OUT IN THE COLD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1751, 16 June 1888, Page 3

OUT IN THE COLD.

... •- The following appears in Journal (a Scotch paper) of March 31st, laat:— '„' : ' ' ,: . . ". Sir,— Home Rule for England is being accomplished. The people are, enfranchised. Englishmen ma; manage their own affaire—their schools, their I roads; their licenses—their whole County business passes into their own banda. The Budget provides funds from the taxes to ' assist them, aod Parliament cheers the ~. Chancellor of the Exchequer as he anfolds hi» proposals to assist Mr Ritchie to make English Home Rule a reality. But while all thin is doing on, while England irejoices ~. in her weslth, her growing freedom, a dtirk. ahadow creeps ncrosa this scene of auccess- . ful government. Ireland shivers out in , . the eoid. For ber there is no enfranchisement, ne kind word of trust in her people, of respect for the manhood of her children. General statements do not convey any adequate description of the. case.of Ireland. While we are electing our:School Boards in Ireland the people have no mora to do, with the education ef their cdentry than they have to do with the education of China, The education in Ireland is governed by a Board nominated by a Lord-Lieuteuant aitting in [Dublin. In Ireland there are 1,100,000 children at school—Bso,ooo of them are \ Roman Catholics, and 250,000 are Profeita,pta, The Board appointed by the.Lord* Lieutenant conaiaia of a proportionate numbei of Roman Catholtca and; Protes--0 taotal Nothing of the sort. Half\h* Board are Protestants, although less than n fourth of all the children at school ore Ptoteetante. The local Government Works, the Board of Works,, tad the •Bojrd of Education oi(»o»ge the domestic of Ireland. Every member of every one of tbeae are Dominated jby, and ia responsible to, the Lord-Lieutenant, JCheae Boarde may, anri often, do,' act in direct opposition to the desire of the Irish people. The Local Government Board administer the laws, for the relief of the poor, publio health, pollution of fivers, diaaaaea of cattle, houssa for agricultural

laborers, and of course tbese Boards are able to give work or patronage to every little liwver, and to many other dependents in every town in Ireland. Half of the Boards of Poor Liw Guardians »ie appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant. The representative half is elected under a franchise, where a landlord may have 36 votes to a tenant's one vote I Medical* men are dismissed if they do not support the Castle, and everywhere the tradesmen and uthera whose services are required are • boycotted ' by the Government if they •how any sympathy with those who would extend to Ireland ihe measures now applauded by the supporters of the Government as being such a boon to England. The Board of Works has great power. Drainage works and the general administration of raaoy importaot Acts of Parliament are entrusted to them. But the whole patronage of the Boatd, the whole control, is not with the Irish people, but with the nominees of the Lord-Lioutenant. The Fisheries Board, the Prisons Board, the Bo«.l of Char table Donations and Bequests, the Loan Funds Board, all are nominated by the ' Castle.' A politician—some men indeed call him a statesman—thus) spoke of the position of Ireland at London in 1885 :—'l do not,' said he,' believe that the great majority of Englishmen have the slightest conception of the system under which this free oation attempts to rule a sister country. It is a system which is founded on the bayonets of 30,000 soldiers encmped permanently bs in a hostile country. It is a syst m as completely centralised an) bureaucratic as that with which Russia governs Poland, or as that which was common in .Venice under Austrian rule. An Irishm<n at this mom ni* Cinuot move a step, he cannot lift a finger, in any parochial, municipal, or educational work withou' being confronted, interfered with, cootrolled by an English official appointed by a foreign Government, and without n shadow or shade of reprettentalive authority. I say the time has come to reform altogether the absurd and irritating anachronism which is kDown as Dublin Castle—to sweep away altogether these a'ien Boards of foreign officials, and to substitute for them a genuine Irish Administration for purely Irish purpose?.' The man who spoke these words in 1885 to-day supports this Tory Government, and does not lift a finger to give to Ireland the boon now conferred on England. The only thing he proposes is to declare 5000 Irish tenants who cinnot pay rents they never agreed to pay- rents all men know and the Courts deoide to have been utterly unfair—because the tenants will not pay arrears of these rack rents, the only proposal this politician has to make is to turn all there 5000 men into bankrupts, and bo drive them from their properties, from their homes, and their conntry. His name is Joseph Chamberlain., Constantly they say, Why write for ever bbout Ireland'■■?; Were it not for the agitators the Irish'would be happy and contented, Yes, let millions a year con. ;.tin'ae^.!to[;be\' : ''draw,n;' , Jrpm the labor of the Irish poor to be 'squandered in the West end of London. Let 5000 homts be made miserable, as they are in Ireland to-day, by notice of eviction for non-payment of arrears which are not morally owing. Let irresponsible Magistrates insult the representatives of the people who protest against; this .cruel wrong, and sentence them to the ,' plank bed," and then, while ail England is glad and full of delight, laugh at Ireland, while she is denied every boon, conferred on England, and then blame agitators for Irish misery and discontent; Ireland never will, never ought to, be contented with such shameful treat* ment. The day will come when Lady Aberdeen will go b»ck to Ireland with a message of pesce and good will. The moment she puts her foot on the green sod of Ireland the 30,000 soldiers may go home. They will not be required. She will be safe among the Irish people. She will require no police to guard her footsteps. The Scottish, nation bids Ireland hope. The better day will dawn, and Ireland wi'l no longer be left out io the cold, but will be admitted on equal terms to all the privileges of sisterhood. The miseries of generations will be forgotten, and the Irish nation will participate in all the trust, the honor, and the freedom which England and Scotland enjoy, and so thousands of Irish hearts io distant lands will from their exile homes exult in the growing greatness and influence for (rood which shall distinguish the United Kingdom. " A Christian Democrat."