The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1890. MESSRS DILLON AND O'BRIEN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2102, 23 September 1890, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1890. MESSRS DILLON AND O'BRIEN.

Mb William: O'Beien has not been able to remain faithful to his promise for any great length of time. It has been stated that he promised his father-iu-law that he would keep out of gaol, but we find he has gone back to his old haunts within a couple of months of his marriage. There cannot be much doubt as to what his arrest will result in. Mr Dillon and he will without doubt get six months, if not double that period, but we venture to predict that this will be the last occaoion on which they will have t® suffer imprisonment. The Tories' teuure of office must soon come to an end, and with it the reign of terror in Ireland, bo that if they live to come out of gaol again it is unlikely that they will have time to commit another crime before the change takes place. The charge on which Messrs O'Brien and Dillon have been arrested is for telling farmers not to pay rent, as owing te the failure of the potato crop they cannot afford it. In order to understand that, it is necessary to give an idea of rural life in Ireland. Small farmers as a general rule grow some cereal crops as well as potatoes, Tksy sell the wheat, oats, and barley, toge'ther with their dairy produce and their pigs to raise the rent, and they i *he potatoes for their own use. keep b - '--toes are gone this year, Now.thepow. .vj tbe fa / merfl and consequently uni„ •- _ . .. stick te their other produc - t,* must starve. The potato bligu. generally comes on about the first of August. At first the leaves begin to wither, then the stalk, and within a month all is rotteu. Nothing is left above ground except a withered, shrunken, washed-out stalk that crumbles at the touch. "When tbe time for digging the potatoes comes more than half of them are decayed. Sometimes a little bit in the centre of the potato may remain untouched, while the outside is black and rotten. The potatoes which escape the blight are not good for food because of the fact that they are destroyed before ripening, and are consequently very inferior in quality. This year the blight came earlier than usual, and there will be no potatoes at all, and what Messrs Dillon and O'Brien have done is to advise the people that before paying the rent to take care that they shall retain enough of the other products of their farms to keep themselves and their children from starvation.

As regards the reference made to Tipperary the circumstances are as follow:—William Smith Burry, a very wealthy landlord, who before the Home Eule movement posed as a Liberal member of Parliament, owns the town of Tipperary, which is a good sized town. About 12 or 18 months ago he proceeded to get up a syndicate to buy up Irish estates, eject all the tenants off them, and turn them into sheep and cattle walks The Ponsonby estate was one of these, and it was through acting in opposition to the movement that Canon Keller was sent to gaol. Mr Barry

also had some trouble with his own tenants, and it resulted in almost every man, woman, and child in the town of Tipperary leaving it and building a new town in the immediate vicinity. This is called new Tipperary, and it "was over the formal opening of thia town that the row took place some months ago wh«n Mr Dillon's arm. was nearly broken by a blow from a policeman. The opening ceremony was moßt amusing. Messrs Dillon and O'Brien drove to the scene, followed in ears by a very large body of police. At a turn in the* road when nearing Tipperary Messrs Dillon and O'Brien turned suddenly into a lane and concealed themselves in a house. When the police discovered they had lost them they became furious, and began to scour the country. Meantime another batch of Irish members of Parliament commenced to hold a meeting in a neighboring town, and the police having heard of it they rushed off post hast© to stop them. Immediately Messrs Dillon and O'Brien found the.eoast clear they came eut and had a splendid open-air meeting, at which, they delivered magnificent speeches, /The opening ceremony was just drawing to a close when police returned, and being aagry at having been outwitted they began to lay about them at all and sundry, and a great many people were very badly hurt. There was nothing but peace and quietness until the police came, but they were not long en the scene before there was bloodshed. They had orders not to allow the. ceremony of opening new Tipperary to take place, and on finding it had taken place they became very violent. We presume that Mr Barry has found it very unprofitable to have all the houses in the town tenantless, and that now he has come round.to repent his past action. There never was a man so thoroughly defeated. It was n» use to try to get new tenants into the empty shops for no one would buy anything from them, and thus they were rendered absolutely valueless. No donbt Messrs Dillon and O'Brien will pay for all in gaol now.

CONCILIATION. The free laborers at Lyttelton last Saturday struck because they did not get pudding for dinner. Does not this prove what we have been saying all along P It is no use to resist unionism. We may as well accept it, and make the best we can of it. Here are those free laborers petted and flattered and made much of now. What does that teach them ? Simply that it is good to unite. There is not one of those free laborers who will not be a unionist before long, and there will be the same trouble with them that there is with the present unionists. Fancy men striking because they did not get pudding for dinner! What would have been said of the unionists if they did that ? There is only one way out of the difficulty, and that is conciliation and arbitration. This has worked well in France, and in English iron works, where really strikes are unknown. Why then do not the Government take.steps at once, as they promised, and try to settle the difficulty ?