January 13, 2011

1911

Tuam CourthouseHis Honour, Judge Anderson, Recorder, at the Tuam Quarter Sessions (Hilary Term), who was accompanied on the Bench by Mr. H.P. Shiel, R.M., now drew Mr. Glynn’s attention to the fact that one of the magistrates had recently to leave the Bench owing to the cold of the Courthouse.

Mr. Glynn, solr. (and Chairman of the Co. Council), stated he believed such happened. The Council had already spent such a large sum on the building that he believed they would expend nothing further.

His Honour: It is very hard to get them to spend anything on it.

Mr. Glynn: I understand that the magistrate was very old, and that he was very hot when he came in (laughter).

Mr. Concannon asked was there any heating apparatus upstairs in the building.

Mr. Hosty said there used to be one, Mr. Glynn stated that it was not in working order.

Galway HospitalA communication was received from the Board of Management, stating that the assessment on the Loughrea Union for the financial year ending 31st March, 1912, was £322 6s 3d at the rate of 1d in the £. The Clerk said the amount assessed on the Union last year was something like £240. It appeared they had increased it this year.

Mr. Murphy: Are you getting value for the money you pay towards Galway Hospital?

Chairman: Any critical case we have here is sent to Dublin.The Clerk said until the law was amended, they would have to contribute their portion.

Chairman: It is certainly too bad that we have to pay such a big sum, without gaining any benefit by it.

Mr. Glennon: That is going on here for the last 20 years and no redress.

Chairman: Indeed, it is not.

Mr. Glennon: Since I came here first, I hear you complaining about it, and that is 20 years ago.

Chairman: The amount was not half as much that time as it is now.Mr. Murphy: It is a very heavy item.

Chairman: Does anybody know what they are doing with all the money they get for the Galway hospital?

Mr. Murphy: They must be giving the staff a good time.

1936

Petty theftsSir,Recent indications in your valuable newspaper and recent observations by myself and others indicate that, while we are fortunately immune from the graver crimes of highway or open robbery or banditry, there is a heinous aftermath of petty theft.

Bicycles have been and are being stolen, and in the City of Galway no one can leave a bicycle lamp even outside the sacred precincts of a church during public worship without this most contemptible form of petty thief coming along and committing a crime that, however petty it may seem, is against the law of God and man and brands him as a thief, until full and proper reparation is made.

This is indicative of a social and moral evil which, if permitted to go unchecked, may mark another stage in the downward trend of the general moral conduct of the community. Therefore, where the Church and its teachers, the citizens and parents, the Civic Guards and the justices have so signally failed in the past, they should now get busy to restore respect for the moral and natural law.

It should not require Sherlock Holmes to detect these crimes. To begin with, a bicycle lamp cannot easily be disposed of, as a pawnbroker is quite unlikely to accept it, as if he does and suspects it to have been stolen, he is bound to notify the guards.

The scope of inquiry ought to be narrowed by the knowledge which the Civic Guards possess, or ought to possess of the known thieves or kleptomaniacs in the town and of their haunts; and it ought to be comparatively easy to get the cooperation of citizens by getting them to put secret marks upon their lamps or other articles likely to be stolen and by keeping a casual plain-clothes watch upon likely scenes of theft. If a few examples were made, this evil would soon stop.

Please excuse the length of this letter; my sole apology is that I feel these miserable and petty thefts, which bring disgrace and discredit upon a Catholic City, ought to be ended.Medico.County Galway

For more, read t his week's Connacht Tribune.