Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1919
Men wanted
We learn that the Galway painters find it practically impossible at the moment to get men, and that one or two of our leading local firms of painters and decorators have had to abandon important contracts owing to this fact.
Yet we are told that there are still thousands of men who have been unable to get work since the conclusion of this war.
In England the figure runs to over a million. The resources of the local Labour Exchange have been used unsuccessfully in order to obtain painters. Surely this does not square with the facts given as to unemployment.
It cannot be that the unemployment benefit is affecting this trade where skilled craftsmen can now earn, at least in the better part of the year, a sum of £3 per week.
Strike in Gort
A large number of the I.T. and G.W.U. are out on strike. Their secretary sent notice to everybody who had a member of the union employed to pay him union wages.
In some cases, it was paid but the majority of the employers ignored it altogether. Therefore, the strike was decided upon.
The members who got their demand are working, but it is understood that a sympathetic strike will start on Monday if all the members do not get their demand.
Railway proposal
The Chief Secretary has written to the District Council intimating that the proposal to construct a railway line from Loughrea to Portumna to connect with the proposed line to Birr would receive his careful attention.
The Portumna Improvement Committee have written to the Council suggesting that a deputation from that body should meet the Chief Secretary in Portumna on the occasion of his proposed visit.
Agricultural loans
The total number of applications for loans for the purpose of agricultural implements was 3,272 of which 182 were withdrawn or refused and 78 were under consideration on the 30th September.
The number of loans approved was, therefore, 3,014 of a total of £87,412.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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