Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 13, 1 April 1909, Page 507

Irish News

; v • ANTRlM— Shipbuilding in Belfast It is reported that orders for a large P. and O. liner and a passenger steamer for the Societa di Navigazione of Genoa City have teen placed with the firm of Messrs. Workman, Clark, and Co., Ltd., Belfast. The firm is shortly to launch a 12,000-ton Orient liner for the Commonwealth mail service. • The Catholic Truth Society The Most Rev. Dr. Tohill, Bishop of Down and Connor, in an address delivered at Belfast, said the publications of the Catholic Truth Society were uniformly interesting, and were doing an immense amount of good. Death of a Priest In the diocese of Down and Connor, the" death of Very Rev. John Conway, P.PI, V.F., Lame, County Antrim, which took place on January 30, is deeply regretted. Deceased Was a native of Rash&riin, a parish in the county in which he died, and came of a good Catholic and Celtic stock. Born in 1850, he evinced a desire to devote himself to the service of God in religion from an early age. In. St. Malachy's College, Belfast, he made his preliminary studies, and after a distinguished course in Maynooth was ordained by the Moist Rev. Dr. Dorrian in 1873. - His career on the mission was. characterised by wonderful energy, which was directed by great intellectual ability. ARMAGH— Sad Shooting Accident "While Mr. Hamilton Henderson, brother of the exMayor of Kimberley, was shooting at Armagh on February 6, his gun went off accidentally as he went through a hedge. He was wounded so seriously that death ensued almost im- . mediately. A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest. Deceased served with distinction in the South African war, and was for some time in the American army, with which he saw service. DUBLIN— The National University A demonstration, organised by University and other students, was held in Dublin to show how strong feeling. is in favor of making Irish a compulsory subject- for matricu-' lation in the new University. A meeting was held in 'the Mansion House, followed by a torchlight procession through the principal streets to the Gaelic League rooms, Rutland square, where an open-air meeting was addressed by.-I)r. Douglas Hyde and other speakers. • c Aid for the Italian Sufferers The total amount received in the diocese of Dublin in - response to the Archbishop's appeal on 'behalf of the -Messina and Calabrian sufferers has reached over £2000. Irish Parliamentary Funds - Speaking at the National Convention of the'U^nited" Irish League in Dublin, Mr. John Redmond, M.P., chairman of the Irish Party, said it had been constantly thrown in their teeth lately that the greatest mark of want of confidence in the party was that the Irish subscriptions had fallen away. That was absolutely untrue. These people had compared this year's Irish subscriptions with " funds of years before, which included subscriptions from Canada, Australia, a*nd America. A list of subscriptions from Ireland since 1900 showed, as a matter of fact, tKat the subscriptions this year amounted to £1252 more than last. year,, and taking an average for the period from 1900 to 1908 the subscriptions for 1908 were above, the average for all those years. QALWAY— The Archbishop of Tuam The report read at the quarterly meeting of the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland says : 'In the year 1909, our president, Most Rev. Dr. Healy, Archbishop of Tuam-, will celebrate the silver jubilee .of his Episcopate. The committee of management, in order to mark their keen appre- ■'• ciation of the* great interest his Grace takes in our society, and the unceasing and invaluable aid he has given it from its very foundation, have decided to bring out a jubilee edition of his- Grace's selected Essays. The volume will contain between 600 and 700 pages, and will be brought out good style, on good paper, and well bound, in cloth. 'It is intended to be ready for issue in August next, on the 31st day of which month, tis Grace will have completed the twenty-fifth year of his distinguished Episcopate. The Vacant See At a meeting of the parish priests of the diocese of Galway on February 4, the Most Rev. Dr. ODea, Bishop of Clonfert, was chosen to bo recommended as ' Dignissinrus' for appointment to the Bishopric of .Galway, rendered vacant by the resignation of Most Rev. Dr. McCor-

mack, the doyen of the Irish Hierarchy. The voting was: For Dr. ODea, 18; Father Cullen, P.P.; Moycullen, 4j Dr. Higgins, Tuam, 3; and Dr. Gilmaitin, Maynooth, 1. The Most Rev. Dr. ODea is a. native of the diocese, and had a distinguished course in Maynooth, where he was for some years a professor and subsequently vice-president. He was raised to the Bishopric 'of Clonfert in 1903, and since then has been indefatigable in the discharge of his sacred duties. GENERAL Victims of the Italian Earthquake The Holy Father on February 8 received Monsignor O'Riordan, who presented £2800 as a contribution from the dioceses of Armagh, Meath, Waterford, and Derry for the earthquake sufferers. The Pope declared his gratitude for the generosity: shown by the Irish people. Laborers' Cottages % In its annual report the , .standing committee of the National Directory of the United Irish League stated: There is no branch of .the work of the. committee "which has yielded more satisfactory fesufts than" this in connection with the Laborers Act. Under Acts prior to 1906, 26,210 cottages, with allotments, were erected. Under the Act of 1906, no less than 20,300 cottages, with allotments, have been sanctioned, whilst claims for about 500 "others are under consideration. That is to say, that 46,710 cottages, with allotments, have^ already been erected or sanctioned, and 500 have yefTto be dealt with. . In other words, in round numbers, about 50,000 Irish agricultural laborers, representing about 250,000 persons, have been enabled to change their former miserable dwellings for decent, roomy, sanitary., louses with plots of land attached, at an average rent of from Is to Is 6d a week. The effect of such a change upon tlie social life of the country cannot fail to be of the most beneficent and gratifying character. The Evicted Tenants " ■ - The General Directory of the United Irish League, in its annual report, stated, that ' the work ,during the year in "connection with evicted tenants lias been exceptionally heavy, and the number of claims dealt with has been unusually large. As the result of the operation of the-Evictel Tenants Act, and owing to the representations made to the Estates Commissioners, ■ over- two thousand of those tenants have already teen- restored, and we have reason to believe that about 1600 more will be reinstated within the next six months. _ Nearly 4000 claims have been investigated : by. the organisation. In every instance the utmost pains have been taken to make the investigation as complete as possible,- and, wherever any right existed, to ensure that it received every consideration from the official administrators.' . ' A Contrast . - . Speaking at a concert at Pinnaroo, the GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth said : ' Nothing strikes me more "in Australia, and, if I may say so, in this part of South Australia, so much, as the happy and contented looic upon the faces of all the people I meet. That satisfactory condition of the producers, means a good deal, not only for the present, but also for the future of Australia. Perhaps tlie contrast is the more "striking to me because for a few years before coming to" Australia I lived in a country where, alas, the people do not enjoy the same measure . of prosperity as in Australia. "When one has been, as I have, in Ireland for some years, and has been made familiar with the hardships suffered by the people, say, " in. the West of Ireland, lie is struck all the more with the look of happiness and contentment on the people of Australia.' An Excellent Thing lor the Landlords The Daily Chronicle, on the returns published regarding the price of Irish landy says the returns show what an excellent thing the Irish -landlords - have made out of Mr. Wyndliam's Act. • The idea of the bonus, it declares, was to proyide a bridge between the price -at which a landlord could afford to sell and that at which a tenant cduld afford to buy. Yet the landlords have obtained better terms eyen^without the bonus ihan under the previous Act. The figures show the wisdom of one of the proposals in Mr. Birrell's Bill.- The bonus - has /hitherto been uniform, no matter what the terms of purchase, are. Thus there have been cases where the number of years' purchase has been as high as 25. It is absurd to add any bonus in such cases. Mr. Birrell's proposal is to graduatethe bonus in inverse ratio- to the- number of years' -purohase paid for the land. This is obviously a more equitable arrangement.