Galway In Days Gone By

1913

Shop boy fined

At the Galway Petty Sessions Court, Sergt. Reilly summoned George Trayers for cycling on the footpath at Lower Salthill.

The Sergeant stated that although the road was hard and dry, defendant was on the footpath opposite the Industrial School. He was a shop boy at Mr. Naughton’s, and said his brake was out of order.

Chairman: This is really too bad. The road in this spot is quite good enough, and there is no excuse. Defendant will be fined 5s. and costs.

Care orders

Sergt. McMullen applied for an order to admit a child aged three to an industrial school. He found the little girl wandering about unattended, and the mother, who was a widow and had five children, was quite unable to take care of them. Several of the children were in industrial schools.

His mother said she wished the child sent away.

Chairman: You are having nearly all your children supported at the public expense. Is there a vacancy, Sergeant?

Sergt. McMullen said there was, and the order required was made.

Sergt. Cunningham applied to have two little children, a boy and a girl, sent to a school at Letterfrack. The boy led a wandering life, and had slept in barns and pigsties. They were greatly neglected, and the father was reported to be addicted to drink. He had a small pension, and should contribute sixpence a week towards the support of each child.

1938

Election results

There were few surprises in the two constituencies of East and West Galway, and the result leaves the position as it was. The East Galway constituency will, as before, be represented by three Fianna Fáil deputies, including Mr. Frank Fahy, who was automatically re-elected without a contest by virtue of his office as Ceann Comhairle. Mr Mark Killilea and Patrick Beegan were also elected. Mr Sean Brodrick was returned on the Fine Gael ticket.

West Galway will be represented by the same three men – two Fianna Fáil deputies and one Fine Gael – Gerald Bartley, Dr Sean Tubridy and Mr Josie Mongan.

Bishop marriages plea

The Most Rev. Dr. Browne, Bishop of Galway, at a conference in the Mansion House, Dublin, made a strong plea for marriages and condemned the attitude that said marriage was a very dangerous kind of undertaking, only to be faced if one had an ample income.

At present, in many so-called Catholic schools, education was concentrated on getting a girl a job, while it ignored the really serious and honourable work for her life, which was motherhood.

They should not ignore the principal and most important duties which ninety-five percent of their children would have to shoulder and leave them unprepared, the Bishop declared.

He condemned “propaganda about the difficulties of farmers”, which was one of the things which he blamed for Ireland’s low marriage rate, and emigration, because, he said, it seemed to have given young Irish people a fixed conviction that there was something dishonourable about the land.

They were rushing away to the slums of England, thinking of nothing but the high wages of the moment.

In most rural districts of Ireland, the number of schoolchildren was diminishing steadily, he said, and the number of marriages had fallen in some rural parishes to only two or three in the year.

In many parishes, one-fifth of the farms were occupied by bachelors or old maids. The first essential condition for the preservation of good homes was the acceptance of the institution of Christian marriage.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.