Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 39

Irish News

-.'..' GENERAL. ;/-",;: *-\ .f. The Senate of the National University of Ireland has appointed Mr. Cr M. Drennan, M. A., Professor of .History; English Literature, and Mental Science in University College, Dublin. i? :- ; -v- .'- -.. :■■ A great Nationalist demonstration was held in Dragan, Co. Tipperary, on May 18, when. Mr. John Dillon, M.P., unveiled a memorial to the late Mr. Michael Cusack, one of the most ardent and unselfish patriots of his generation. ; /. ..■■-..<:/, .. Three Nationalist candidates are already in the field for the vacancy in the Parliamentary representation of Leix Division of Queen's County, created by the death of Mr. P. A. Meehan, M.P.—namely, Mr. James J. Aird, J.P., Co.C, Maryborough; Mr. P. J. Meehan, solicitor-, Maryborough; and Mr. John Lalor Fitzpatrick, Tenakill, Mountrath.V ; A sensation was caused in Bray on May 16, when it was learned that Mr. Justice Wright had been found dead in an armchair in the library of his house. Mr. Justice Wright was the son of the late Mr. Thomas R. Wright, solicitor, Clonakilty, and was born in that town in June, 1847. He was one of a large family of brilliant sons, the eldest being at present the Clerk of the Crown and Peace for the City of Cork, and the East Riding. He was married to a daughter of the late Sir Croker Barrington, of Limerick. In Kilteely, Co. Limerick., on May 18, a monument was unveiled in the churchyard over the grave of Mr. William Lundon, who represented East Limerick in the House of Commons for many years. The unveiling ceremony was performed by Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., for West Belfast, in the presence of an enormous gathering, which included contingents from every district in Limerick and many parts of Cork and Tipperary.

' THE PENAL LAWS AND THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. In the Land Judge's Court, on May 14, Mr. Justice Ross, in the matter of the estate of Patrick Finn, late of Mitchelstown, declared a bequest of £IOOO to the Abbot of Mount Melleray invalid as being a bequest for an illegal Order. His Lordship also held that the words" ' and for the charitable works of the Order ' in the will did not operate to make the bequest a good one, inasmuch as a bequest for the works of the Order was the same in effect as a bequest for the Order itself. This is only one of many glaring instances of similar hardships inflicted from time to time upon religious Orders under the penal laws which are still on the Statute Book.- It is shameful that no Government has thought fit or found time to pass an Act repealing the odious penal clauses which deprive self-sacrificing religious bodies like the Cistercians of their undoubted rights. WHAT THE IRISH PARLIAMENT DID. Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., and a party of friends had an interesting experience on May 20. They visited the "Wolfhill Coalfields in Queen's County on the invitation of the proprietor, Mr. J. J. Parkinson, and braving the discomforts of the journey descended into the workings. On leaving, after an inspection of the mine, Mr. Redmond delivered a brief address to a party of miners who had assembled. He said: I do not know whether you are politicians, any of you. But I am a politician, and naturally I look at everything from a political point of view, as well as an industrial point of view, and I cannot , forget that one of the very last acts of the Irish Parliament before it was suppressed was the voting of a sum of £50,000 for the purpose of developing this very coal field. Unfortunately the Parliament was immediately afterwards abolished, and the money was never forthcoming. The money that is required to develop this coal field now is very little, a drop of water compared with the enormous revenue which is collected in this

country— revenue of twelve millions a year, and all that' is required to develop this coal mine *' is a com* paratively small sum of money. which I feel sure will be forthcoming in the immediate future. I look for* ward with the greatest possible confidence to the' future success of this coal mine, and, as a result,. to an enormous impetus being given to the - whole industrial development of Ireland. I am delighted to see the work that is done here. I am glad to congratulate Mr. Parkinson on what he has done, and to congratulate you on the work upon which you are engaged. I hope the day is very near when this will be a great centre of industrial prosperity.

LITERARY SOCIETIES' REUNION. - A most enjoyable function took place in Dublin on the evening of May 14, when the Irish National Literary Society entertained the members of the Irish Literary . Society of London, in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of [the foundation of both bodies. Addresses were delivered by representative members of both bodies. The principal speakers were Dr. Sigerson, of Dublin, and Mr. Alfred Percival Graves, of London. Dr. Sigerson said they were celebrating the twenty-first anniversary of the Irish Literary Society of London, and of the National Literary Society of Ireland>\ in reality welcoming home their countrymen who were .-fighting the good fight in the capital of England. When they first began their crusade, against ignorance of all things Irish in literature, ,in history, in music, and in other departments, there was unquestionably apathy over the land. The aim of the society was to dispel that apathy, to create a new life, to form a National opinion" racy of the soil, and to recall that a nation could live only by its mind and by its aspirations.: Now, from a little thing,, as from a mustard seed, the society had grown into a great tree. Mr. Alfred Percival Graves, President of the Irish Literary Society, said they in London had started two important Irish National Associations—the Irish Text Society and the Irish Folk Song Society. The great success of the Irish Text Society was mainly owing to two women—Eleanor Hull and Norma Borthwick. The Irish Folk Song Society was formed as the result of a conversation which took place between Mr. Plunkett Green, his brother Charles, and himself. He mentioned the splendid effect which the Gaelic League movement had created in Limerick by spreading th& love of Irish literature, and suggested that an Irish library should be started and called ' Every Irishman's Library.' ■"'■''"."'- : '

DEATH OF A WELL-KNOWN LADY. ; " At Seatown House, Dunkalk, onMay 14, the death took place at an advanced age of Mrs. Julia ~Hamill, widow of the late Mr. J. Hamill, J.P. Deceased was a lady of considerable means, and her benefactions to Catholic institutions in the Armagh diocese were numerous. Some thirteen years ago she presented to the Redemptorist community a chime of bells, at a cost of £I2OO. Later she was largely responsible for the erection of a beautiful new marble altar in St. Malachy's Dominican Church, Dundalk. Some seven years ago Mrs. Hamill had erected at her own cost a magnificent tower at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dundalk, at a cost of some £7OOO, while two years ago she contributed a sum of £IOOO towards the renovation of the same church. A TRANSFORMED WEST. Mr. T. W. Russell, in welcoming recently a delegation of the British Farmers' Association to Dublin, said he was sorry the members of the association were not going to the West of Ireland. In these parts of the West, where the ranches were in existence, some of the most interesting experiments that any country had ever carried out, had taken place. He went quite recently to Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. He found that, in a large area that had formerly been a grass ranch,, something like fifty families had been transferred from the bogs to new holdings. Nothing could have been better. It was not only that a change had been made.

but that it had been sucessfully -made, and that the people were working hard co-operating with the Congested Districts Board and with the Department. And there were fifty or sixty beautiful houses, every one of , them gay with flowers, instead of the muck-heap before the door, as had been the custom in the old days. The whole thing had been transformed. And he confessed he shrugged his shoulders when he thought how long it had taken to come to the conclusion that the people should be taken out of the bogs, and put back on the lands occupied by the cattle, as if men were not of more value than cattle. It was in these districts that every Land Bill had been born. It was out of the trouble there that crime and mischief arose, which forced the hands of Parliament, and compelled them, slowly but surely, to arrive at the conclusion that they had now arrived at that Ireland was an agricultural country, and that the land of the country, in these parts at all events, had better be occupied by human beings, than have human being starving on the bogs, and cattle fattening on the land. He gave the members of the association a cordial welcome, and he was sure that welcome would be repeated wherever they went in the South of Ireland.

THE HOME RULE FUND. The Home Rule fund for 1913 has now reached a total of £8328. This is £ISOO below the amount subscribed at the same date (May 17) last year (says the Irish Press Agency). But, then, this year's list opened four weeks later than last year's,, so that this year's list is doing splendidly, considering that last year's total far surpassed all previous records. All over the country, meetings are being held and subscription lists opened, and the utmost confidence is expressed that a fresh record will be made this year. There is nothing else comparable to a big subscription list for the Home Rule fund for filling the opponents of Home Rule, factionist and Unionist, with despair. It is the unanswerable reply to the argument that the Irish people do not want Home Rule. The Unionist campaign is now in full swing in England, but it is not giving satisfactory results. Home Rule still holds its ground against all the assaults of the 'Ulster' ascendancy party land their allies of the British League against Home Rule. But why? Because, wherever the emissaries of ascendancy go, they are met by the representatives of the Irish Press Agency, directed by Mr. Thomas Scanlan, M.P., or by the literature of the 1.P.A., issued under the supervision of Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P. The expenses of the Irish counter-campaign are very heavy, and it is to meet these expenses, as well as the expenses of the Irish Party as such and the National Organisation, that funds are needed. The Home Rule movement is approaching closer and closer to its crowning triumph. But, until that has been secured, there can be no respite for either the Irish Party or the Irish people. They must keep pressing on. From May 29 until far on in the summer, Mr. Redmond and his colleagues will be in the thick of the fight, from day to day, almost from hour to hour, even the week-ends of most of the members being taken up with propaganda work in the British constituencies. The Party may be trusted not to fail Ireland, and Ireland can be relied upon to continue to give the Party that moral and material support which is the secret of its strength and the pledge of victory for the cause it so ably champions.