AID FOR ULSTER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1560, 2 October 1912, Page 7

AID FOR ULSTER.

SHIPS TO CARRY MEN OVER. LIVERPOOL DEMONSTRATION. By Teleiraph—Pro3s Association-Coriyrieht (Rcc. October I, 11.10 p.m.) London, October 1. A great nnti-Homo Rule demonstration hos ocenrred at Sheil Park, Liverpool.' Sir Edward Carson and Mr. F. E.'Smith spoke, the latter declaring: Hint three shipowners had offered to give three ships to convey ten thousand men to help Ulster in its hour of need. A monster torchlight procession traversed the principal streets, whiqh were lined with spectators. Tho Jlarchioness of Diifferin presided over a large meeting of women Unionists at Belfast, which adopted a resolution against Homo 'Rule. THE PREACHING OF TREASON. . DEMAND FOR PROSECUTION. (Rec. October 1, 9.55 p.m.) London, October 1. Mr. J. W. Gulland, Junior Lord of the Treasury, at Dumfries, in replying to a suggestion that the Government should prosecute the men who were preaching treason, said ho believed the Government was only staying its hand to avoid creating riots. Sir Edward Carson ought to bo prosecuted, but it was wiser to treat him with silent contempt. Sir Rufus Isaacs, Attorney-General, in speaking at Reading, said the dummy rifles and toy cannon an Ulster would not prevent the passing of the Homo Rule Bill. NATIONALISTS' PLEDGE. London, September 30. At a Home Rule demonstration at Mohill, in Leitrim, several thousand Nationalists passed a resolution pledging themselves never to giro up tho demand for self-government until it was conceded. ■ READY TO TAKE | UP ARMS. New York, September SO; Lord Claud Hamilton, M,.P., interviewed here, said he was willing to participate in an armed' opposition against Home Rule. No political party was fomenting the Ulster uprising; the movement was solely the spontaneous action of the Ulster people themselves. CATHOLICISM IN ULSTER, 9.8 DECLINE IN BELFAST IN FIFTY ■ YEARS. . Three volumes'of 1911 census returns, published in London in August (says the • 'Daily Mail"), give statistical information concerning the population of Ulster, for the counties of Antrim and Down, and the city of Belfast. The population of Belfast has almost doubled within tho past thirty years, having been 208,322 in 1881, and 380,017 in 1911. During the same period County Down has decreased from 215.190 to 201,303, and Antrim from 237,738 to 103,801, This decrease has been partly caused by. tho migration of the country people to Belfast and partly by emigration. More interesting, perhaps, at this stage of the Homo Kule question are the statistics dealing with the religion professed by the 755.114 inhabitants: of the Belfast corner of Ulster. These are:— Catholics. Protestants. Belfast 93,24.1 272,530 Down .-....;. ,64,483 129,017 Antrim 39,751 113,129 The Roman" Ctitholic;element is, theretore, only abouTW-foiirtti' of tho total population. The two principal Protestant •denominations are Episcopalian and Presbyterian, the latter.'the stronger of tho two, as the following figures show :'•— Episcopalians. Presbyterians. Belfast 118,173 130,575 Down 47,063 77,583Antrim 42,118 ' 1)7,198' ■The percentage, therefore, of the popu-i-lation is:— " . ' •"- . Per cent. Presbyterian '.j. 40.6 Roman Catholio 25.4 Episcopalian 25.0 Methodist 3.5 Other denominations 6.5 Catholicism within the past fifty years has been on a- steady decline. In Belfast it has dropped from 33.9 per cent, in 1861 to 24.1 per cent, in 1911; in Down from 32.46 to 31.56 per cent.; and in Antrim from 24.8 to 20.5 per cent, in ,1911. In all three cases there has been likewise a decline of two or three per cent, in the growth of Presbyteiyanism, the only positive growth being that of the Episcopal Church from 20.89 per cent, in 1801 to 25.2 per cent, in 1911. j ■ . '■