Galway In Days Gone By

1914

Mines in Galway Bay?

Considerable interest and some mild excitement were caused in Galway on Tusday afternoon, when the rumour spread abroad that mines had been laid at the entrance to Galway Bay, in the vicinity of Aran Islands.

Sensible people at once discredited the story as one of the many wild and foundationless fictions floating about the country districts in these days, when the mind of the masses appears to be able to accept almost any intelligence relating to the way

In the first place, the mining of Galway Bay, from the British point of view, could only have practical value in the remote contingency of a German invasion of the west coast. From the German point of view, the only value of mines in the Bay would be that they stood a chance, so small as to be almost negligible, of striking one of the cruisers of the Atlantic Squadron that is known to patrol the western coasts.

But although the legend was discounted; it gathered credence as it travelled, and by night, with some it became a fixed belief.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning, however, it was found that, like most legends, there was just a grain of truth in it. On Wednesday morning, it appears, His Majesty’s coastguards on what is known as the war signal tower of Aran, reported that a vessel suspected of mine-laying on the Irish coast had passed the islands and steamed into the Bay.

Since the war began, all the coastguards on the islands have been concentrated at the signal stations, which occupy points of vantage on the islands, and from here a continuous vigil is sustained.

The authorities in Galway immediately became active, and when the SS. Karlsberg from Sweden, bringing a cargo of seventeen hundred tons of timber for Messrs. Thos McDonogh and Sons, anchored off the roads, she was boarded by the officials and a number of police.

A thorough examination of the vessel was made, but nothing was found that lent the smallest colour to the legend, or to the suspicions of the coastguards.

1939

New county hospital

That the building of the proposed new county hospital in Galway now would give employment never so badly needed before was the view expressed by the secretary, Mr. Sean Gallagher, at the meeting of Galway Hospitals and Dispensaries’ Committee.

The matter arose when the secretary, submitting land bonds in connection with a site for the new hospital, said that they appeared to be making no progress regarding the building of the new hospital. Seven sets of plans had been prepared, none of which were sanctioned. The matter had been going on for the past seven years.

Mr. Mannion said that it was high time the matter was brought to a head.

Secretary: I suggest that all the T.D.s in the county be asked to approach the Minister and point out to him what happened when survivors of the torpedoed liner Athenia were landed in Galway. Fifty-seven patients had to be discharged in order to make room for them.

Chairman: All that should be placed before the Minister.

Secretary: The architect for our hospital came to me the other day and said that never before had he been so disgusted at any job.

Mr. Murphy: The new hospital could hardly be built in war times.

Secretary: If the work begun now it would give employment which was never before more badly needed.

Council specs

More than half the office staff of the Galway County Council working in the County Buildings at Prospect Hill, Galway, have had to get spectacles. Blame for this is laid by the E.S.B. on the admixture of daylight and electric light in the winter evenings; the windows are not covered by blinds. A lot of clerks had complained about the lighting and the E.S.B. had submitted a report on the matter.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.