Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 5 June 1913, Page 39

Irish News

GENERAL. Mr. Stephen Gwynn entertained to dinner at the House of Commons recently the well-known Irish scholar. Professor Mahaffy, of Trinity. The Professor, as is well known, is an uncompromising Unionist. The guests invited to meet him included Messrs. Redmond, T. P. O’Connor, and Cecil Harmsworth. After a brief illness the, death of Mother Mary Joseph, of the Order of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, took place on Tuesday, April 8. The deceased lady was the eldest daughter of the late Mr. John O’Dean, Parteen, Limerick. She was a zealous and much esteemed nun, and her death caused general regret. How many people know, speaking of priestly inventors, that Father Nicholas Callan, D.D., invented the induction coil ? The fact is recalled by the erection in Ireland of a. cross to his memory. Dr. Callan was 0 for thirty-eight years Professor of Natural Philosophy at Maynooth. In 1836 he contributed two papers to Sturgeon’s Annals of Electricity, describing his apparatus, and Professor J. A. Fleming says, ‘ Here we have the first description that exists of an induction coil.’ CHARITABLE BEQUESTS. The late Mrs. Margaret Spelman, of Gort, Co. Galway, by her will left £IOOO to the Right Rev. Mgr. Fahy, P.P., to be expended on the improvement of the parochial church, Gort; £SOO to Mgr. Fahy for the celebration of Masses for the repose of her soul; £SOO to the parish priest of Hilbecanty, for the improvement of the parish church; £SOO to the parish priest of Chrusheen, Co. Clare, for a like purpose; £IOO to the Rev. M. Walsh, P.P., Ballindereen, for a memorial window to be erected in the parish church in memory of her late husband; £IOO to Rev. A. Nestor, P.P., Beagh, towards the erection of a new church; £SOO to the Superioress of the Convent of Mercy, Gort, for the benefit of the community; £SOO to the Most Rev. Dr. O’Dea, Bishop of Galway, towards the erection of his new Cathedral ; £SOO to the Mater Misericordise Hospital, Dublin ; £SOO to the Children’s Hospital, Temple street, Dublin; £2OO to the Deaf and Dumb Institute, Cabra; £IOOO for the poor children of Gort, and the residue of her property for the education of Gort boys for the priesthood. J

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY SCHOOL UNION. At the annual dinner in connection with the Catholm University School Union, held in the Gresham Motel, Dublin, there were some interesting references to the position of the great Teaching Orders ip Ireland. Professor E. J. McWeeney (president) presided. In responding to the toast of ‘The Old School,’ the Very Rev Dr. Watters, S.M., president of the school, said that it was close on forty-six years since the Marist bathers took over the school at Leeson street. It was established as a sort of feeder to the old Catholic University, and its pupils had not played an insignificant ? r A lnrisll P? bllc life In a very remarkable number of the Times of March 17, speaking of the Irish secondary sc ools, it was stated that the Teaching Orders more than held their own as compared with the other schools throughout the country. That was a very big admission from such an important newspaper. After a searching analysis of the figures, the article stated . that they seemed to show that the schools of. the Orders were looked upon with favor by the Catholics of Ireland, and that the educational work accomplished by them oore comparison with similar work done in Protestant schools and in other Catholic schools. That article, in view of coming times, was a remarkable tribute to the vitality of this country and its race. There was a proffer of £40,000 per year for the secondary schools n the country continued Dr. Watters. He was in hopes that that money would revert to this country unencumbered by conditions that would trammel the cherished liberty of their schools.

Dr. Coffey, President of University College, said that there was no other secondary school in the centre of Dublin such as that over which Dr, Watters presided. The pupils of the school were amongst the foremost students at University College. . He believed that the Ireland of the future would be all that the first Rector of the Catholic University (Cardinal, then Dr., Newman) conceived it would he. The Rev. Dr. MacCaffrey said that if the teaching clergy in Ireland now held a peculiar position it was entirely due to their own devotion. Up to the time the Intermediate Act was passed, teaching in Ireland was not a paying thing at any rate, and anyone acquainted with secondary schools at the present time knew that there was not a gold mine in them. THE HOME RULE FUND. The first list of subscriptions to the Home Rule fund for 1913 has been published, and the amount totals the record sum of £6007. It is a splendid start, and must give great satisfaction to every friend of Ireland. In a cause like ours, money .talks, and there can be no stronger proof of the determination of the Irish people to win Home Rule than their willingness to subscribe year after year to supply the Irish Party with ‘ the sinews of war ’ to carry on the fight to a successful termination. The initial list of subscribers is in itself eloquent beyond words of the unity of the Irish people, of the loyalty of the people to the party, and of the fidelity of the party to the people. At the head of the list are the Archbishop of Cashel and a number of the Catholic bishops, each of whom expresses his adhesion to Home Rule in patriotic and stimulating words. Following these come the names of the members of the Irish Party, every single one of whom, from Mr. John Redmond down to the latest recruit, subscribes at least £SO, or one-eighth of the annual allowance made him out of the public purse to cover his Parliamentary expenses. And then follows a list representative of every class and creed, and of every province and county in Ireland. It is truly magnificent. With such a beginning, there need be no fear of the ending. This year’s subscription may confidently be expected to beat even last year’s record. THE PARTY’S EXAMPLE. The Irish Members’ subscriptions represent their second annual contribution to the fighting fund. Payment of Members has been only two years in existence, and each year the Irish Members have each subscribed at least £SO to the Home Rule fund. There is not a nation in existence which has fought and paid for Home Rule as the Irish nation has done. There is not a political party in existence which can point to such a record of fidelity and self-sacrifice as the Irish Party. The party and the people are worthy of each other, and it would be unthinkable that such a combination as they have represented in the past, and represent more than ever to-day, failed to carry the national cause to victory. Other parties have tried to maintain themselves and their movement by popular subscription, and have failed. But the Irish Party, though it has passed through many a crisis, has survived them all, and never was stronger, more united, or more efficient than it is to-day. Their enemies have charged with all the crimes in the calendar, but the indictment of selfseeking is one at least which cannot be made good. Many of the Irish members are veterans, bearing the scars of many battles, whose* only ambition is to see the crowning of their life’s work in the triumph of Home Rule. Neither they, nor any of their colleagues, have been tempted by the spoils of office, which are the natural ambition of men of other parties in Parliament : but, as they entered the British House of Commons poor and single-minded, so they will leave it, when their work has been accomplished, still poor in the world’s goods, but rich in the grateful and affectionate memory of their emancipated countrymen. PASSING AWAY OF TWO NATIVES OP KILLARNEY. We (Kerry News) regret to have to record the death of Sister Leonard, of the Franciscan Convent of Per-

petual Adoration, -Drumshambo, County Leitrim, which, took place on March 29—on the same day’ on which her brother-in-law, Mr. John O’Reilly, was buried in Brockley cemetery, London. Sister Leonard, before entering the religious state, did a woman’s part in the erection of the Killarney Friary, and afterwards devoted her life to the work which God pointed out to her as her duty. The Most Rev. Father David Fleming has our sincere sympathy on the death of his sister. The same paper also reports the death of Mr. John J. O’Reilly, late Surveyor of H.M. Customs, London, which occurred at his residence, Reservoir road, Brockley, London. The deceased was attended in his last illness by the Franciscan Fathers of Forest Gate. The late Mr. O’Reilly was appointed at the age of twentyone years to an important school in the parish of Killarney, but as the Civil Service offered more scope for his energy, he entered it in 1879. From that time onward his advance was rapid, and without influence or favor he progressed from Examining Officer to Surveyor, which office he held until his resignation. The funeral took place on March 29, when the Most Rev. Father David Fleming, O.F.M. (brother-in-law), assisted by Rev. Father Leidig, of Nunhead, officiated at the graveside. The many telegrams and messages of sympathy received by his sorrowing wife and family from relatives in England and Ireland, . from former brother officers, and also from numerous friends in London, bore testimony to the high respect and esteem in which the deceased was held. But there was no keener regret than that felt by those who knew him as a young teacher in Killarney. The late Sister Leonard was a sister of Mr. P. P. Fleming, Dunedin, and of Mrs. W. J. (Mahoney, Hawera. A SET-BACK FOR A RAILWAY COMPANY. It is to be hoped the Irish Great Southern and Western Railway Company will profit by the lesson imparted to it in the rejection by the House of Commons of the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbors Bill. The Bill, a measure providing for the deepening of the harbor at Fishguard, was thrown out chiefly because of the policy the company pursued during a strike near Mallow, but a cause was a feeling of irritation created by the company’s recent decision with regard to the appointment of clerks in the railway service. Some years ago (says the Catholic Times) there were complaints that the Great Southern and Western Railway Company, though conducting its business amongst a Catholic population, did not give a fair chance to Catholics who applied for posts vacant in the service. Various public bodies demanded that the appointments should be made by open competition. The company yielded and established such a system. The results proved favorable to the Catholic applicants. In the competitive tests they often did theirwork in a manner superior to that of the non-Catholics. Lately the company announced that they had not found this method of selection satisfactory and that they had resolved to revive the old system of nomination. There is a widespread suspicion amongst the Irish public that this step has been taken simply because they desire to show special favor to non-Catholics. Unless the company gives the people solid ground for believing that favoritism is not intended, there will be an agitation which certainly will not improve their business or the state of their relations with those around them.