Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1918
Stinging criticism
A Dublin visitor who, with two companions, came to Galway on Race Week, and remained for some time following, writes to us a strong criticism of the conditions he found existing. “We had moderate means,” he says,” and found that we were mistaken for millionaires.
“It is true that the crowds were abnormal, and that money appeared to be exceptionally flush, but even this did not justify the appalling charge of £1 per might per individual for shared and crowded accommodation in a very third-rate private hotel.
For our amusements we also had to pay ‘through the nose’. A few hours’ dancing with interruptions, that hitherto could be had for a few shillings, ran us into £1 and as much as 30s. All this has led us seriously to revise out views about coming to the capital of the West for outr holidays.
Surely, we could get healthier and certainly more honest value elsewhere, and feel that we had not been fleeced?”
Our correspondent goes on to complain very definitely and specifically against the extortion that prevailed, mentioning that a fixed price of 3s. had been made for seats to the Racecourse, but that in practice, during the periods of greatest demand, it was found impossible to secure a driver who adhered to this figure.
Further, the trams, which, antiquated though they were, were a public convenience, had been permitted to go the way of most things in the old Spanish city that seeks visitors only apparently to fleece them unmercifully. Our correspondent concludes by saying that he is voicing the opinions of many others who came to the west this year, adding: “That my complaint is justified is proved by the fact that a hotel proprietress boasted to me that she has had made as much during Race Week as would keep her in comfort for the winter however severe.”
Complaints like this can do no good, but are calculated to do infinite harm. Those who are interested in the development of the possibilities of Galway should secure that the causes of them are removed.
1943
Floods invade houses
Excessively high, wind-lashed tides and heavy Autumnal rains have given the citizens of Galway a foretaste of the serious damage and inconvenience that they must be prepared to encounter during the Winter if immediate steps are not taken to prevent flooding in various parts of the city.
The utterly inadequate street lighting in some of the flooded areas constitutes a grave additional danger to life and limb.
Recent flooding has been by no means confined to low-lying ground. Shantalla had an extensive visitation on Sunday when the road outside the Spires House Convent was inundated for a length of thirty yards, the water being in some places well over a foot deep.
Residents of Bohermore had a similar experience. For a distance of about fifty yards, the main road was flooded to a depth of two feet in places between Connolly’s Terrace and Lydon’s Terrace.
Bring back liners
Determined moves have been launched on both sides of the Atlantic to secure the return of liner traffic to Galway, suspended because of the war and not so far resumed. It is felt that with proper backing from each of the counties of Connacht, and also from Clare, so closely connected with the province, the plans now underway will be brought to success, with results that should benefit not alone the West, but the whole national economy. The chief figure in the new campaign is Mr. Michael S. Synnott, a native of Abbeyknockmoy, Co. Galway, the head of a travel agency in New York, who after accompanying 300 tourists to Southampton, has just been home on a visit to relatives and friends.
Mr. Synnott is in a position to promise that some large parties will cross the Atlantic next year and thereafter under his charge, and he is naturally hoping that they will be able to come ashore in Galway rather than in Cobh or some English or Continental port.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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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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