THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: From the News Letter of November 1945
In Lough Erne, the Ulster flying boat base which played a vital part in the Battle of the Atlantic, was again in the news, reported The Roamer during this week in November 1945.
The Roamer wrote: “On this occasion it is the hydro-electric scheme which is being carried out by the Eire Electricity Supply Board at Ballyshannon that is causing concern among farmers in the low-lying districts of Fermanagh, who are anxious to know how the scheme is likely to affect the levels of the lough.
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Hide Ad“The drainage in the Erne district is a matter which has engaged the attention of the Northern Ireland and Eire governments for many years.
“An engineering survey was undertaken by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Finance and four alternative schemes of alleviation were suggested.
“The report on the survey was prepared in cooperation with the Office of Public Works in Dublin and was published simultaneously by the governments of both countries.
“That was as far as the matter ever went and no offer of financial assistance has been forthcoming from Eire, although 35 townlands on the other side of the border are affected by the flooding.”
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Hide AdThe Roamer concluded: “Towards the cost of the last scheme suggested by the Lough Erne Drainage Board the Northern Ireland government made an offer of £7,000, provided the Board contributed £3,000.”
Tribute by British industrialist to Ulster workers
Colonel A G Colley, director and general manager of Monitor Radio and Communications Company, speaking at a dinner given by the firm’s social club in the Grand Central Hotel to mark the close of the company’s wartime production in Northern Ireland, paid a high tribute to Belfast workers.
He said that in August, 1944, the parent firm in Birmingham were asked urgently to produce communication equipment for aircraft. They were unable to do it on the other side, but were induced to come to Belfast, where in an old whisky warehouse in Talbot Street.
He commented: “I do not think that I could have got a better response from workers anywhere than you gave here. I have never met any group of people who, when they got down to a job, could do it the way you did.”
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