Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 8 June 1911, Page 1063

Irish News

CORK—A Well Known Public Man J The death took place on April 16, at his son’s residence, Ivera, Youghal, of Mr. Robert Uniackc- Fitzgerald Townsend; head of the well known firm of land agents, Messrs. Hussey and Townsend. Mr. Townsend was for-many years a member of various public boards and a magistrate .'.for the county, and he was nephew ‘of Mr. Charels -Uniacke Townsend, who occupied a very prominent position in Dublin. He was a keen business man, and the firm with which he was connected acted as agents for the principal landlords of the South during the land troubles of a quarter of a century, ago. ... Mr. , Townsend was a musician of cultured taste and much ability, !as well as an amateur florist and a rearer of poultry, displaying much interest in improving the breeds of fowl in this country. ‘ He was a member of the Governing Body of Cork University College. DOWN—Excessive Emigration Every week since the beginning of February (says The Irish - News) batches of emigrants of both sexes have left Newry, via Greenbre, for the United States and Canada. One shipping agent alone has booked no less than 52 emigrants for Canada, 44 for the United States, and 7 for Australia. They belonged to the artisan and farming classes. Most of them are farmers’ sons and daughters, and they are in many cases going to join relatives who have aided them to go out. The district around South Down and South Armagh is being rapidly depleted of the young people of both sexes, and farmers state that soon there will be none left but old men and old women in the country. DUBLIN—RoyaI Dublin Society’s Spring Show The Royal Dublin Society’s Spring Show opened on April 18 at Ballsbridge. Though there were no English exhibits owing to a recent outbreak of disease in England, the total exhibits numbered 1174, as compared with 1098 last year. The display of road-making and other machinery had a special interest in view of the meeting of the Roads Congress; and some Irish firms, notably Mr. Bolger, of Ferns, had a display of agricultural implements equal to anything turned out in America or England. The cattle shown were pronounced by good judges to be excellent and wonderfully uniform in quality. The swine, too, were good; and a large number of them were selected for premiums. Legal Appointments Mr. T. F. Molony, K.C., Dublin, has been appointed Sergeant-at-Law in succession to the late Mr. Sergeant Jellott. By the appointment Mr. Molony becomes Thirl Sergeant-at-Law. Mr. Sergeant O’Brien is advanced to the Second Sergtantoy, and Mr. Sergeant Mori arty becomes First v Sergeant. .- KILKENNY—A Brilliant Career Cut Short Deep regret was felt at The announcement of the death of The Rev. Thomas Francis Brophy. 8.A.. D.D. He w»s the youngest son of the late Mr. Thos. Brophy, Shankill, County Kilkenny, and brother of Rev. F. Brophy, V. P. Carlow College, and Rev. M. Brophy, Abbeyleix. Having completed his intermediate studies at Carlow Lay College, he entered Holy Cross College to study for the priesthood in the archdiocese of Dublin. After he had There graduated in the.honors course of The R.U.1., he passed on to the ,Propaganda College, Rome, where he obtained his Doctorate' of Theology in 1909, and was ordained to the priesthood on Trinity Sunday,. June 5 of the same year. .... LIMERICK—A Centenarian ;rf The. death of, Mr. James Cotter, of Kilconlea, Abbeyfeale, at the grand old age of 102, removes from West Limerick the oldest resident. Mr. Cotter, who was an old age pensioner,, and who, up to twelve months ago, was able to call personally at the local post office for his pension, was a man of robust health, a .stranger to illness, and a devotee of the pipe. Ho was a young man when the Liberator passed periodically from Derrynane to Limerick, and often recounted the inconvenience lie experienced in crossing- the flooded Feale previous to the erection of Feale Bridge in 1837. His knowledge of the history of the Whiteboy movement in The early twenties was most interesting, as was also his recollection of "West Limerick incidents of the ’4B and ’67 periods., ROSCOMMON—SaIe of an Estate Official intelligence has reached Athlone (writes the correspondent of the Freeman’s Journal) of The completion of the sale of the very extensive St. George estate, situate in the counties of Galway and Roscommon. The price had been arranged for some time back, but the sale was not effected in consequence of a dispute over extensive grass lands, tenanted and Untenanted, which remained at issue. '.Portion;, of the estate runs' into the parish of Cam, within a few miles of Athlone, which is a very congested locality. The tenants and others claimed that the lands referred Toall of which are situate in the parish, should go with the sale of the estate proper for redistribution. . - To 1 this the owners were willing, but the difficulty arose that the grass

lands had been let on short grazing leases, and the occupiers on .the strength of them got fair rents fixed , by the Sub-Land Commission, - and held out for compensation. The tenants . and the owners then took the cases to the Chief Commission, where the Sub-Commission’s' decision fixing fair rents was reversed, a condition which the Estates Commissioners insisted should be effected before they would advance,■ money for purchase. The decision of the Chief Commission enabled the sale to be proceeded with, and the Estates Commissioners have now written that the sale is now completed, and that the owner will hand over possession to the Commissioners as soon as he has settled with the tenants as regards the rent due by them.’ The .break;ing of the graziers’ leases in untenanted land, and on the strength of which; they got the fair rents fixed, is due? to an effective local agitation which had the active assistance of the Rev. Father Hughes,* P.P., to whom the 'greatest credit is due, Mr. John P. Hayden, M.P., and Mr. John Fitzgibbon. The intelligence of the completion of the sale has evoked the greatest enthusiasm in the district. TIPPERARYA Presentation The people of Lattin and Cullen are devoted to their pastor, the Very Rev. M. P. O’Neill, D.D., the new Canon of the archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. To manifest,their joy at his promotion the people of the parish met .in Latvia, when the ladies of Lattin and Cullen presented an address and his canonical outfit to Canon O’Neill. On behalf of the ladies of Lattin and Cullen. Miss Hammersly read .a congratulatory address. . ' r . i WATERFORD—Heroic Priest Honored The gold medal of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, accompanied by a vote of thanks, has been awarded to Rev. Father O’Shea, who led the rescue party in a gallant attempt to save the crew of the schooner Teaser, wrecked in Ardmore Bay, County Waterford, on March 18. The story of the heroic rescuers’ gallant fight with the storm is a thrilling one. Early on the morning of Saturday, March 18, the schooner Teaser was driven ashore in the height of . a heavy gale on the Black Rocks,. Curragh, Ardmore. The Helvick lifeboat was launched, but for want of sufficient water was unable to approach the wreck. There were three men on board, the master, , T. Hughes, of Conn ah’s Quay, and two men named Fox and Welsh, of lint. A heavy sea, lashed to fury by 'an -easterly gale, blowing right on shore, was sweeping* over; the ,; ill-fated vessel. The local coastguards made gallant efforts > to establish communication with the wreck, five rockets '.being sent over the craft. The men on board were, too exhausted by their sufferings to haul ‘the rocket lines aboard, and thus be taken ashore in the breeches buoy. Seeing their peril, " Coastguardmen Neill and Barry at--1 emoted to swim out to the vessel with lines, but’ were driven back, Barry being nearly drowned in the attempt. At this point the Rev. John O’Shea, C.C., wanted to launch a small boat—the only one available other? intervened, and a delay ensued whilst a larger boat was being conveyed to the scene, from Ardmore on a dray. Father O’Shea was the first to volunteer to go out in th« boat, those who joined him being Win. Harris, the Hotel, Aidm.ore; Constable Lawton, Coastguards Neill and Barry, Pat Power, C. O’Brien, and J. O’Brien. On' reaching the wreck, after great difficulty, it was found that one of the men on board was dead, another dying, and the third completely exhausted. The three were taken ashore amidst indescribable perils, but the two who were alive soon died. Silver medals have been awarded To Coastguards Barry and Neill, and suitable awards to others. WEXFORD —Scarcity of Laborers In several districts in South Wexford laborers are so hard to be got , in sufficient numbers' that many farmers are placed in a; rather serious plight. The difficulty of finding suitable and sufficient hands means late sowing* and harvesting. It is expected that the erection of laborers’ cottages on a large scale will materially help to remedy this state of things. Were it not for the advent of machinery farmers would be compelled ' to change their present system of cultivation and agriculture altogether on account of the dearth of labor. 1: 1 ; ; ; ■ GENERAL The Real Position The real condition of things, political; and religious, in Ulster, was explained at a Nationalist meeting in Edinburgh by Mr. Valentine Gill, a County Antrim Protestant, who marvelled at sensible men in Britain or anywhere else paying .the smallest attention to ; the claptrap emanating from certain Unionists in the North of Ireland. ,) !.He belonged, he said, to near Lisburna regular hotbed of Torysim—and could guarantee that a Catholic would not be allowed in. an Orange: Lodge , or , at an Orange meeting there as he had been received that night hv the ,members of the United Irish League. That in -itself. showed the intolerance of the Orange body on the one hand, and the toleration of the Nationalists , on . the other. r,;' He was brought up in a parish where there were three Orange lodges .and they could well understand it was not a healthy place for a Home Rule plant. Ulstermen were not, lie. assured them, what the Unionist party represented them to be; but he admitted there was a section nr clique who would not let the native Irish have a say in their country’s

affairs if they could help it. They would appoint to public positions anybody before they, would have a Catholic. The Treatment of the National Teachers 7 In the course of an address at the Irish National Teachers’ Congress in Bangor Mr. Joseph Devlin, : M.P , said : —The present position of the national school teachers in Ireland with regard to salaries and the method of paying them, and - with regard to pensions and civil Tights, is a disgrace to any civilised country, and . constitutes a grave indictment of the manner in which the educational affairs of Ireland have been administered. I venture to say that there ,is not a parallel, in Europe or out of it, for a system which places the teachers on a lower leved than the policemen. And yet that is the system which exists in Ireland, and against which all our protests have hitherto been in vain. There is no necessity, for me to go into details as to proof. The facts are perfectly familiar to the delegates at this Congress. Where, except in Ireland, would it be possible to propose a pension of £6 10s 8d a year for a teacher who had broken down through ill-health after twenty years of .faithful service? Take, again, the question of salaries. The salary paid to an Irish male teacher, fully qualified, begins at £56 a year, and of a female : teacher at £44 a year. According to Mr. Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that is less than is paid to an English navvy. So that, under the present system in Ireland, the teacher is worse paid than an English navvy; and, when he becomes unfit for work, after twenty-five years’ service, he is awarded the magnificent pension of 4d a day, to which he himself lias been compelled to contribute. But there is something more than that to be noted. The English navvy, at any rate, is sure of his wages at the end of the week. He can pay cash for his household requirements and be independent. But the Irish teacher, instead of being paid his wages weekly, is only paid quarterly. Only four times in the year has he the satisfaction of handling the money which he earns. Unless he has some other source of income, he has to live continually on credita thing loathsome to any man of independent spiritand he loses all the advantages of the navvy, who can purchase for cash wherever he likes to go. The Population Still Decreasing The census of Ireland shows a population of 4,381,951, being a decrease of 76,824 since 1901. Life-boats on the Irish Coast Around the Irish coast there are 36 lifeboats, two being motor-boats (costing nearly £3OOO each), and the total expenditure on the boats, boathouse, and slipways reaches £82,000, which the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, supported entirely by voluntary contributions, has spent on the Irish coast. In 1910 58 lives were saved by the brave Irishmen who are ever ready to answer the call, and for the first three months of this year 26 lives have been saved, making a total of 2698 lives to the credit of the Irish lifeboats. The cost of maintaining the Irish boats, rewards to lifeboatmen, compensation for injury when in the boat, and provision for the widows and orphans of the brave Irish lifeboatmen, exceed £3500 a year, and as the amount collected in Ireland does not reach-£ISOO, the institution in London has to send over to Ireland £2OOO a year to enable the Irish Committees to carry on the greatwork of life-saving. Over £22,000 has been paid in rewards to Irish lifeboatmen, and £3500 has been granted to the widows and orphans of Irish lifeboatmen, and if this valuable work is to be continued in the most efficient way, it is essential that the people of Ireland should increase their interest in the work which is being done by tho 1000 Irish heroes who man the boats. v