GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 49, 4 April 1874, Page 11

GENERAL NEWS.

(Summarised from our exchanges.) IVELA.VTD. The inauguration of the Winter session of the Catholic University was celebrated by High Mass on Sunday, in the University chupel, I • Stephen's Green. Rev. Monsignor Woodlock was celebrant, and delivered an impressive address. The best house coal is 40s a ton in Dublin, which places it within the reach only of those who have ample means. The strike in the damask weaving trade in Lurgan continues, and there are no signs of a speedy settlement of the dispute. The turnout causes idleness to between one and two thousand persons, and in the community of a small town this state of things is exercising a general and depressing influence. A Grand Depdt for Dublin. — The Chamber of Commerce of Dublin have resolved to build a central railro d depot at the expense of £750,000. The Post-office authorities are getting into hot water, owing to the unreasonable time taken for the transmission of letters throughout the Country. The Irish teachers. — The ' Standard ' of December 29 says : " The proceedings at the public meeting which terminated the Annual Congress.^ Irish National School Teachers in Dublin on Christmas Eve, were marked by all that moderation of statement and demand which characterises the conduct of men conscious that they have right on their side, and that they need but to make their case fully known to obtain redress. We connot doubt that the confidence of the teachers will be justified. Indeed, it is clearly necessary to improve the condition of this meritorious class of public servants, unless we are prepared to see the cause of elementary education in Ireland retrograde lamentably." The anniversary of shutting the gates of Derry was celebrated on the 18th Dec. in that city by the Apprentice Boys, with a'l due observances, excepting that which has so frequently associated the event with riot. The display was poor compared with other demonstrations. The bells were pealed, flags displayed on public places, and •mall ordnances discharged at intervals. Our Irish exchanges record the death, from bronchitis, on the 19th Dec. at his residence, 25 Gloncoster street, Dublin, of Edward D. Walshe, Esq., Solicitor, aged sixty-five years. Connected with some of the most respectable families in Mayo and Cork counties, and possessed of considerable abilities, Mr Waleho took a lending part in the patriotic agitation of O'Connell. He was a member of the famous '81' Club, and was esteemed by its most distinguished advocate. A committee has been formed in Tralee with the object of collecting funds for the Mitchell Testimonial. The manner in which the movement has been received and the amount of money already handed ia augur well for its success. It is miserable to observe the efforts made to give the question o Home Rule, above all, a religious complexion. When all is said, they come back to ring the changes on the one dread prospect — * It will give Ii eland into the hand 6of the Catholics.' This is being true to traditional policy with a vengeance. It was by cunning misrepresentation of this very sort that the people of Ireland have been kept as they are. It is u^ed now to perpetuate their condition. And, for our part, we believe this perversion ,'of truth, with all that it suggests to alarmed bigotry in this island and in the sister countries, will be the grand diiliculty the champions of Home Rule will have to encounter. A very long memorial has lately been presented by ex-students of the Irish Catholic University to the Episcopal Board of that establishment. Many Protestant newspapers have emputhicaliy declared that '> this memorial was a proof that the educated classes of Ireland were beginning to find out " that their religion was a false one," in the words of the ' Pall Mall Gazette.' The memorial is, however, one of the most Catholic utterances of modern times. "We know," says the memorialists, that truth cannot be inconsistent with truth. Tho more minutely science is investigated, the stronger it will bring forth to illustrate and confirm the truths of Divine revelation, and it is the duty of the Catholic University to impress this upon Irish Catholics." A remarkable letter from the Rev. Mr Keeffe, P. P., Aghaboe, which will command universal attention. Ho addresses Mr Gladstone on the Land Question in terms at once dignified and caudid. lie examines the Act of 1870 logically, and tells its author that it is "a mockery as a means of serving the tenant." Tho Rev. Mr Keeffe call* upon Mr Gladstone to extend Ulster Tenant Right to the th-eo remaining provinces. This was the universal demand of the Irish nation from the very start. Baroness EurJett-Coutts contemplates the erection of several squares of compartment houses in Dublin and Belfast for the poor, which are to be paid for in instalments. Irishmen all over the world should be glad to hear that a beautiful marble statue of the great patriot Grattan will shortly grace the entrance to the old Parliament House, College Green, where he straggled so hard to gain the independence of his country. The Homo Rule Conference at Dublin terminated on the 22ud Dec. A "Home Rule League" was established, and Irishmen all over the world appealed to for assistance to the Federal movement. Sob-

scrip'ions to the special fund were opened and contributions amounting to £1,800 announced. Dr. Moran, Catholic Bishop of Ossory, has prohibited his clergy from taking part in political or electioneering affairs f->rf ->r the ensuing year. The " Noble Organ-grinder," has been before the Dublin magistrates lor obstructing the thoroughfare by not driving his donkey quick enough. lie was dismissed. The days are gone by when the two great religions of the land were at war with each other. The bone and sinew of Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, are united on the question of Some Rule. It can't be denied. The leaders of the movement are mostly all Protestant and Presbyterians. Isaac Butt belongs to the Church of England ; Rev. Professor Galbraith is a clergyman of that Church ; and yet, I would venture to saj, they have done more for the restoration cf our ancieht rights than many men living. It need not be feared thrn that (he meeting of the upholders of " brass money and wooden shoes" can in the remotest degree affect the great agitation at present being carried on throughout the country. At the meeting for the winding up of the Home Government Association, the proceedings, naturally, were marked by much solemnity, and Mr Butt and other speakers exhibited considerable emotion. Resolutions were passed adjourning the association sine die, and authorising its officers to hand over to its more important successor, the Irish Home Rule League, its assets, books, and documents. It may be interesting to mention that the Home Government Association lasted exactly three years and four months, its first meeting having been held on the Ist September, 1870.