THROWING LIGHT ON DARKNESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1916, Page 6

THROWING LIGHT ON DARKNESS.

' •■ • To the Editor. Sii',—l did not expect a. reply froir. Dean Tower, < 3 I expressly excluded irreeoiiciUbles. finding in them, ospeciailv prohibitionUts. so little of that "sweet reasonableness" that conduce* to an enjoyable newspaper duel, when measures and not men get criticised. I also wanted a straight-out answer to a straight question, which 1 did not get, and it is somewhat unfortunate that the Rev. Dean refers to the BritWi liuns destroying O'Com-.cll (properly Saekvillel street, as well as to the overthrow of British rule in words which, if used anywhere else except in this easy-going, ir'iendly-with-the-good-Germans country, would end in a firing party. Another equally unfortunate reference is the trip to Spain, for one must in reality be sharpsighted if ono saw in that benighted land anything but churches, clericals and semi-starvation, and it must have been the fear of a similar state of things obtaining in Ireland, along with a vivid remembrance of the "famine'' and perishing pre-British gold days, that made Micky Muldoon (whose father, whenever he referred to him, would exclaim "Ah, Micky, hedad:") and who was described to nie as the cutest owkl fox that evei van the County Caviin, remark, when a would-be M.P. said to him, "Home Rule is coming Micky, hedad; England has got to go!'' "Faix now, and I'm afther thinking that all her goold will go, leaving ns. mass three times a day and an empty belly.'' Mr. O'Dca's pleading is exceptionally weak about the tenderhearted rebel leaders. What about the leader of the French Revolution, who can be. fitly described as the Second Murderer of Europe, Big Willie being First Murderer, bursting into tears seeing a cat kill a mouse? [ want your thinking readers to follow me closely when 1 tell them that the Ireland of to-day resembles the old Ireland known to most colonists as much as, say. Stratford in 1!)10 resembles the Stratford of IS7O, and it is 1 who have been awake, watching and rejoicing over this magical transformation, where the sturdy, independent, well-fed landowner has evolved from the '.ringing, hat-touching, half-starved serf of the early Victorian era and which some of your correspondents, who have been doing the Rip Van Winkle stunt for the last thirty years, evidently imagine to he the case now. I want (hem to study this iir.-to-tlic-last-minuto sketch of Ireland to-day:— The hist twenty years have worked transformation. The face of the conntry is changed. 'Self-government 'has ,bccn established in the counties on the most democratic, plan, and with the most democratic results ever devised or accomplished, even by Tories, and though the experiment was a risky one, it lias, on the whole, succeeded. The. Iri.-h Local (lovernment Tlaird. though much exposed to criticism, and coming in for a fair share of abuse, is essentially an Irish board, and wholly outside what is called, often most uninstructcdly. "the Castle" influence. The Congested Districts Beard, with enlarged statutory powers and a very considerable income, is al-o essentially an Irish hoard, and within itv powers arid A'ithin its income supreme. The Department, as it is called, of Agriculture and Technical Instruction is IrMi in all its ways, quarrels and pursuits. Having read this, they may well ask, Where are the Irish grievances? Well, there are none, except one, and that is why the English garrison is still in Ireland, because nothing hut England's strong arm will keep the Orange and Green factions from springing at each other's throats on the slightest pretence, as proved by the Easter rising, when it was thought the soldiers were awa.y.— I am, etc., W. E. WKIC.HT. j Bahotu, August 27.