The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1882. IRELAND OVERLOOKED.

Temuka Leader, Issue 984, 29 July 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1882. IRELAND OVERLOOKED.

What has become of Ireland lately ? We hare not heard a word about her since the Egyptian war broke out. . A short time ago a whole army of Fenians were seen ' parading' in' military order through the streets of Armagh, What became of them ? Have they taken possession of the country, proclaimed a republic, and elected... Mr.. Parnell President? Men have been arrested .; in Stockholme," in ' Dublin, in ! Cork, in almost all parts of the world, for. the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish, and we have never been told what became of them. Hundreds of times have wc been told that the police had a clue to the murderers, but nothing has transpired to show, that they have ,taken any, steps to follow it up. Some time ago we were given to understand that every bush, and wood and glen bristled with the guns and pikes and revolvers of Feniacs who were lying in wait to break out in armed insurrection at a moment's notice ; aud that dynamite, Greek fire, and infernal maohines were planted as thick as leaves *all over the country ready for the destruction of all and sundry. What became of all these ? How is it that we cannot get a word of news about Ihem ? , The cause is simply this. Reuter's agent is busy with the war business, and has not time to manufacture "yarns " about Ireland. More shameless bare-faced lies never emanated from the father of lies himself than have been sent to us in this'colony about that unfortunate country, and it is really a relief to the feelings of Irishmen that the manufacturer of them has something else to do now. But it would hot be so bad if he gave both sides of the story. At present the country is in a fearful state evictions. The

humane treatment which, we are girftrrtaunderstand has been adopwd with regard i to Ireland is nothing more nor less than rant;despotism/ 1 arid Reuter'i agent I takes carte to suppress .everything about ; it. <''A few rockets fired x the other day j in Borne part'of England were mistaken I by-him fordynamite-explosions intended to blow Bomebody or some place to smithereens, and every vile action that is committed in the' kingdom is attributed by him to Irishmen. But the scoundrelly landlords, who * throw' their starving tenantry out on the roadside to perish' of hunger and want, can carry on any villainy,' and be ; never noticed by Reuter's agent. He has, however, sent two little items which I show how the wind blows. " The Chief ! of the Dublin Police and Judge Fitzgerald have resigned sooner than 1 carry out the law as it is now administered. We do not know who. the Chief of the Police is, but if he is a fair specimen of the Irish policeman he is not so tender hearted as to be easily made to resign through"having to do dirty work. Judge Fitzgerald we know, and of him we can say that things must be very bad indeed when he, refuses to continue any longer a Judge. He has never : embraced the popular view.of any question; he has been looked upon as an enemy to the people; ! and a staunch supporter of'' the.' landlord . ■ class. ; ': In - ■ fine, h'eJ lias been ;i what is ; known in Ireland as an " anti-Irishman," and when.things have gone: to such an ; extent as to make him—a comparatively poor man-—give up his position, thero can be'no doubt about the ill-treatment of Ireland.' And Reuter's agent has not on.e; word ■ to tell us about the cruelties to which Irishmen are being subjected.; He transforms the slightest offences into the most heinous crimes, but ; never lets us know- anything about the wholesale way in svhich landlords are evicting tenants- at, present, Sometime ago a telegram came stating that a band of ruffians had killed a bailiff near the town of Macroom, but we find on referring to the 11 report of the inquest published':i in; iHome ■ papers ; that the unfortunate mail wa» a lunatic, and had caused his own death by cutting his throat. 1 What a scoundrel 1 must be the man who distorts that ihtd'a murderous assault by Fenians, and telegraphs it to the antipodes for no other purpose thai* to prejudice public opinion ug«iiut Ireland. But ; it is not in Irish matters only that Renter's, telegrams ,ai;e unreliable. His commercial quotations have been proved to be false. The Australasian Press ought to a journalist of ability that would iupply them with hews. - They would save any extra expense they might be put to because a.man of colonial experience would not send half the twaddle that Reuter's agent sends. At any rate it is a blessing to poor Ireland that Reuter's quid nunc has other occupations. No Fenians are roaming about in broad daylight now, no landlords are being shot, no bailiffs are being roasted, no infernal machines, no dynamite ; and ereiything seems to have settled down in the most matter-of-fact common-place sort of way. How extraordinary that it settled down like this all at once. It must be that the Irish think the Government have enough to do in Egypt, and out of consideration for them have ceased to give them trouble. . There is no doubt about it that only for tht Egyptian crisis we would get the usual quantity of horrible stories. The army of Fenians which passed through Armagh would have fought two or three pitched battles by this, "the Land League would have " boycotted" Mr Gladstone, and many unheard of crimes would have been committed. But Renter's agent has something else to do now than to manufacture crimes for Ireland ; he is satisfied with facts, and hence the paucity of news. Of course .we never shall hear of the crimes of landlords, and as their poor persecuted tenants are) submitting . io their tyranny, there is peace and happiness. - ■ » —■ POLITICAL QUESTIONS. As will be seen by an advertisement a meeting will be he'd this in the Volunteer Hall, to discuss political questions now under the consideration of the Legislature. The meeting is convened by Mr Talbot, Chairman of the Road Board, at the request of several influential ratepayers, and therefore will be an authoritative one. The questions to be discussed are of vital importance. One is the railway line to Hilton. We have already pointed out the advantages of that, aud therefore it is not necessary for us t« dwell more fully on it. . Another is the taxing of: unimproved agricultural land. The farmer /who tills his land and pro. duces grain give's employment, and does many other things calculated to advance the colony ; has to pay a property tax on every article in bis possession; the

woollen factories, the iron foundries, and ""every industry is taxed to the eyss, but those who hold agricultural land, and make no use of itjfurthtr than graze a few sheep on it, escape comparatively freafrom' taxation. To be sure they "pay a little taxation, but it is nothing in comparison to what is paid by the industrious. Besides they are keeping the colony i backwards, they are standing in the way ' of progress by allowing broad acres of the , best land in the country lie idle, The ' more land that is tilled the more employ-ment-'there is, the more' revenue that is received through the eustoms, the "more traffic there is on 1 our ira'lways, and consequently improves the colony as a whole. Those who are keeping this land locked up: ffhUeiit isJeveryHdsy increasing" in value, are therefore a stumbling block in the path of the coloriy's prosperity,and the only way ; to deal with: them :is to tax them to an extent that will force them either to cultivate their land, 1 or sell it. This is a very .important question, as - a Bill is likely to be brought before Parliament on the subject ; arid it would/ strengthen the hands of those who are to hare charge of it to find expressions of opinion pouring in from the country in favor of it. We trust therefore that there will be a good meeting, the ' ' ,}t : is the greater its influence.' There are someother questions to—be discused, but we think'ihe,tw.Q we have indicated ought to be sufficient io, attract a,largei .meeting/'

MUCH ADO ABOUT JsOTHING. The Timaru H«rald is in trouble. It has been threatened with .' Boycotting,' and this has. made .it kick in the,.traces

awfully. A few days: ago it published an extract from the New York Times, which literally bristled with insults to Irishmen. Jt was burlesque,,on Irish politics, but every word, ,of it ,was calculated to wound to the quick Irish feelings, and 'An Irishman' wrote a letter to the Editor complaining of it, and stating that Irishmen -would, probably be ( obliged to ,\ Boycot' it if it continued to insult them in that way. We' cannot approve of the conduct of 'An, Irishman'.in taking any notice of such a thing. His' feelings ought/to-have been v better. seasoned by reading the'Herald, unless he is a yery new chum. Besides/',to'threaten is yery in j udicious,, but ho doubt it was \ done on the spur of the moment, and: judging from the literary calibre of the letter, we are inclined to think that its author is top intelligent' not to be the nrst to condemn ' Boycotting' being resorted to iu_, : this coloay. In a subsequent letter he says he meant by ' Bbycottimg' that Irishmen would have..to give up the Herald if it continued fo insult . them. But the Herald got-. awfully indignant over the matter. Its wrath knew no bounds. It would not be Ragged by any sect or clique,-.and it foamed, and raved, and fretted in a manner that ought to make the heart of every Irishman in the country quake with fear,'. How is it that the Herald is so susceptible oh this point as to allow itsusuul equanimity to be ruffled by such a'trifle. A foot-note stating that it was not responsible for the opinions of the New York Times, and that it ought to be allowed to know what would suit the majority of' its readers would, we think, have answered its purpose better than a whole column of bravado and bounce concerning its own independence. Really we do not think it ; was necessary for it-to lose its temper over such a thing, unless it felt conscience-stricken and wanted to bounce its Irish readers into toleration of what it thought I 'fit to publish, no matter how insulting it was.. We.know a.little of our contemporary, and can say that its affection for the Irish isof; the 'no Irish need apply' character. Still we think it had a right to publish the extract if it thought fit, and that Irishman ought not to have taken:any notice of it; ■ Although it bitterly sarcastic, and bristled with insults, etill it was so temptingly humorous and clever, that it would; be difficult for a 'scissors and paste' editor ito pass it by. Too rimch has been made of nothing at all, and, judging from the correspondence columns of the Herald it has aroused some bitter feelings. ' But, if that; Irishman's sensibility, was touched by the extract complained of, what must have been his state of mind on reading yesterday morning's Herald. He is called a fool and every other opprobious name in a letter to the editor. The London correspon* j dent's letter is also another calculated not to soothe his feelings. It is of a most ' bloodthirsty character. It wants nothing more nor less than the complete annihilation of the Irish race. He says that Ireland cannot be ruled by acts of conciliation, and calls the treatment of Ireland sugar, and-plum treatment. He is not satisfied with the Government have passed a retrospective Coercion Act, with issuing private instructions to. "police that they will net be held responsible for killing the people, for abolishing the jury s)stem, and for over-running the whole country with a military force.'' No ! This is all sugar-and-plam treatment. When the Land League was in full swing its members complied with the laws of the country so religiously that all efforts to punish them failed. It was often tried, but it was always proved that they had complied with the law. The Government then passed a special Coercion Act and made it retrospective, so" a 3 fo make criminals of persons who were not criminals, for no man who offends not against the law can be held by the law to be a criminal. But

the retrospective. Coercion Act mad» 'these people/criminals and threw them into prison; and this is called sugar-and-plum treatment. Itis sugar and plum treatment, 100, to tell the police they can shoot them clown if they like. Itis sugar-and-plum treatment to pass a further Coercion Act which by jury, and leaves the judges to determine what they will dp. This is what forced the chief of the Dublin police and Judge Fitzgerald to resign. Their consciences would not allow them to continue administering laws that are barbarously cruel. But these are not enough for the Herald's correspondent. ;ELe, no doubt, * o jplf like to see Irishmen '.' hangea*first, kml tried, afterwards" as it Was ihithel good old days. .If the English Governm«nt.h»l a igrain of sense; iti .would have long ago placed its foot on the neck.ojjthajt, fearful would/ have - prevented the ; diaguatuig voluptuary who spends his money ia jUk bauchery and crime from >; bl*edirig' :| to death his unfortunate victims; it would have givan the. poor t tenant;,some!,pr£teption from the avarice and greed-of thr bloodthirsty vampires thai prey uJSjT them ; and if ifc haddone this it wmifll llave'ddrie ( Wore \to ivipe'Ut l irUn' J di& affection /than. a]L the .Coercioiij Acts/that were ever framed^! '> 7 ICi'i'