Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1, 5 January 1905, Page 9

Irish News

CORK.— An Unpopular Scheme Speaking at a distribution of prizes at the Chiristian Brothers' Schools, Cork, the Bishop of Cork said there womlld be no end of trouble if anyone undertook to secularise the schools. The Mayor Honored His Holiness the Pdpe has granted the Cross ' pro Ecclesia et Pontificc ' to the Lord Mayor of Cork in at/test a tion of approval of devotion and fidelity shown to the Cftiurch and its Supreme Heasd. DONEGAL.— VaIue of Home Industries Tine faict that emigration from County Donegal is below the average should offer an encouragement to those who are concerned about the other Irish counties. It m,ay be added as an interesting a,nd ipequliar fact Hhiat it is in the most barren and desolate districts of that county that the population is maintained. In fact, his Lordshiip the Bishop of Raphoe, in 18(98,, was heard to boast that in the Rosses tlhe ptopjulatipn was increasing. It is partly owing to the amount of home industry carried on in the cottages that tjhis is so. DUBLIN.— A New Weekly Paper It ia seated that a new weekly journal will dhortly be published in Dublin. Its programme will be on the lines of Mr. William O'Brien's conciliation 'policy, and it will be run by a pompainy of which Mr. O'Brien, M.P., will be the most promilnent member. University Education Before leaving for Rome tlhe Most Re»v. Dr. Healy presided at the opening of the medical session in the Mater Mi^ericordiae Hospital. Speaking on the University QJuestron, he said not only had the existing system of (university education in Ireland been condemned by all stlatesmen who had undertaken to giovenn Ireland for tftie last thirty or forty years ; not only ha/d it been condemned by a Royal Commisision — it had been effectually • qondemned by the Senate of the Rloyal University. It was deplorable and shameful that in face of facfla kno\^n tio the whole World, the Cro,vernment should leajve Ifhe matter in sitatu q>io. Home Rule At a complimentary banquet to Mr. John O'Callaghan, ihon. secretary of the United Irislr Leag^ie of America, givejn in the Gresiham Hotel, Dublin, the Most Rev. Dr. O'Dionnel^ who proposed the toast of the Irish race, s,aid the tide ol the yoiung blood of Irel&titi flows across tlhe ocean and stop that tide they ooulti not until Ireland obtained Home Rule. The indiisiixies of Ireland lanpuHhed and revive they could not, exce|pt \i\nder Uhe nuagic tjauch of Irish National Government. They were taxe<d to an enormjous extent to keep up myriads of placemen, and placemen would keep their places until t/hey had native government. KERRY.— Killarney Lace A gold medal has been awarded to t,he Convent of Mency, KilEariney, for the lace exhibited at St. Louis Exhibition. KlLKENNY.— Appointed Bishop Very-Rev. James Davis, Vicar-General of the diocese of Davenport, lowa, U.S.A., lhas been selected by Pope Psuis X. to be Ooadiutor-Biuhcip to the Right Rev. Henry Oasigcove, Bishop of the same diocese. Tftie new Bisliop was born in November, 1,852, near the village of Knocktopiher, County Kilkenny. That his parents were devoted aln/1 exemplary Catholics is pr,Qvetn by the remarkable record of their children in entering tihe religiosus life. T>he eldest brother, Thomas, whose death occurred <\n (Jcttobter 4 ot last year, entered the Ortter of Calcqd Carmelites, in which he rose to the rank of Provincial in Ireland. Another brother, Richard, is now an esteemed iprie^t of the Louisville, Ky., diocese. Three sisters arc in the religious life, one, Madiame St. Basile, beins Superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Sag Harbor, Long Island ; another, Madame St. Sebastian, is a member of the same Order ih France, and a third is Superior of the Immaculate Heart Academy at Newport, Ky. He Who has now been raised to the "pjurple studied in the College of Mount Carmel at K<nocktor(her and at St. Patrick's College, Oatlow. In J/uine, 1903, tlhe Bishjop-elect celebrated the silver jubilee of his oridination. LIMERICK.— Death of a well-known Athlete Mr. Spenser Lytohs, Croom, a well known member of t/he Gaelic Athletic Association, died suddenly about

iihe roi^dle of November. The deceased was a ndpjiew of I*ie late Dr. Lyons, of Dublin, and grandson of tbe late Sflr William Lyons, of Cork. A Memorial A meeting was held at Emly witih the object of considering Hhe means of perpetuating the memiory of the ™ le , ? a ?i? e^ Alexis Q uinl aB, of the Cistercian Order, MJoWnt Melleray. The original idea of the promoters was to cdnrme it to the immediate friends of t*he deceased monk, but the desire of the <people to sih-are 1 iln the proposed tribute was so strongly manifested that' t|he friends felt it inpumbent on 'them to yield t)o tihis wish and lalLow it to take a tfublic form. The Last of a Noble Line Sir Stephen Edward de Vere, Bart., "died on Nbvember 10 at his residence at Foynes, County Limerijqlc, ifc his 94t,h year. Deceased, who was at one time M.P. for Limerick, had published a translation of Horace. He wiaa brother to Aubrey de Vere, the poet. Sir Stephen EBwiarid de Vere, fourth baronet, was the second son (slays the ' Times ') of the elder Sir Aubrey de Vere (author of ' Mary Tuldor '), arid brother of the yfaunger Ato'ttrey de Vere, the tender Catholic poet, w.hjose life has lately been written by Mr. Wilfrid Wand From Uhlaft bjook it is possible to glean a few interestilng facts about the q,uiet and retiring life of Sir Stephen betwieejn whom and his brother there existed tio the end the very closesit affection. Their 'different characters were illustrated by the ways in which they wore converted to the Catholic Churah— for both were brought tup -as Pnotesta'nts. While Aubrey reached Catholicism through t|he philosophy of Coleridge, tdie writings of Newman amd the other Tractarians, and the s)ubtle influences of Uhe city of Rome itself, Stephen joined the Uvur<ihl from simple admiration of ttfie religion of the IrisJh peasantry, and from a desire to be fin harmony wiflh them. iHis intense feeling for the peo(ple am/ong whom his lot was cast was the most notable aoijd tflie most fruitful element of his chJaraoter. It ga<ve him Ihe remarkable and unique i'nfluetnce winch -he posfeeslsed, till the time of the Land League troubles, w'rtjh all clauses in Cdunly Limerick. While In the Sunday services near his island home in the Shannon he worshipped wil,h the people as one of themselves, he was the most respected and the mjost often consulted of country gentlemen,- the Nestor of local government, and the in-vari-able foreman of tfhe grand jury. For a few years, 185.459, Ihe sat in Parliament for the County of Limerick as a Liberal. He had also Something, but not mjudh, of his father's and brother's turn for literature. He wrote various pamjp/htets, arid a few years ago published, a verse translation of the Odes of Horace, of which it may fairly be said that if it was inferior to Contogfon's it wlas wot m/uch worse than Mr. Gladstone's. His 1 writings) sihowad him a s he was— an excellent man a!tfd citizen, tender-hearted, but no sentimentalist. Sir Stephen de Vere, li/ke his brother Aubrey, was unmarried, and by his death the baronetcy becomes extinct. LOUTH.— Freedom of Drogheda Mr. J. E. Redmond, M.P., was recently presented witlh the freedom of the borough of Droghetia, aJnd to reply, delivered a speech dealing with the condition' of the Irish Party. TlPPEßAßY.— Prohibitive Transit Rates At a meeting of the South Tipperary County Agricultural and Technical Committee, Father Dunne, of Oashel,. produced a return relating to transit facilities anjd ohjargaa aa they affected the district. These figures s/howed that eggs from Fethard to London Cost 47s per ton at owiner's risk, and at the ordinary rate, 86b w and t'hlatj butter at owner's ris.k was 35s per ton, and at the ordinary Bate 47s per ton. The rate foorn all the Baltic ports to Ljondon, Father Dunne pointed out, ' was qnly £1 per ton for butter, and 22s 6d per ton for eggs • from Denmark the rate was 30s, and from Oaiaaiia 15s per 40 ouibic feet. Russian butter came through the Baltic ports at £1 per ton. The rates hiad beeta reduced silnce October from the Baltic ports to the £1 standard ; from Denmark the rate was 255. The Kate for eggis via Charleville to Liverpool was 45s per ton and from Tipperary 50s. These figures showed that 'their insitructress and tine committee were quite correct In wihat they wrote to the Department on the question of excessive Irijslh railway rates. How could they in Dranpn or elsewhere in Tipperary compete flor a place in the London butter markets with a transit fate of 47s 6d, w/hen Russian flutter had dnly to pay £1 from the Baltic ports to reach the same market or try to sell egjgs in London when they had to pay 65s per ton fireiriit as compared witfi 22s 6d on eggs from the Baltic parts. Mr. Field, M.P., points out that in England some attempt has been made by the railway companies to meet the wants of their customers, Hut that n,o-

tlhing has been done in Ireland, although the De^atttmemt of Agridultiure has beefn especially Chargad by Parliament witfti tlhis duty, lias tihe Department maide any efflort \^ha,t'eveT to face tfhis question of such grave and far-reachi)ng importance to the country ? Members of ijhe Agricultural Boai'd have 'again and again brought tihe matter irp at tlhe Board's meetings, Hut without effect. Thiree or four years ago the Department intervened in cfne case, but it has not exerted itself in this field since.

GENERAL.

Aid from America

In the early part of November tihe Iristh National Defomce Fund was augmented by a draft from America, far £10,00, same being the I|hir.d instalment of like armojujnt forwarded since the convention recently held in New York. Our American friends (says the ' Belfast Weakly ') pledged themselves to send forward £10,000 in resipoinse to the appeal of the Nationalist leaders. The thisid instalment of £1000 is anno/unceld. No dioubt the /plefdgad word of the Irisih in America will be honored in tlhe fullest degree. TUieir Unshaken eonsltjapey in the National rrioviomejit is one of the m,ost encouraging signd of tihe times.

Strong Language

The Irish Attorney-General, one of the ' parasites ' dem'ejunced by Mr. T. P. O'Uotnmor as living on the corruption engendered by minority ascan'dajiey in Ireland, lately asserted that the Diinnraven devolution proposals were the outcome of a ' deal ' between N^tiona lists and U|nioinist,s at tihe LanW Conference. Mr. Retdmonid, i(n hi.s speejetti at Limeriok, said that the man who made such a statement must know it to 'he mntnue. Captain Talftot Cr.osibie, in a letter to the ' Times,' declares that flhe assertion is a ' nralicious fabrication.' If tflie Irish Atijorney-Getfieral has amy spirit or sense of honor he cannot sit down under such imputations.

Crops in the West

Rap,ort]9 frjom various parts of t|ic West of Ireland injdidate a winter of acute distress. Cereal crjclps and. hay seem to >nave been a favorable harvest, but the staple crqfp, tlhe potato, is described un all sides as * almost a total faihire.' Public Boards are exerting themselves in the matter, and there is a 'general demiairtd tor relief works. Landlords are alsio being called Upon to gfive substantial reductions. The outlook is decidedly 'black in that part of the cauntry.

A Protectionist Press

The ' Daily News ' remarks tfhat on top of the startling ,news of the capture of ' The Standard ' gomes the rumor (from a corrooponidont) tihat otihors of Mr. Chamberlain's flock are about to embark u(p(oti journalistic anteqpriise in Ireland. The avowed followers of Mr. Chamberlain in that co'u:ntry are certainly not many, but tihey are gentlemen of undoubted emterpn.se awd enthusiasm. Lord Dunraven is aai out-and-icHit vupporter of Mr. Chamberlain's schemes. Protectionism has alsio a devoted friend in Mr. Moret-ormFrewos, br.o-tiner-in-law to the late Lord Randolph Churchill. Lord Mayo, who is at once a Land Conference ahW a ' Devolution ' mian, is also in the Chamberlain caintp. Sir William Goulding, chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway of Irela/rid, aimd a gemtlemian of undoubted influence in commercial cirjcles in Irelamti, is a member of Mr. Chamberlain's ' Commission.' Siir John Nutting is atsfo in IJhe Protectionist swim. There is mdney Gn,(*u>gjh behind the movement, in fact, k) biuy up rnainy paipars 'amd faund many more. Alsio, there is money enough to run Tariff Reform candidates all over tlhe cquntry.

Distress in the West

The ' Rail Mall Ga/ette ' publishes the following from its corrjesjpondent I'll Dublin :— I have just rethrndd from a taur in the West of Ireland, aaid can vouch for the fact that the outlook there for the coming winter is extremely black. Alniost all over the province the potato crjop has been a failure, and the peasants arc face tjo flace with a famihe. In some districts the crop has been s)o deplorably bad ftfrat Uhc farmers are inclimwl tia let the tubers remain in tihe ground ; and in the localities that have come off best ttoe yield of edible 'Ilottailoes ia otnly about one-tlhir'd of the average. Spraying improved matters in some places, but the use of the apray was largely neglected in the country, anJd this fact, eou/pled with the moist Summer and the deterioration of tlhe Ghanrpion seed, which is almost universally sown,, accnttnts for the present position. Unless someflhiflg] is done for the peasants they will in many Localities be almost as ba t dly off as were their ancestors in ■the historical famine year hi the last 'forties.