Archive News
March 14, 2013
Date Published: 13-Mar-2013
1913
Police in pub
At Milltown Petty Sessions, prosecutions were heard at the suit of District Inspector Comerford, Tuam, against Sergeant Maurice Reidy and Constable James Sullivan, of Castlegrove Station, for being on the licensed premises of Mrs Mary Blake, publican, Kilconly, Tuam.
D.I. Comerford stated that he was on duty on the night of February 12 in the company of Constable McLoughlin, Tuam. He called at the public-house. The premises were on the side of the road, and when he got there he saw a light through one of the windows on the left-hand side of the door.
He arrived there at 10.40 and immediately he heard the voice of Sergt. Reidy inside. His object was to visit Sergt. Reidy and Constable Sullivan, who were on patrol.
Constable Sullivan said he “would not have any more” or words to that effect. Sergeant Reidy said he “would be able for this one” or “have another”. They remained until 11.25. Sergt. Reidy, during the time, was telling very interesting stories. At 11.25 they came to the front door.
Witness stepped inside the door and found Sergeant Reidy with his gun. Constable Sullivan, and the publican’s son right behind the door.
Sergeant Reidy appeared to be most surprised at seeing the witness.
The Sergeant was asked what he was doing there, and he said he saw a light on and came in for a couple of minutes. There were two pint glasses with fresh traces of porter on them, a glass bearing the trace of ale or hop bitters, and a small wine glass.
Mr Concannon, opening the case for the defendants, said he regretted to state that during his long experience, he had never come across a more extraordinary case. If there was anything to take it out of the ordinary circumstances, as there was not by the summoning of the sergeant and constable in the same way as any ordinary persons for being on licensed premises, why was not the publican summoned?
She must have committed some offence if the police did on that occasion. Instead, the case against them was pitched in for their worships to say that the defendants were not on duty.
The reason for the publican not being summoned was quite obvious, as these men did not get any drink.
The magistrates said they had no option but to find the men guilty, fining the Sergeant 10s and costs, and the constable a lesser amount of 2s 6d and costs, as he was under the control of the sergeant.
1938
Beet industry threat
A report issued to the Press by Mr. James Haverty, chairman, Tuam Beet Growers’ Association, and Mr. Mark Killilea, T.D., secretary to the Association, conveys a warning that the Tuam beet factory is in danger of closing down if more beet is not grown in the area.
Some months ago, attention was drawn to this grave possibility in the columns of “The Connacht Tribune”, and unfortunately the information is proving to be only too true.
So far there are not more than 6,000 acres of beet returned in the official applications, whereas the factory requires at least twice that quantity for the sugar making campaign. The dissatisfaction felt by the farmers at the price they have been receiving for the crop is one cause of the trouble, but it is not the only cause.
Mayoral chain
The collection for the chain of office for the Mayor of Galway is meeting with a generous response. Although opened only on Thursday week last, close on £90 was collected up to the middle of last week.
It is hoped that every citizen will contribute. It is the desire of the Borough Council that every person in the city should have an interest in the mayoral chain, and for that reason, even the smallest contributions will be welcome.
The chain, which will be of solid gold, may cost up to £200. It will be the property of the people, and not of any section or sections.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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