Home Rule Meeting. SIR THOS. G. ESMONDE AT TE AROHA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 419, 13 November 1889, Page 2

Home Rule Meeting. SIR THOS. G. ESMONDE AT TE AROHA.

Slit Thos. G rattan "Esmonds, Bart, (who arrived in Auckland with Messre Dillon and Deasy, on Sun lay,, 3rd inst., as Irish delegates to thn Colonies respecting 1 the Home Kulo for Ireland question), arrived at Te A roll a on Friday evening last, and put up at tho Hot Spring's Hotel. He arrived at the Morrinsville railway station from Hamilton by the afternoon train, was there met by Sir Wm. Wasteneys and Mr P.' Ferguson, with a carnage drawn by four horses, and thus driven to To Aroha. His arrival did not appear to attract much attention at To Arohn, however. Shortly aftorwfitds he was waited on by Mf^sis M. W. D, O'Keefe.M. Byrne, and othoi*, who welcomed him to this part of tho Colony,

In the evening there was a good attend* ance in the Public Hall, to hear his address. The Hall was most tastefully decorated with flowers, wreaths, evergreens, etc,, for the occasion. Shortly after 8 p.m., the chair was taken hy Sir" Win. Wasteneys, solicitor, with Sir Thos. Esmonde and Mr Pi Ferguson- on his right, and Rev Father Kehoe on his left * r the following also occupying seats on tho platform: Messrs Jas. Mills, M. W. D. O'Keeffe, and M. Byrne. Sir Win, Wasteneys, in opening tho proceedings, said ; It afforded him great pleasure to be present at that meeting to introduce one of the Irish delegates. He noticed that there were & great many present in the Half ; not only those they knew were in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, but some of those present they knew had not yet been converted to 1 their views ; these, however, he felt sure after they had listened to the eloquence of the speaker of the evening, would go away cf trite convinced that Home Rule ought to be granted. He saw amongst the- audience many Irishmen, and felt sure they would have great pleasure in meeting that evening a chosen delegate from the old country ; and it afforded him great pleasure to now introduce to the meeting Sir Thos. G rattan Kfimonde, M.P., for South Dublin ; also a Nationalist and Home Ruler. Sir Thos. Esmonde then came forward and said : It gave him very great pleasure to address a meeting at Te Arolia; although be was afraid he should not succeed in doing all that the Chairman had predicted — converting all who listened to his views — still ho hoped to afford them some information of interest on the question ol Home Rule. He felt gratified that the Committee, who were instrumental in getting up that meeting, were" representatives of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Indeed, he did not know that he had ever had the pleasure of addressing a meeting sojrepresentative of all the three nations. He telt proud of having an Englishman in tho chair to preside over that meeting, which entirely related to an Irish gi ievance. It showed the sympathy Englishmen had with them in the great work they (the delegates) were engaged in. Of course they had all been told the Home Rulers weie a'l Separationists. But it appeared to him no great question had ever arisen that had done so much to draw together the various Nationalists. A threat many .who opposed Home Rule knew no more about it than they did of the composition of the soil.. Here in New Zealand they had Home Rule, that is the management of their own affairs ; and New South Wales or elsewhere had no right to interfere with thorn. They wanted the same liberty in Ireland, and were quite willing to leave all matters that effected the Imperial Parliament to the Imperial Pailiament. Perhaps he could best explain to thorn what Home Rule meant, by telling them what it did not mean." Home Rule did not mean that they should be to contro l the British Army or Navy, or bo at liberty to raise troops, or volunteer^ nor would they h ive the right to declare war against any othernution. All such matter.-, would still continue under the control and management of the Imperial Government. They would not even have the power to levy customs tariffs to keep English goods out of the Irish mniket (!). But they would have the n'cht to look after and control thoir own railways, tho edu> aiion of the peop!e, and resources of the country Generally. As a tmtter nf fact even if the Irish people wanted to get separation they conld not do so, becau-e all the fortresses and ports wou'd sfi'l be controlled by the Enali^h Army and Navy. He had come to New Zealand in the interests of the Insh eviGt d tenants, and to raise funds for them. He had travelled in almost every part but Asia, and had never yet seen any tenant farmers in Ruch a bad way as tho Irish tenant farmers. They received their lands from the landlords absolutely in a condition of nature, without even a house on it. They drained and cleared it, fenced, planted, cultivated, and manured it. and when they had done .all that the landlord would step in, remark upon the great improvement that had' been, efleeted^and tell the tenant he must now pay more reut ; and by a succession of periodical raising of rents, all the fruits of the the farmers industry were lost to him.. He would just mention one instance, to illustrate his meaning. It was that of a tenant farmer named Collit-r. This man lived in Wicklow, not very far from -where his (the speaker") own home was. He got permission to take up a piece of land on the mountain side and cultivate it, at a rental of 2s 6d per acre. When he got it the land was quite 1 ' barren and valueless, covered with grnnite rocks, stones, and undergrowth.' ' But Collier, by dint of hard word, late' and early, blew up and" eaited 'off the rocicp, etc., cleared, cultivated, and manured the ground, and in fact made a very nice little farm of it. When he had done all this the agent of *he landlord came along one day, complimented Collier for his industry, and at once raised the rent from 2s 6d per acre to £1 per acrrf. This was very hard lines, still, prices being good, etc., Collier con•sejited to pay, it rather than turn out, and* went on still further improving his- land. Presently the agent cams along again praised Collier for his industry, and; as a reward told him his rent would now be raised to 30s an acre. And this tho poor unfortunate man would try nnd pay.rather than be turned out of his home. The case of Collier was only an illustration of the condition oC hundreds and, thoti--sands of the Irish tenant farmers of to-day. Now what the Home Rule party were trying to do was to prevent robbery and spoilation,Buch as that, by preventing land** lords from turning out or evicting theirtenants; and by a system they had adopted for that purpose, they were providing as best thev, could for such tenants as had been evicted, and built houses for them, etc. They were moreanxious, were the truth known, than even Lord Salisbury was, to koep the peace and prevent crime for thesimple reason that they were most anxious to obtain Home Rule,and they knew nothing was more likely to alienate the sympathies of the English than the commissionof crime He believed if at the present moment the English wore polled, they (the Home Rulers) would have a majority on their pile. It was a question that was bound to "be carried to a successful issue within tho next Cow years. He believed Scotland also would ask, and obtain, Homo Rule within the next few years. When the Scotch ask the English Parliament for an) tiling they always get it. When Iri^h men ask anything-, the English Parliament, for the reason that it is