Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 16, 17 April 1902, Page 9

Irish News.

ANTRIM.

The meeting which was held m the Town Hall," Belfast, at the call ot the Lord Mayor, uo discuss the best means ot perpetuating the memory of Lord Dufforin (says tho ' Irish Weekly ')was most successful Thai the deceased nobleman was regarded with ailection by his fellow-citizens in Belfast is undoubted. It was not alone the glamor of his great abilities and his success that appealed to the imagination, but the surpassing traits of character he possessed, as well as his charming personality, and the particular interest ho took in everything bearing on the welfaro of the citizens. The most favored proposal at the meeting was that to erect a statue of the Marquis, to be placed in the front of the new City Hall, and the idea will we venture to think, be received with general acceptance. Considerably over £1000 were subscribed at the meeting. CARLOW.

Oak Park, two railes from Carlow, the magnificent residence of tho Right Hon. Henry Bruen, D.L., was on Sunday morning, February 23, almost completely destroyed by fire. The north wing was the only portion saved. The valuable pictures (except those in the hall), plate, books, and a quantity of furmturo were also saved. CLARE.— A Difference.

The ' Manchester Guardian ' notes some extraordinary proceedings at a Coercion Court in Ennis, and comments editorially on them as follows : — ' The charge was over an intimidation to prevent a Mr. Normoyle from occupying certain lands which he had a right to occupy But Mr. Normovle, the sufferer whose wrongs the prosecution was to redress, seems in the witnessbox to have treated his would-be protectois with chilling nulinerence , so much so that first his ow n champion, the prosecuting counsel, had to cross-question him as a hostile witness, and finally the Court committed him lor contempt. ]lis wife and son were next put into the wit-ness-box ; they likewise failed to testify against the defendants, and ttci'o likewise committed. At tins point one might ha\e expected those in the (lock against whom nothing was testified, would be discharged Such an expectation would. however, rune ignored one important fad or — the difference between justice in Kngland and justice in Ireland The magistrates admitted that there was no case, but proceeded to order the defendants either to be bound over in substantial security to keep a peace which they had shown no sign of breaking or to go to gaol for three months 'I he defendants refused to gi\e bail in a case where they wei c quite innocent, and have gone to prison accordingly. It is not quite clear from the report whethei the Normoyle family aro there also ' The English writer (says the ' Freeman's Journal) thinks that these facts throw a ludicrous light on the judicial attitude of Coercion Court magistrates. Of course they do. But, except in the ' Manchester Guardian,' and perhaps one or two other papers in all England and Scotland, there is no chance whatever in these days of having them recorded. CORK.— Priests Honored. The Holy Father has conferred the title of Doctor of Divinity upon the Rev. P. A. Sheehan, P.P., Doneraile, tho author of 'My New Curate,' ' Luke Dclmcge,' and other works. His Holiness has! further signified his appreciation of literary merit in tho priesthood by sending-, through his Lordship the Bishop* of Cloyne, two costly medals, one for the Rev. B.

McCarthy, D.D., P.P., Inniscarra n and the other for Dr. Sheehan. Dr. McCarthy is an eminent Celtic scholar. KILKENNY.— An Election.

Mr. Joseph Devlin, of Belfast, has been returned unopposed as M I. for North Kilkenny, a vacancy having occurred through the resignation of the sitting member. TYRONE. — Candid Admission.

correspondent writing in an Ulster Orange paper essays to explain the position of the South Tyrone Unionist Association, with whoso organisation and working he professes to be acquainted. ' The association,' he makes clear, ' was originally formed, not in the interests of landlords or tenants, nor yet was it promoted on the lines of the Orange institution,' and he preceeds with refreshing logic to say : — ' Our testants together " and " keep Potestants together " a-nd " Keep Popery down " ' The last motto exactly hits off Ulster Unionism. WICKLOW.— A Memorial.

A monument is about to be erected in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, in memory of ' Antrim Jack,' otherwise Sam McAllister, the trusted comrade of Michael -Dwyer, whom he died to save under tragic circumstances.

GENERAL Plain Speaking.

In the course of a letter in a Dublin newspaper, Mr. T. W. Russell replies to Sir E. Carson, who called him a trator because of his action in the South Down election Mr. Russell writes in part as follows — Sir Edward Carson speaks of me as a traitor. Yes — but the Ulster tenants will be quick to recognise who and what Sir Edward Carson is. They w ill recognise that this is tho gentleman who watched o\er the landlords' interests on the Morley Committee (3 894), who sprawled into Lord Ardilaun's arms when that distinguished nobleman ran amuck aß.unst the Unionist Go\ eminent m 181)6, who conspnrd with Lord Londonderry to wreck and lender worthless the Land Act of IS<)6, who used language toward Mr Aithur Balfour in the House of Commons that made <j\eiy man of honor and of feeling m Ihe House (and who knew what Mr. Bui four had done for his assailant) hang his head in shame, and who for it all holds an office vhuh last v car brought him £11,000 — lor woik as well done by the law ollicer of Lord Ilosohei\\s Co\ ernnici.t for £.1000 Tieuson is not treason when it is successful The Llstir tenants ki.ow Sir Ed W..U d Caison. To be atl.ul-cu by men of his stamp is an honor, and his opposition to the land movement will in. ike it the more [opulur in e\ciy UKter coiml.\ . i\l,\ ' treason consists sini|)l\ in this — that 1 supported a candidate m East Down chosen liy a representative Unionist Convention, against a netil K'liian si - L'tlrd by Lokl Arthur Hill and the landlords- All this l\n\ about East Down sunply lepresents the last dv ing kick of lr'sh landloi <lism. In the debate on the Addicss last j oar I 1 old the House of Commons that the country was face to face with a now Ireland The revolt m Down is le'volt against tyrannous and an impossible system A Significant Fact.

The London ' Tablet ' points out that Lord Roseberv's piogramme of tho ' clean slate ' as applied to Home Rule has not recoi\ccl "the adhesion of any Catholic peer who was to be found among the supporters of Mr Chulstone's lhils. The University Question.

The evidence given before the Univeisity Commission by lord Chief Huron I'alles. Monsi^nor Molloy, Professor Mahaffy, Mr Locky. and Mr N. Synnott, appears m the second volume of the pivceedinns. The Lord Chief Baron said he con-

sidered a Catholic College in the University of Dublin on the same terms as Trinity as the ideal aoluttoS sfnJin^ UeStlO , n ;. The OnJy other s^isfactory solution in his opinion would be the foundation not of a new college affiliated to the Royal University, but of a new University A college affiliated with the Royal University would not ensure finality Mr. Synnott also spoke strongly in fsuor of a Cathol.c college side by Sl / VT^' 1 Tnnit y i' 1 the University of Dublin. Professor Mahnffy does •inri a M PC T I,°1 ,° op P° se this Proposal, v,w H - i GCl 7' on bein S askecl his view, declined to express it. Candidates' Expenses. A blue book gives interesting particulars of candidates' cxpenies at the last general election. In Ireland votes are cheaper than elsewhere, me county vote averages 4s 6d the borough \ote 2s 9d, which makes an average of 4s only. One hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and ninety-three Irishmen recorded their votes. The electorate numbers 762,518, and returns 103 members to the House, at a cost of £33,068 4s lOd. The candidates for North Down, Mr. Corbett and Colonel Sharman Crawford, spent £1187 16s 6d and £1118 17s 9d each. Mr. J. F. X. O'Brien makes a record by obtaining his votes at Cork for 7d each, while Colonel Singleton's beating at North Leitrim cost him 14s lOd per vote. The cheapest victory in the three kingdoms was gained by Mr. J. p. Kennedy at North Westmeath for £148 18s. These are very large sums when compared to the modest three half-crowns which the junior member for Wellington spent at the last general election in this Colony. An Illegal Proceeding*.

Referring to the imprisonment of Irish members the ' Speaker ' says : ' Here are two members of Parliament of unquestioned integrity sent to prison for making speeches at orderly meetings, kept in prison on bread and water and the plank bed, and treated as common criminals ! Chief Barron Palles, the greatest lush Judi>e, holds thot magistrates who passed these sentences had no lurisdiction to try the prisoners, that the charge against them did not come within tho Crimes Act, and that the whole proceeding was a " bad, illegal thing ! " ' Naval Chaplains.

Nowheie m the United Kingdom (writes a Dublin correspondent) is tilie spiritual desolation to which. Catholic seamen are sublectecl in the lloval Na\y more keenly felt than in Ireland. About nine - tenths of these men are Irish, or of Irish extraction, and the almost insurmountable difficulties which they have to overcome when desirous of approaching the Sacraments- are well known to their friends and relatives. It is believed the appointment of even a small number of Catholic chaplains, with the same rank and status as Protestant ministers now enjoy in the navy would do much to remedy their grievances. To these the Catholic sailor could make known his difficulties, with the certainty of their being redressed if it were at all possible. At present his complaints fall upon unsympathetic ears and remain unheeded. Notwithstanding the plausible statement made by Mr. Forster in reply to the speeches of Messrs. McKillop, Joyce, and Dillon in the' House of Commons the other night, tho Irish people place little or no relianco on promises made on behalf of the Admiralty. That they have good grounds for this distrust is certain. Over 23 years ago Mr. W. 11 Smith, then iirst Lord of the Adnnralty,, in reply to an eloquent appeal of the late A. M. Sullivan, Sil j t l • — ' it will be the duty of the Admiralty to endeavor to make such provision by attaching a Catholic clergyman to every fleet of five or

six large ships off any port, &o that in case of illness or- danger, or any other emergency, he might be at hand to aflord the consolations of religion which might be required. I cannot hold out any hope of providing 1 additional chaplains for additional ships, but I will do all I can to bring within the reach of Catholic sailors the ministrations of their religion.' Neither this specific promise nor many others of a similar nature sjnee made ha\e been fulfilled, in consequence of which the Catholic hierarchy assembled in Maynooth in 1901, after carefully considering the question, adopted the following resolution : — ' That as we have frequently asked his Majesty's Government to make adequate provision for the spiritual needs of Catholic sailors in the Royal Navy, and notwithstanding these repeated promises to do so, such adequate provisions have not yet been made, we now deem it our duty to advise Catholic parents not to allow their children to join his Maiesty's ships until suitable arrangements shall be made to minister to the spiritual wants of Catholic .seamen in the fleet.' This resolution still stands good and is acted upon by Catholic parents and guardians. A Good Suggestion.

The Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, Bishop of Ross, m his evidence before the Irish University Commission described the agricultural department m connection with the Louvam Uni\ersity, and said the idea was that they should have in the proposed Irish University a Faculty of Agriculture, that that Faculty of Agriculture should be largely theoretical, that in addition they should have m Dublin a College for higher agricultural education, separate from the University Faculty, and that the students should be taken to work tit Glasnevin. Cork Queen's College could, he said, he utilised to a \ cry largo extent as a technologic il college, and the Model Sc'iools could be utilised for the purposes of agricultural and technical education. The Other Side.

In an article in one of the London reviews .Judge O'Connor Morris opposes the compulsory purchase of land in Ireland, gi\ ing an array of arguments to show what a disastrous effect it would have upon the fortunes of Ii ish landlords. He enumerates a number of reasons wliv the landlords of Ireland deser\e better of the British Go\ eminent than to be compelled to sell their land to their tenantry, and conn ires up a heartrending picture of the landed proprietors ' dn\en m unman. > from their hearths and their duelling. and cut off from then associations often of ages, which property in land almost always creates' This is all very well, but is it not curious that jj u d"c O'Connor Morris has nothing to say about the countless thousands of Irish tenant farmeis, with their wives and families who under an iniquitous landlord system, have been hunted from • "their hearths and their dwellings' during the i-.ist centuis''