Surge in recruitment to Irish Volunteers

Money flows in from America

Moves by John Redmond to assume control over the Irish Volunteers have drawn a surge in recruitment for the organisation.

Mr. Redmond, who was initially opposed to the Volunteers, moved earlier this month to ensure that the Irish Parliamentary Party was the controlling voice in the leadership of the Volunteers.

The increasing power of the Volunteer movement has been confirmed by the transfer of large sums of money from America.

This week £1,000 was wired to Eoin MacNeill, one of the secretaries to the Irish Volunteers, by the Irish-American Volunteer Committee.

The Volunteers are also embarking on a fundraising drive for the month of July. A ‘Defence of Ireland Fund’ will be established in every district in Ireland and there will be house-to-house and chapel-door collections throughout the month.

The money raised will be devoted to the purchase of arms and ammunition.

Sources in the Volunteers claim that arrangements are in place to supply a consignment of modern rifles and a large quantity of ammunition. The ambition is to have 5,000 volunteers fully armed by the end of July. The Volunteers are also set to expand through the establishment of a 500-strong troop of mounted volunteers to be trained and located in the vicinity of Dublin.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, was asked today in the House of Commons whether he would take special steps to prevent arms and ammunition being imported into Ireland from America.

Mr. Lloyd George said that the proclamation against the import of arms applied to Ireland and that steps would be taken to enforce it.

The Chancellor did not reply to a further question as to whether the government would continue its political allegiance with a party whose volunteers were ‘admitted to be enemies of the country'.