Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 1 October 1908, Page 27

Irish News

ANTRlM— Mammoth Steamers Messrs. Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, have been commissioned to build two new steamships by the White Star Company. It has been reported that the new monsters will be iooo. feet in length as against the new Cunarders, which are 780 feet long by. BB feet wide, and have a tonnage of 30,000 tons. They will certainly be bigger in every way, but they will not be anything like 1000 feet in length, and will, in fact, be within the 900. They will be built not so much from a speed point of view as lo provide the acme of comfort and profit earning. Into this, however, speed enters materially, and speed will not be lost sight of. Once the slips are completed, it is expected that work will be commenced on the new giants, probably early in next year. DONEGAL— Mineral Resources The Irish Mining and Development Company, recently incorporated in Nevada, with a capital of 1,000,000 dollars, will (says the Irish American of New York) shortly begin to dig gold out of the black soil of Donegal. Gold, copper, and iron, rich in quality, have been found in the Inishowen district. According to a recent assay, 4000 tons of pay ore are exposed in the present workings. The property comprises almost 14,000 acres, held under lease from the Earl of Shaftesbury. According to one assay, the average value of the ore per ton is 22.57 dollars. A goldfield assaycr reports the average value of gold and lead alone at • 24. 42 dollars per ton. Owing to the cheapness of labor, the unfailing supply of water and fuel, the mine can be easily worked. The promoters of the gold mining project hope (.adds the Irish-American) to give employment to Irish people, and thus help to stem the tide of emigration and save the remnant of the race still left in Ireland. DUBLlN— Destructive Fire St. Joseph's Carmelite Monastery, Knockmitten road, Clondalkin, County Dublin, was the scene of a destructive fire on August 7, which for several hours seriously threatened the whole of the splendid building occupied by the community, and which was overcome eventually only after the greatest difficulty by the gallant efforts of local workmen. A New Departure A gentleman, representing an influential syndicate in London, has visited Dublin with the object of introducing into Ireland a new system of electric tramways, the first route contemplated being from Donnybrook to Bray. This new system, which is in operation already on the Continent, is, it is stated, comparatively inexpensive, as uiils are dispensed with, and the cars run on the ordinary road, the motive power being obtained from overhead wires. The principal expense in the construction of such a tramway will be the erection of wiring fixtures, the construction of cars, and, of course, the providing of electric current. The trolley is of such a flexible character that the cars when running can diverge a distance of twelve feet to either side of the road, so as to meet any emergency of traffic. The project has been communicated to the chairman of the Dublin United Tramways Company, whose line it would touch at Donnybrook, and after some further preliminaries it will be submitted to the County Council for approval. Imperial Home Rule Association A new association, which calls itself the Irish Imperial Home Rule Association, has been formed in Dublin. The names of its principal supporters have not been made public, but they are understood to be those who were responsible for the Devolution programme of a few years ago. The scope and objects of the association have been defined as follows :— (a) To advance the internal development and consolidation of, and establish, the position of Ireland as a part of, the British Empire. (b) To promote the establishment of a Parliament in Ireland, and of an Executive responsible to it, for the internal and administrative government of Ireland, definitely subject and contributory to the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland in matters of Imperial importance, (c) To obtain such concessions and measures of economic readjustment from -Great Britain as may be consistent with Imperial. self-government, (d) To develop Irish economic and commercial resources, and to encourage the growth of such characteristics and qualities as are necessary to advantageous self-government and National economic independence.

KERRY— Killarney Cathedral A carnival in aid of the fund for the completion of St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, was opened on August 9 under the most encouraging auspices. The building which the Bishop of Kerry is now endeavoring to have completed is believed to be the noblest and most faultless of alf the works designed by the great church architect, A. W. Pugin. It is built in the first period of the pointed style known as the lancet-arched Gothic, and is remarkable for its long narrow windows and acutely pointed arches. So beautifully proportioned are all its parts,' and so strikingly majestic, that the magnificent pile is considered to be the finest' specimen of revived Gothic architecture in these countries. The foundations were laid by the Most Rev. Dr. Egan, in the year 1842, and the church was opened for divine service 1855. Since that time little has been done to complete or beautify the building. The present Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Mangan, impressed with the beauty of the great architect's conception, and witnessing on every side a growing prosperity, has resolved to undertake the task of the completion of the building, and is inviting the co-operation and assistance of the Irish race at home and in the lands beyond the seas in the work. It is estimated that the cost of the new works will be over .£24,000. His Lordship the Bishop has already received many munificent subscriptions towards the fund, but much yet remains to be collected before the total amount is realised. LIMERICK— An American Visitor Amongst notable Americans recently on a visit to Ireland was the Hon. John F. Fitzgerald, ex-Mayor of Boston, who occupies a prominent place in the public life of the United States. His father was a native of Bruff, County Limerick. LOUTH— Dundalk Cathedral The sum of was contributed at a meeting in Dundalk for the repair of St. Patrick's Cathedral in that town. Cardinal Logue presided. MAYO— A Remarkable Phenomenon Away from the town of Ballyconnelly on the wild Connemara coast, some miles beyond Clifden, comes a story which suggests recollections of the Celtic other land, of Hy Brazil or Tir na n-Og. On Sunday, August 19, according to the report, a small town, well studded with houses, was observable on the sea about six or seven miles westward of Ballyconnelly, and like Brazil of old, the ' beauti fuP spectre showed lovely and dim,' being first seen by some young people from the shore. Soon hundreds gathered to witness the enchanting spectacle, which they state was composed of houses of different sizes, and varying styles of architecture. Here and there there was a dismantled dwelling, as if even this strange land of sunshine on the crest of the western ocean had been the scene of misery and devastation. The phantom city was visible from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., when it 'gradually vanished from view, leaving the spectators, many of whom believed that it was a small town that had some to stay, dismayed and disappointed. It disappeared slowly and mystically, and, like ' Hy Brazil ' of old, the sea was as calm as it had been before the twilight enshrouded it. The crowd gazing anxiously out on the ocean from the shore wondered if their eyes had not betrayed them, but they had all seen the vision in the broad daylight only a few miles from the shore, and they regard the legend of ' Hy Brazil ' as no longer an imaginative story from the region of fables. Others regard the phenomenon as the reflection in the water of some city far away. WATERIWRD— Mount Melleray The Consecration of Right Rev. Maurice Phelan, recently elected Abbot of Mount Melleray, took place on Saturday, August 15. GENERAL An Abundant Harvest Reports from various ports of the country (writes a Dublin correspondent) go to show that not for many years past were the crops in such a flourishing condition as they are at present. Given a continuance of fine weather for a few weeks longer, and _ Ireland will undoubtedly have a plentiful harvest. This, needless to say, would be one of the greatest blessings which God could on the land. Rich and poor alike, but especially the latter, would benefit. American Assistance At the convention of the United Irish League of America, held in Boston last week, and which was addressed by Mr. John' E. Redmond, M.P., and Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., a sum of ;£i6oo was subscribed in aid of the Irish Parliamentary Fund.

This does not bear out the statement- of the New York correpond'ent of the London Times, who stated the other day that ' the American public show a waning interest in the Irish question.' To Mend the Pace Mr. George Wyndham, M.P., writing in reply to a letter addressed to him by the Earl of Kenmare, Chairman of the Irish Land Purchase Association, on the subject of Land Purchase, says :—ln: — In that letter you raise two points, viz. (i) a statement by Lqrd Crewe, which suggests that I contemplated a particular rate for operations under the Irish Land Act, 1903, and (2) a general belief that the rate T contemplated was to be worth of Irish estates in any one year. The facts are that I did in 1903 contemplate that particular rate of a year, but only during the first three years of operations under the Act. Beyond that period I laid down no limit. On the contrary, I expressed ' my opinion ' that it would be ' possibly desirable to mend the pace.' I adhere to the opinion that it is desirable to mend the pace. Local Government His Grace- the Archbishop of Cashel, speaking at the opening of the carnival in Killarney on August 9, said that the working of the Local Government system in Ireland is a very strong argument in favor of Home Rule. It used to be said before the passing of the Local Government Act of 1898 that whatever might be said of Irishmen abroad, Irishmen at home were incapable of self-government, but that argument had disappeared with the successful working of local government under the county councils and district councils in Ireland. Our local government system worked under the supervision and control of the English Local Government Board sitting in Dublin, and in the reports of that board it was admitted that their duties had been satisfactorily and steadily discharged by the councils and their officials throughout Ireland. On the 27th February, 1902, speaking of the Local Government Act, Mr. Wyndham said : ' This Act effected nothing short of a social revolution ; it took the political power in the matter of local affairs from the hands of one class and gave it to another. In respect of economy and efficiency, that social revolution has not been a failure ; it has exceeded the expectation of the most sanguine.' Progress of Education In the course of a letter to Consignor Bcechinor his Grace Archbishop Delany, who is on a visit to Ireland, says : ' Not merely in the south, which I have just traversed, but in the west and centre, not to speak of Dublin and its immediate surroundings, have I found scholastic establishments equipped with quite modern requisites and furnished with a large outfit for object lessons; but, what is the chief point in every important centre. I find quite a fever of study amongst the teachers, male and female alike. For example, when I visited the Ursuline Convent at Sligo, I found there quite a number of the Sisters putting in their vacation at a course of physiology under the direction of a former pupil of their own, a Miss — v-, who had gone to Scotland and graduated in science. Here I found quite' a laboratory in which the Sisters were engaged in investigation ; and I found pretty well the same thoroughness in all the secondary convent schools I vis\ted. In their own way the -primary schools are quite as good. Here in Dublin the -Christian Brothers conduct schools chiefly of the technical and commercial order, which are marvels ; and their Cork schools are .not less so— indeed, if anything, even superior. They lean to, the scientific and technical side simply because that is the side"*of education most called for now in Ireland. One fact will suffice to let you see what I mean : I saw at least six.ty brothers of different teaching Orders pass me a fortnight ago across Stephen's Green about 1 o'clock in the day. I inquired who they were and what brought so many there all in such concentrated haste. I vtas told they came from their various schools, and were putting ' in summer terms at the Dublin Royal College of Science. Just imagine hard-worked teachers coming to spend their vacations in lectures, running daily to five and even six hours ! No superior compels them to do It ; they are all too eager to learn. And what I note in the teachers is almost as strikingly evident In the learners at the various schools. - "

She: 'How is it your sister didn't sing to-night?' He: ' Oh, the. doctor has forbidden her. He says she must not sing for six months.' She : ' Does he Jive near her? ' A guidebook makes the curious assertion that a large proportion of those who have made the ascent of Mont Blanc have been persons of unsound mind.