Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1916
Lest we forget
In Ireland this Christmas time there will be mourning in many homes for the brave lads who have given up their lives in the prosecution of the most dreadful war in history. But in other homes, too, there will be vacant chairs, and it is a melancholy and not a very heartening reflection to think that during this time of peace and goodwill these chairs have been rendered vacant because of the attitude of the Empire that claims to be called the protector and champion of small nationalities.
In the House of Commons on Wednesday night, the Irish Leader said “it was an extraordinary thing to think that at this moment there were being held in English prisons between 500 and 600 untried Irish prisoners”.
Some of these men have been close associates and companions of ours in the past. When the old spirit of Ascendancy had to be overcome, and when loyalty of Nationalist to Nationalist was a thing to take pride in, these men have fought by our side.
Of the policy which some of them advocated, this is not the place to speak. It may be that they were not wise in their day and generation; but, at the same time, when the mere party catch cries are put aside, and under the unifying influence of the season of peace and good will, we look upon them only as Irishmen and friends and co-workers of ours for the ideal of a united and independent nation.
Therefore, let us not forget to comfort and cheer the homes in which their absence has left a blank, which alone may be filled when sanity returns to the counsels of the British Empire.
There are others, alas, who can never return. Their bodies lie in unnamed graves, but memory remains as a melancholy legacy of England’s method of governing Ireland – even after years of experience.
The plea of Irishmen at the bar of British justice has failed; and, as in the darkest periods of her history, her sons and daughters will find consolation in appealing before a Throne that shall never pass away, though all the Empires of the world may fade and fail. – Editor.
1941
Expenses questioned
Three members of the Galway County Council who travelled to meetings by motor and billed the Council for car hire – in one case at the rate of £2 10s. per run from Clifden – are to be asked why they chose that method of travelling when they could have travelled much cheaper by ‘bus.
Mr. C.I. O’Flynn, County Secretary, pointed out that if members were to travel by motor to meetings the Council would have to face an enormous bill every year.
The claims for expenses were the first received under recent legislation which gave power to the Council to refund councillors the actual expenses reasonably incurred by them.
Brisk shopping trade
“It is amazing, but Galway’s pre-Christmas shopping crowd is bigger than ever; so is the flow of money for Christmas gifts,” a Tribune reporter was informed at each of the department stores at which he enquired this morning.
At the General Post Office, too, “busier than ever” was the state in which the hard-working staff found themselves. Although no American letters have as yet arrived, no less than one thousand money orders – averaging £6 – were received this morning, while for the five days preceding December 21st, 66,000 items of mail were dispatched.
Worse than slums
Dr. B. O’Beirne, County Medical Officer of Health, decided to serve notice on the Superintendent of the Athenry Agricultural College requesting him to have proper sanitary accommodation provided for four houses occupied by employees of the college, following a recent outbreak of fever.
Dr. O’Beirne said that it had been established that the outbreak was due to improper sanitary accommodation was most objectionable; the like of it would not be seen in the slums of Galway.
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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