Evening star., 1922-03-28
BY FORREST DAVIS,

20.-Motor travelling in Ireland these
ton. 1t is always in the. next county
that members Of the l. r. A. are
"pinching" cars or that desperadoes
are waylaying those who take to the
road.
When you reach the next county
town you learn that. while there may
have been a few automobiles stolen
there. the practice has stopped.
but, ah,' admonishes the garage
man. wagging his head earnestly.
you had better look sharp In x.
They're after them there all right"
So on in x, and after a week of 1t you
get SO you push on with a grin at the
identic note in the warnings.
AS a matter of fact q considerable
number of machines have been ap-
propriated in one way and another
during the last few weeks. Cars be-
longing to British officers and the
army and to loyalists have been the
chief prey: sin Colonel, County TIP
seized because their owners failed to
pay levies assessed by the republic,
ans. But recently that was stopped
by order of the brigade commandant
and the cars thus held were to nave
Here and there drivers have been
stopped at the point Of rifles and COM
pelled to give up their machines TO
bands who have driven on, leaving
the cars occupants to make tneir
way on foot to their destination. And,
ways has q premonitory thrill when
q motor car coming from the otner
direction, filed with green-mumed
youths, slows to q stop at your ap-
proach. You surmise they are de-
tachment Of I. r. A. soldiers VINO
and perhaps to commander your
mount.
Trenches Trap Cars.
Getting about the island in a car
you see many souvenirs of "the
uroubles 1t is only a matter OF
weeks that the roads have been made
passable and some of them still are IN
wretched condition. Before that there
were great gashes known as trenches.
in almost every bridge and culvert
and at other convenient places. Dur
ing the fighting these were camou-
tagged, the military cars fell into
them and their occupants were rid
from republican forces concealed
nearby in ambushes.
Often along the winding roads you
pass the shells of stone houses,
burned by one side or the other. and
occasionally the fire-shattered build
ings of an estate. A large proportion
of police barracks in the villages and
towns have scars left by the torch
and machine guns.
1t is no uncommon thing to pass a
fleet Of armored cars and lorries filled
with members of the Royal Irish Con-
stabulary. racing past from their sta
ton to a demobilizing point. They go
like the wind and heaven pity the
donkey that doesn't turn out his cart
with expedition.
But with all the reports Of stolen
cars and the signs of the bitter fight
and in spite of the absence Of really
competent authority in Ireland, the
country districts are extraordinarily
quiet. The political division has. of
course. divided the Irish army. par
ticularly in the south. in counties Tip
crown forces that still remain are
making no attempt to enforce the
laws. Yet there Is little violence; life
and property are reasonably safe. and
the people on the roadside and in the
villages are for the most part
friendly.
Repair Dangerous Roads.
In some districts parties of work
men are busy on the roads. which
need considerable attention after
seven years of neglect, and in most Of
central and eastern Ireland the high
ways are reasonably smooth. They
are in many parts quite narrow and
always crooked. If there were much
motor travel they would be extremely
dangerous on those accounts.
Two explanations are given for the
circuitous qualities of the roads. One
is that they were charted by a sue
cession of Irishmen making their un-
certain ways homeward from public
houses on market nights. The other
ago. when Ireland consisted of feudal
baronies. Chiefs would not permit
roads to cut into their lands, and so
they had to circle in and out along
boundaries.
However that might be. the free