Galway In Days Gone By

1918

Disaster fund

Up to a few days ago, the Carna Disaster Fund had reached the total of £700. This includes a sum of £100 contributed by the Local Government Board following the visit of Mr. Shortt, the Chief Secretary, and a very generous donation of £100 voted by the Irish Derby Sweep Committee.

Rev. M. McHugh, P.P., Carna, writes to us as follows: “Our pro-German friends are industriously circulating the story that the men are safe and sound in Germany. Unfortunately for their story, they entered into particulars, and stated that Michael Hurney, Claddagh Parade, Galway, had a letter from his brother, who was also a prisoner of war, saying that he had seen the crew of the ‘Pretty Polly’ and that they were well.

We had their story sifted to its foundation, and we have ascertained that Michael Hurney has no relative in Germany as a prisoner of war or otherwise; that he has had no letter from any source in reference to the poor men who were lost, and knows nothing whatever about them. As the story may have travelled to Galway, I thought it would be well to let you know the result of our investigation.”

1943

Sweeps for housing

Galway Corporation, at a special meeting on Wednesday, instructed Messrs. J. Redington, P.C., and W. Carrick, delegates to the Municipal Authorities’ Association, to move at next Wednesday’s meeting of the Association: That the cost of the provision of houses for the working classes should be borne by the Central Funds, or a series of Sweepstakes under the auspices of the Hospitals Trust should be organised to provide funds for the erection of such houses.

Ald. J. Brennan said that people could not rear healthy families in houses such as some of those they had in Galway. The Sanatorium was full up, and the Central Hospital was full up.

Water menace

Mr. C.I. O’Flynn, County Manager, promised at Thursday’s meeting of the Galway Corporation to consider a suggestion by Mr. J. Redington, that the tailrace at the waterworks at Terryland should be cleaned. Mr. Redington said that lands adjoining were flooded and there was a danger that the floods would extend to the pumping station and damage the machinery unless something was done. It would seem that the swallow holes were stopped. The Manager said that he had no control over the bodies that dealt with the Corrib.

Letter to the Editor

“Visitor” writes: Visitors to the Galway Races last year were horrified by the inhumane treatment of horses by the incompetent and reckless drivers who ply for hire to and from the racecourse. These drivers seemed to have little or no regard for pedestrians or for the unfortunate animals they drove, and with the exception of the two or three horses which, it is alleged, died in harness from sheer exhaustion, it is miraculous that nothing more serious occurred.

It is hoped that this year the guards, assisted by the citizens of Galway, will make these gentlemen realise that there is a law against cruelty to animals and that the absence of motor traffic does not give them a licence to increase their speed to recklessness. After all, the Galway Races is one of the finest events of the season and it is up to the people of Galway to keep it a sporting event.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune