New-York tribune., 1920-10-31
Ban ON Port of
Queenstown
Ar0uses Irish
Prohibition of Call by East
bound Liners Regarded by
Sim Fein' as Effort to In.
volve America in Quarrel
A citation Is Started
Leaders Hope to Stir Up
Trouble Between British
and Z. S. Governments
From Il Special Correspondent


DUBLIN, Oct. 21.-Thc prohibition
Ct the British Admiralty of the call at
Queenstown by eastbound transatlan-
tic liners is becoming the subject of
serious agitation in Ireland 1t is
regarded by Sim Fein APPARENTLY as a
possible means of achieving by in
Greet means what Sim Fein has failed
to do by direct means-implicatlng the
United States government in the
Anglo-Irish quarrel.
The question of the Queenstown call
undoubtedly is a part of that quarrel
The very name of the Southern Irish
port is at issue. In Admiralty docu-
ments and all steamship companies
hills and advertisements it is still
known by its familiar name of Queens
town. But by the local urban council
IL has been rechristened Cove, Queers-
town harbor having long been known
locally as the Cove of Cork. The
adoption Of this new name has been
ratified by the Cork County Council,
which, like the urban council, is re-
publican, and Cove is now the legal
name of Queenstown. The new name
ia coming into general use in Ireland.
Queenstown is not singular in dis
avowing nomenclature of imperial
Specification. Kingstown, the mail
packet port of Dublin, has reverted to
its older name of Dunleary, which now
adorns the railway station and the
street cars from Dublin. Kings
County and Queens County have
similarly assumed the names Of Of
faly and Leix.
HarbOr Called Dangerous
The question of the Queenstown call,
however, antedates the recent develop
ment of the Irish republican move
ment. The use of Queenstown as
port of call for mails and passengers
was abandoned by the Cunard and
hlte Star companies during the year
Lefore the war, on the plea that the
harbor was dangerous, and Ireland was
thus left without any direct communi-
cation with the outside world by the
ohlef steamship services.
1t was then that Sir Roger Easement,
later one of the most prominent figures
IN the rising CT 1916, first became
known in the public life of Ireland He
entered into negotiations with the
Hamburg American Line for the in
auguration by that company Of serv-
ice which would make the Queenstown
call. Easement hoped that, even if
TINS project did not mature, the nego-
tlations could be used as a lever in
compelling the Cunard Company to re-
consider its intentions with regard to
Queenstown.
His negotiations, in the end, did not
obtain even this secondary result. The
incident, however, not only increased
has bitterness against England on the
score OF what he regarded as another
injustice to Ireland and another ex-
ample of British selhshness, but it
also brought him into close relations
with Herr Ballin, the head of the
Hamburg american Line and a personal
friend and contidant of the Kaiser. 1t
thus prepared the way for his activi-
ties IN the German prison camps and
his voyage to Ireland in 1916 in a Ger
man submarine which ended in the
Tower OF London.
No Reason Assigned
The Queenstown call of the transat-
lantlc liners, suspended during the
year before the war, was resumed dur
ing the year after the war 1t was
again suspended in the case of the
" mite Star Line on the occasion of the
passage OF the Baltic with Archbishop
MannlX on board. And in the middle
of September the Lords Commission
ers Of the British Admiralty issued
formal notice forbidding all east
bound ships carrying passengers to
enter the port of Queenstown until
further nolice.
No reason has been assigned for
this prohibition. 1t was alleged at the
last meeting of the Queenstown Har-
Dor commissioners that British Admi-
ralty wireless messages had been picked
up TO American and Continental liners
warning that the approaches to the
harDor were unsafe owing to dangerous
rocks at the entrance Telegrams con-
tradlctlng this alleged Admiralty mes
sage were sent by the harbor commits
sloners to several chambers Of com
merce, including that of New York.
irish Nationalist opinion generally.
not merely Sim F6in opinion, regards
the prohibition of the Queenstown call
as part OF the settled policy of the
BRITISH government. Its object, in this
View' IS TO help to break Irish resist
ance to British authority, to hamper
lreland's foreign trade, especially with
the United States. and to prevent Amer
lcan visitors from landing in Ireland
without first passing through England.
American Competition Keen
1t is certainly d fact that Queens
town has been serious competitor
Wlth british transatlantic ports, and
a Amerlcan competition has been keenly
lelo by BRUSH steamship companies.
American companies, as mentioned in
an earlier message, have recently heen
interesting themselves in the possibil-
lues OF developing direct trade with
ireland. One or TWO services ALREADY
have been initiated