade in the effort to prevent the flames from spreading.
Shortly after two o’clock, three hundred men of the National Army arrived with their fire-fighting apparatus and rendered yeoman service.
At one time, the authorities contemplated blowing up a number of dwellings in order to prevent the spread of the flames, but this drastic measure proved unnecessary, and the blaze was got under complete control after four hours’ strenuous work. At the height of the outbreak, it was visible thirty miles away.
Nearly one hundred employees were affected by the destruction of the premises, but work has been found for all, and it is hoped to keep them employed during reconstruction.
Potatoes failed
There are disquieting reports about the potato crop from some districts. A Leenane farmer said that something in the nature of dry-rot occurred in his sets and he was compelled to ‘stick’ his plot with new seed. In most cases, the failures occurred where farmers had used old seed while awaiting seed from the Department which arrived late or not at all.
Reclamation scheme
One hundred and thirty members of the Construction Corps arrived at Shanafeistin in the Cloosh Valley last week, where they have embarked on a land reclamation scheme. They are billeted in a small ‘town’ of wooden huts formerly used by other members of the Defence Forces. On Tuesday, lorry loads of turf barrows passed into the valley. The men will commence by cutting turf and then reclaim the cut-away bogs.
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.
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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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