The industrial troubles in Belfast have been aggravated during the
last fortnight or so by a very formidable symptom. The constabulary in large numbers having professed sympathy with the strikers and practically mutinied, it was found necessary to draft thousands of troops into Belfast for the maintenance of order. The disaffected police addressed an appeal to the Irish Govern- ment which Sir A. MacDonnell, writing in the name of the Viceroy, condemned as menacing in its character and involving a violation of discipline " seriously dis- creditable to alll concerned." Several constables have been suspended and the disaffected members have been removed to remote districts, their places being taken by drafts from other parts of Ireland. We deal with the matter elsewhere, but may note that in reply to the Labour Members on Thursday night, Mr. Birrell, while declining to make himself responsible for the action of the civil authorities, who had requisitioned the military, stated that they were doing their best in very difficult circumstances. The civil authorities, he observed, had other persons to consider as well as those engaged in the strike. The disaffection in the police force was now removed, and the police were returning to their duty, and behaving in an admirable manner. He hoped at the earliest possible moment to remove the extra police force as well as the military from Belfast.
Previous page
