Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 33, 13 August 1903, Page 9

Irish News

ANTRIM.— A Welcome Home

The home-coming of Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., after his magnificent work in the United States, was marked by a perfectly unique experience. Mr. Devlin enjoyed the honor and the privilege of receiving three monster ovations on three successive nights from, the three capitals of Ireland. Starting with the Southern Capital, where enthusiastic thousands acclaimed their welcome and their gratitude for the splendid work achieved by Mr. Devlin among the millions of our race in America, Mr. Devlin proceeded to Dublin, where he was met by perhaps the greatest demonstration that has traversed its streets for a decade for a similar purpose. And the culminating point was reached in his own city of Belfast, where a fitting crown was placed on the task to which he was assigned by the choice and will of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the National Directory of the United Irish League, and which he has discharged with such consummate skill and signal success. DOWN. —The late Lord Russell

A magnificent granite cross has been erected in the old chapel burying ground, Newry, in memory of the late Lord Russell of Killowen and of his eldest child, Lilian Frances Mary Russell, who died at the age of five years on the 2nd November, 1864, and was interred in the above-mentioned graveyard. DUBLIN.— An Appointment

The Very Rev. J. Daniel Mannix, D.D., Professor of Dogmatic and Moral Theology, Maynooth College, has been appointed Yice-»Pre>sident of Maynooth in the room of the Most Rev. Dr. ODea, Bishop-elect of Clonfert. Dr. Mannix has been secretary of the Maynooth Union since its formation. The Bank of Ireland

The Bank of Ireland, which stands in somewhat the same relation to Ireland as the Bank of England does to Great Britain, completed its one hundred and twentieth year, appropriately enough, on the recent bank holiday. It is peculiar among Irish banks in that its shareholders still calculate the value of their shares for voting purposes in terms of the old Irish currency. Of course, the most interesting thing about the bank is that for close on a hundred years it has been domiciled in the old Irish Houses of Parliament. An Australian Visitor

During the early part of June the Right Rev Dr. Reville, O.S.A , Bishop of Sandhurst, was on a visit to Ireland after an absence of fourteen years. During his stay in Dublin his Lordship was the guest of the Augustinian Fathers. A Gift to Blackrock

Mr Carnegie has intimated his willingness to contribute £3000 towards the building of a free library in Blackrock, County Dublin. LIMERICK. — An Anonymous Donor

An oratory, to cost £1000, is to be added to the Redemptonst Church of St. Alphonsus, Limerick. The donor is anonymous The design will be Gothic, in keeping with the style of the church. The principal feature of the work will be four red marble pillars from the Middleton quarries It is satisfactory to find that the growing popularity of Irish marbles is evidant at home. The use of Irish material in such a case is a sermon in stone in support of Irish industrial progress. ROSCOMMON —Dedication of a Church

The magnificent new Catholic church at Roscommon was dedicated on June 18 by the Most Rev. Dr. Clancy, Bishop, of Elphin, in the piesence of his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Healy, Archbishop of Tuam ; the Most Rev. Dr. M'Cormack, Bishop of Galway ; and a large number of clergy and laity. Two most beautiful and highly interesting presentations were made to the church. One was the gift of a chalice given by his Holiness the late Pope. The other was the presentation by Dr. M. F. Cox, of Dublin, of a magnificent replica of the famous Cross of Cong, the original of which was made jn Roscommon in 1123 for Turlogh O'Connor, King of Ireland, as a reliquary for a portion of the True Cross. His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam, in the course of an eloquent sermon, said the artistic sense was keen in Roscommon in ancient times. It might be said that Clonmacnoise, the greatest school of art in Ireland, got its inspiration from Roscommon, for Kiaran, son of its founder, was a Roscommon man. The great chalice that St. Patrick had was made, if not by a native of the town of Roscommon, by an Elphin man The beautiful processional Cross of Cong, or rather of Tuam, also had some connection with Roscommon. There was no work in metal comparable with the Cross of Cong in

beauty of design or elegance of execution. The church they were dedicating was a memorial church intended to commemorate the life and labors of the great prelate who had ruled the diocese, the Most Rev. Dr. Gillooly In making reference to his Lordship, to his fruitful and laborious episcopate, and connecting his memory with that beautiful building, it was not, of course, their intention to give any official or authoritative recognition to the sanctity of the deceased prelate. That was the exclusive prerogative of the supreme authority in the Church ; but with that reservation they could truly describe the Lord Bishop of Elphin as a prelate of great holiness or life, who rendered signal services to the diocese of Elphin and to the whole Church of Ireland. SLIGO — Unconditional Release The unconditional release of Mr. Mcllugh, M.P. (says the ' Irish Weekly '), is a distinct rebuff to Judge Ross and it affords another indication that the King is taking a more active part in politics than has been the wont of British sovereigns for generations. It is whispered that immediately after Mr. McHugh's arrest the Lord Lieutenant represented to Judge Koss that the airest was most impolitic, and advised his immediate release ; but there was no response, and the rumor goes that the facts were reported to the King, with the result that Mr. McHugh was set at liberty. The power of judges to commit for contempt of court has been so flagrantly abused in Ireland that the restricting sooner or later of the judicial power is inevitable. GENERAL School of Irish Learning A beginning is about to be made with a school of Irish learning, suggested by Dr. Kuno Meyer in his address at the meeting in Dublin on May 11 in connection with the Oireachtas. The authorities of the Catholic University College, Stephen's Green, Dublin, have placed the Aula Maxima at the disposal of Dr Meyer for an inaugural address. In this address Dr. Meyer will further develop his scheme. The Royal University The 2 1st annual report of the Royal University of Ireland, which has just been presented to Parliament, states that the total number of persons who entered for the various academical examinations of the University during 1902 was 2894, as against 2781 in the preceding year. The Land Question The Maynooth priests in America have sent to Mr. Redmond a resolution congratulating the Irish people and the Irish Party on the prospects of a favorable settlement of the Land Question in Ireland. The Prisons Service Mr. John O'Donnell, M P., has his eyes on the Irish Prisons Service, which seems to be closed against Catholics, and has asked for two returns regarding promotion, etc. The first is one giving the names of governors and chief warders in the Irish Prison Service and setting foith the number of years' service each had before attaining the post of go\ernor or chief warder, the religion to which he belongs, the class in which he now is, and the salary he is entitled to receive. The second return will set cit ' the names of medical officers of all Irish prisons, the prisons to which they are attached, the annual salary each is entitled to receive, and the number of yeais' piofessional experience each had before being appointed to take charge of a prison, and the religious persuasion of each ' There is no department of the public service in Ireland in which Catholicism is more consistently penalised than by the Prisons Board. Motor-car Service Considerable interest has been aroused in the North of Ireland by the autocar service which, under the title of the ' Coast Line Motorway,' the Earl of Leitrim is organising for the north-west of Donegal. The first service to be inaugurated will be between Strabane Railway Station and Rosapenna, a distance of 38 miles. At Strabane the autocar service will make connections with trains from Belfast and Dublin, and with those of both the Great Northern and Donegal Railways by way of Perry The sen ice- will be timed to suit the cross Channel service with England and Scotland The whole district will also benefit in another way, for Lord Leitrim is rolling, with steam rollers, the whole stretch of roads at his own expense. The roads may be called mountain roads, hence the vehicles, though only intended to carry J6 p^ssengeis and a little more than half a ton of luggage, or a corresponding weight of merchandise, are very powerful. Art Students at Maynooth

In the course of his speech at the conferring of degrees at Maynooth College his Eminence Cardinal Logue said : ' I bedieve it would be hard to find a university where better provision is made for the arts course thaij

has been made here. Another thing which has been brought out very distinctly by my distinguished colleague the Archbishop of Tuam, is this that there are more art students here than in all the Queen's Colleges together. So we have the men and the material for them to work upon. We have the metal and the only thing it requires is to be stamped. Thank God we can stamp some of our own metal. We have Degrees in Philosophy -and I can testify that in the case of those Degrees the stamp is not put on the metal until it has been proved perfectly genuine. ... I believe we have as good provision made here not only for the sacred sciences, but for what is generally called the arts course, to fit the students even in higher subjects for any Degree in Europe. When I hear people decry Maynooth and praising up their colleges, I believe, if I ware in a sporting mood, I would pick out three or four students from the arts course in Maynooth, and would not be afraid to pit them against the art students of any university in the three kingdoms.' Maynooth College

At the ceremony of conferring Degrees at Maynooth the following awards were made :— Faculty of TheologyPrize essay, Rev. John Meehan,»Tuam. Sacred Theology Course— Rev. Michael O'Brien, Kerry (in first class) ; Rev. J. Kelleher, Waterford (second class). The first prize for the written essay in Irish was obtained by Rev. Jeremiah Casey, Kerry. First pme for essay in French— Rev. John O'Connor, Kerry. First prize for essay in Italian— Rev. Timothy Harris, Kerry. First prize for English essay— Rev. Michael Lavelle, Tuam , second— Rev. James Murphy, Cork. The Gilmartin prize was won by Rev. Malachi Eaton, Tuam. The Sorrows of tLe Income Tax Collectors

Some grim amusement has been created (writes a London correspondent) among Irish members by the character of the latest deputation which has come to Westminster to lobby for compensation for the prospective loss that would be sustained by them should the Land Bill become law. This is no less Irian a deputation of income tax collectors. Their short and moving story is that they now get 5 per cent, on the income tax collected on landlord rents, and if the Land Bill passes they will lose that source of income. The notion of anybody having any sympathy with an income tax collector because he is unable to extract his full quota of percentage from his victim is quite GilDertian in its topsy turvey absurdity. I am afraid that these gentlemen have not encountered very much encouragement in their mission, at any rate from the private members. Whether the officials have been more consoling I cannot say ; but it is not likely that the Chief Secretary is going to increase his burden by appearing as the champion of that common enemy, the income tax collector. Bogus Linen Goods

London shopkeepers are beginning to realise that the selling of linen collars which are linen only in name is not a profitable business. Their education on this point is due to the energy of the Belfast Flax Spinners' Association, which is naturally interested in the purity of the linen manufacture. In a case heard recently it was stated that alleged four-fold linen collars were sold in London at s£d each, while even in Belfast the leal article cost nearly fifty per cent. more. This cheap rate was only possible on one of two grounds, either that the shopkeeper was giving the collars away at a loss, or that they did not warrant the trade description under which they were sold. The explanation was promptly forthcoming from the solicitor for the prosecution, who offered to prove by expert evidence of a witness who had made a microscopic examination of the goods that there was not a particle of linen in their composition. The defendant made a virtue of necessity, pleaded guilty, and submitted to a fine of 40s and costs. The example of the Belfast Flax Spinners ought not to be lost on the Irish butter producers, who have a similar complaint as to the stuff occasionally foisted on the British consumer as Irish butter, to the detriment of the genuine Irish butter trade.