18 MAY 1918, Page 3

One small piece of evidence about the relations between Sinn

Fein and Germany is very curious. It is reported that among the sovereigns which have recently come into currency in Ireland are some which bear the date 1871. Those interested in the German reserve of gold hoarded at Spandau against a great national emer- gency will be quite familiar with the story that many sovereigns were taken over from our Mint in the year 1871. What a strange thing to think of that hoard, if our surmise be true, being doled out to Simi Feiners from the holds of submarines on the West Coast of Ireland ! Perhaps we ought to congratulate the Sinn Feiners on displaying a hard business instinct, for, so far as we know, the Dutch, Swiss, and Swedish friends of Germany have had to put up with parer!