The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 24, 28 January 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1880.

To morrow evening the people of Nelson are to be asked fco Consider the best means lor raising money in this district for their unhappy fellow subjects, the Irish, who are now suffering from a double famine, a famine of food-, apd, a fatigue of fueh the wet weather which' rotted the grain and root crops in the fields having a!sO prevented the peat, which, in that country ig used as fuel, from being gathered in. The disaster to be dealt with is so vast in its nature, that in order to meet it at all efficiently the sympathies of the people generally must be ( enlisted, and all must be asked to give, some their pence and some their pounds. Let none be ashamed to contribute because their offering must of necessity be small. The immense amount that is required to alleviate the terrible distress which prevails must be made up not merely of the large donations of the wealthy, but of the mites of those who can only afford to contribute to a very limited extent. There are very few of us who cannot by the exercise of a little selfdenial assist to swell the aggregate of the relief fund, and although we cannot, of course, hope to eVnutate the larger and wealther districts of the colony in their contributions it is in our power to render valuable assistance, and that it will be forthcoming we have not the slightest doubt. At the public meetiDg held in Dunedin,for the purpose of initiating a relief fund, we see by the report given in the Daily Timesth&t Bishop Moran said of that city :—" No claim had ever been made for the relief of distress which was not responded to nobly. If there was any one thing characteristic of this city it was the manner in which the people came forward to relieve distress." We claim to be able to use precisely the same words with reference to Nelson, and are convinced that the same generous spirit which has so frequently been displayed here before will again prompt the people to come forward to the assistance of the unhappy thousands who are so sorely in need of the very necessaries of life. It will not be out of place to quote one or two extracts from the speeches made at the Dunedin meeting, the report of which is before us :—The Rev. Dr. Stuart moved the first resolution, which was as follows : — *' That this meeting desires to express its deep regret for and sympathy with the sad distress now prevailing in Ireland." It was quite enough to awaken their sympathies and elicit their benevolence to be told that there was deep distress in Ireland, and that fellow subjects and fellow Christians were suffering from lack of bread. When he thought of the superabundance of food everywhere in this country, he felt more fully the position of the Irish who were suffering from hunger. The people of Dunedin had always been forward in lending relief to the hungry, and he was sure they would now assist in sending a large subscription in the shape of wheat, or in some other shape, to their starving brethren. He asked that this might be done by way of manifesting gratitude to God for the superabundance of food here in this colony. He remembered well in 1846, during ihe time of the Irish famine, that he had -brought the matter before seven boys at Windsor, and they said they would go without meals, if he would contribute a shilling for each meal, to go to the relief of the Irish population. He would never forget those English lads ; and he was sure that the same spirit would be manifested in Dunedia. (Applause.) Bishop Moran gave the following graphic description of one case of distress he had witnessed iv Ireland, and which was but one out of thousands : — "It had been his lot when very young to be sent upou a mission immediately after. what were called the famine years. He went upon his mission as a priest iv 1848, in the suburbs of Dublin, and witnessed scenes'of poverty and distress at that time which were ihe result of the previous famine. He would give a specimen of what was common at that time. He remembered being risked one day to attend a Bick call. It was in the upper room of a deserted house —for it was his lot to go to upper rooms and cellars time after time, and year after year. In this room, which was not more than eight feet by ten feet, there was a man and his wife and eight children, they all occupied one room in a gable. The window panes were broken, the room was excessively cold, and there was do fire, no chairs, not even a common piece of furniture. In one corner of the room , lying on a little straw, and covered with a few rags, was a large, bony man, suffering from typhus fever, and his wife and children stood around without food or clothing. That was Dot the misery he had to look upon his wife and children perishing without being able to help them." Similar scenes are now again, after a lapse of a little over thirty years, being re enacted in Ireland, and it is to the alleviation of such sufferings that the people of Nelson are to be asked to-morrow night to lend their kindly aid.