Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 27, 2 July 1903, Page 9

Irish News

ANTRIM.— Death of a Belfast Man The death is announced of Mr. Arthur EDamill, D.L., Belfast, who was said to foe one of the wealthiest Cetholics in Ulster. Mr. Hamill had been ailing for about a year, and died at his residence, Trench House, near Belfast. In politics he was Unionist. An Irish Harp Festival A representative committee has been formed In Belfast for the purpose of making arrangements for the holding of an Irish Hfcxp Festival in that city — a festival, however, which would not be limited to performances on the harp, but would include performances on the Irish pipes, singing, and dancing. In connection with thq> festival it is proposed to have an exhibition of rational musical instruments, music, portraits of Irish harpers, etc. CLARE.— The Diocese of Killaloe The Bishop of Killaloe, the Most Rev. Dr. Mcßedrnond, has announced his intention of establishing a Chapter in the diocese. It will consist of 15 members, including a dean, archdeacon, and 13 canons. CORK.— The Forthcoming Regatta A deputation of Cork amateur oarsmen recently paid a visit to London with a view of getting support for proposed rowing competitions at the Cork City Regatta. They received much encouragement from leading members of London clubs, and on their report being made to the regatta committee, it was decided to offer a challenge cup value £150, and consolation prizes value £108, for competition. An Honest Lace Dealer The ' Cunard Bulletin,' published on board the Campania on a recent outward voyage to New York, contains the following interesting story of the first money order sent out to a ship at sea by Marconigram. ' Whea about 150 miles out from Queenstown, speeding along on our voyage, we were called from behind by Crookhaven Station, County Kerry, by the following message from our Queenstown offices : " Mrs. Ilegarty, Irish lace vendor, when on board the Campania this morning was handed a ten-pound note instead of a five-pound by a gentleman saloon passenger, and would like to return it. Please have inquiries made." The message was posted up in the saloon, and the owner of the note, a wellknown New York merchant, found, and the difference, hve pounds, refunded him by the ship, the amount being recovered from the lace vendor by our Queenstown agents.' DOWN.— A Windfall Information has reached Banbridge, County Down, to the effect that the Court of Probate in Philadelphia has given judgment in the case of the estate of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Olds, deceased, of Newhaven, Connecticut. The value of the estate is 400,000 dollars. The claim of James H. Campbell, of Banbridge, has been dismissed, and the amount has been ordered to be divided into nine shares. Amongst the beneficiaries under the jiudgment are Mrs. Anna M. Shields, a sister of the deceased, and other descendants in the Banbridge district. They are ordinary working people and are greatly delighted with their good fortunes . DUBLIN.— The Mansion House The Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin, in which the Land Bill Convention was held, is one of the largest assembly rooms in Euiope. It was built in 1821 by relays of workmen — the work proceeding without intermission by day or night — to enable the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Corporation to entertain with a fitting magnificence George IV. on his visit to Ireland that year. Bogus Clubs Judging by the number of prosecutions that have recently been instituted and the smart penalties inflicted the authorities (writes a Dublin correspondent) are waking up to the huge evil wrought by the bogus clubs of Dublin. As the recorder put it, they exist simply with the object of evading the law. They are beyond doubt responsible for most of the drunkenness of the city. The law evidently requires to be more stringently enforced in their regard than it has been, and it is satisfactory that a beginning has been made. Lady Guardians A conference of Irish lady guardians and their sympathisers was held recently in the Mansion House. Mrs. Dockrell presided, and a number of most instructive papers were read by lady guardians. QAL WAY.— Presentation to the Bishop The Most Rev. Dr. MacCormack, Bishop of Galway, has Wen made the recipient, by the Very Rev. Dr. Fahy, P.P., V.C!-., and the 'other priests of Gort of a splendid portrait, painted from a photo of his taken at the last St. Colman MacDuagh celebrations at Kiltartan, Cart. LIMERICK. - A Reminder of the Past The reference in his speech winding up the debate on the second reading of the Irish Land Bill by Mr. Wyndham to the Treaty of Limerick and the two sinister heritages bequeathed (by the breakjng of that Treaty by England) — the Catholic Question and the Land Question

—will render it of interest to recall the fact (says the ' Freeman's Journal ') that on March 6th, 1828, Sir Henry Parnell, who was subsequently Secretary of State for War, and Lord Congleton, moved in the House of Commons that ' a copy of the Treaty of Limerick be laid upon the table.' The motion, which was ultimately agreed to without division, led to a debate of great animation, in which Sir Robert Peel, the younger Grattan, and Spring Rice took part. The report of the debate is, perhaps, the very best popular exposition on record of the Treaty of Limerick and the circumstances attending its violation. Tt is certainly a remarkable coincidence that this great instrument should form the subject of attention on the eve of Catholic Emancipation and on the eve of an attempt at the settlement of the Irish Land Question. GENERAL Treasure Trove A London Judge has decided that the famous Celtic gold ornaments found at Lough Foyle, Ireland, in, 1896, and purchased by the British Museum, are treasure trove and belong to the Crown. A New Ireland X Mr. Justm McCarthy contributed to a recent issue of ' New Ireland ' an article entitled ' A Quarter of a Century's Gain in Ireland.' He thus concludes : ' I am proud to be able to express my absolute conviction that the New Ireland has arisen, and that our dearest national hopes are on the eve of consummation. It is well for those Irishmen who have lived to see the coming of such a day.' Nuns in Workhouses A Parliamentary return has been issued showing the number of workhouse infirmaries in Ireland in which nuns are employed in any capacity, showing for each infirmary the number of nuns so employed, and the amount paid to them by the way of salaries within the last financial year. The totals are 32 matrons, who receive £1440 a year ; 48 schoolmistresses, who receive £1,888 ; and 335 nurses, who receive £10,195. Agrarian Crime The return of agrarian offences in llreland in 1962, issued as a Parliamentary Paper, indicates (says the 'Irish Weekly') that the expense mvohed in piinting documents of this kind may- in future be saved the taxpayers. It runs to 10 pages, it is true, but the pages ate all but blank. In the matter of agrarian crime lush perversity is considered capable of breaking out in :*,'} different ways ; but during 1902 16 of the 33 crimes were so rigidly boycotted that there was not e\en one offence recorded under these 16 headings. Indeed, were it not foi a marked partiality by some simpletons or misguided beings for sending ' tin eatening letters' there would be practically nothing to return. Tobacco Culture An inquiry made of the Chancellor of the Exchequer by Mr. William Redmond is a reminder that a subject which created i/cry great interest in Ireland a year or two ago is aortunately not a dead topic. Mr William Redmond wanted to know if the Chancellor of the Exchequer would extend to the experimental culture of tobacco in Ireland the same protection and encouragement held out by his predecessor, Sir Michael ITicks-Beach. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied at once in the affirmative, and this exchange of ■views between Mr Ritchie and Mr. Redmond is interesting to us as a sign that experiments in tobacco growing are still being made under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. As nothing has been heard for some time of Irish-grown weed the public will be glad to, know, on the authority of Mr. Redmond, that considerable success has attended the experiments. Sectarian Feeling Speaking at the Dublin dinner of the Surveyors' Institution, Sir Antony MacDonnell said that on coming back to his own country after half a lifetime of foreign sei-vice, detached fiom any political party and entirely abo\e any sectarian feeling, nothing had surprised and pained him more than the extent to which sectarian feeling prevailed in Ireland. Seeing that Sir Antony's time since he returned to Ireland has been entirely devoted to a most laudable effort to reform the Castle with its various departments and ramifications, his words bear a significant meaning and speak, volumes for the bigotry with which he has to contend. Ho also asserted that he had not met anyone, be he Catholic or Protestant, who had not deplored this miserable condition of things. No doubt the loudest weepers were those those who live and thrive on sectarian animosity. It has ever been thus in Ireland. Penal Laws The ' Westminster Oazette ' recently commented upon the fact that the Iris"h members more than any other section of the House of Commons affected the beard. This statement has caused a correspondent to write to the editor to remind him of the fact that there was a period extending over two centuries when an Irishman was prohibited by the law of England from wearing a moustache. We are told that ' In a Parliament held at Trim in 1447, Henry VI. being then on the throne, and John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, occupying the position of Lord Lieutenant, it was enacted that every Irishman must keep his upper lip shaved or be used as an Irish enemy.' If he persisted in following the fashion of wearing a moustache his treason could be purged only

by the Surrender of his land ; and though it is stated SSt « rf Om ? Jiifeh estates are held even until to-day by descendants of English favorites of Royalty to whom t5 LL W «h ce v gg H cn * beCaU^ the ° Wners of lon & ago declined th« t ■ S u >° d^, lt i s understood that, generally speaking, rfn V>n lan f dlo i^ , of f that preferred the razor to rum. Despite that fact, however, this extraordinary statute remained m force for 200 years, not being repealed until the reign of Charles 2 ; and thus it last one injustice to Ireland in connection with the land question was removed before the treaty of peace execut ed between Luid I)unra\uii and Mi. William O'Bucn • WyndSui m S ° me dogree raUned by Mr. George Irish Minerals A lecture on Irish mining Industries was delivered. recently at the Imperial Institute, London, by Mr St John Lyburn, who gave some interesting details as to the existence of coal in Ireland, the districts in which it was to be found including Castlecomer, Coahslund, Kanturk, Ballycastle, Angna, etc. The coal found at the last-mentioned place has been used with the best results on the L'aian and Lei trim Railway. Iron ore was found throughout the country in the form of oxide and bog 11011 ore, which was used for the purification of gas was also found. Lead was found at Ulendalough, Tullow, Ouohteiaid, and other places, and theie were various clays suitable lor pottery and other purposes band for glassmaking was found at Mackish County Donegal, and had been subjected to tests in furnaces, and ascertained to be suitable for flint-glass. Cement could ho manufactured in Ireland, a nd there was no reason why it could not be made equal to the best London and Continental brands. Mr. Lvburn, in dealing with Irish marble, mentioned that the Prince of Wales " lia\ m>r visited the exhibition, had ordered several columns of the material. Ireland possessed valuable deposits of sandstone, slate, and valuable building materials which could be de\ eloped by using the most modern apparatus and the best quarrying skill. She should be able to ff u PPly building materials far beyond her own needs. What was ro'i'urori was proper and systematic prospecting leading up to (level opment upon rational linos It was to the want of this regular work failure had been duo in the past Capital was needed for the exploitation of many operations in directions where there was a ready market Mr. Lybuin showed a number of \iows of mining and quarrying operations and of experiments which had been made by the Department in glass and pottery making, and said that the fallacy that nothing could be made of Irish clay had at length been dispelled. The fact Mas he said, that the clay would take a. gla?o which permitted excellent reproduction of the beautiful Delia Robena ware. Then and Now During the debate on the second reading of the> Irish Land Bili m tie House of i Commons one o! the pnncipal speakers deineied himself of the follow ing stionj,' opinions ic-gtiiding the dual ownoiship of land in Ji eland, and the consequent cv us lesulting theienoin: 'in Itoland,' said the speal cv, ' von ha\e a s,\ stem bp, -which the landloid does not s^nd a shilling on his property There is a m-i^o of pi ojWetary light on the side of the tenant, which is also lostered by many histouc conditions, a 5-ense of co-ownership whuh does not exist, and never has existed, in Fneland I can imagine no fault attaching to an\ land s\ stem which does not attach to the Irish s\stem. It has got all the faults of ptvxsant pi oprietary, of extreme landlordism, and of landlords who spend no money on their estates . r Jhc primary object of this measure is to substitute a good system of land teivaie foi the intolerable and ahsuid system which now pi e\ ails ; to remo\e some of these intolerable absui dilies, partly due to the e\ils handed down to us fiom ancient history, but particulnilv due to the well-meaning but erring attempts of Knqkind to cure the<-e evils which h.u c resulted in making Irish land laws a (haos and a b\e-word, which re I lee 111 1 the utmost di'-ciedit upon tho powers of British statesmanship ' It was no lush member of Parliament or Nationalist agitator who thus spoke (writes the London correspondent ol the Melhouine ' Ad\ocate ') but t ho present Toiy Pime Minisior. Mr. Arthur Balfour, former Chief Sec ret ai \ lor Ireland — the sa^ ago ns.sailani of the Plan -if ('anua'un and tho luler of Tieland who wirod from Dublin Castle to the police authorities in the south of Ireland,, ' Don t hesitate to shoot ' during the stirring times of the land st-i uccrle of 1 ,"» \ ears ago But Saul too, is numbered among the projihets, and the abo\o flotation testilies to the extent and thoroughness of his conversion.