Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1915, Page 39

Irish News

; * GENERAL. , The .Senate has appointed the Rev. P. Power, * M.R.1.A., Professor of Archaeology, and Miss Bride Danaher, M.A., Professor of German, at University College, Cork. Mr. John Redmond, M.P., reviewed a force of 25,000 Nationalist Volunteers in Phoenix Park, gath-"' ©red from all parts of Ireland, on Easter Monday. He stated that there were 25,000 Nationalists serving with the colors. There being no criminal business Mr. Justice Dodd was - presented with white gloves at Wexford Assizes. His Lordship said the presentation was a symbol of the purity and peace of a county that had been peaceable at all times; indeed, so near perfection as to be entirely free from crime. He would treasure the symbol as a memento of his first visit to Wexford. The following are the names of Clongowes Wood old boys mentioned in Sir John French’s despatch; Captain P. R. Butler, Staff; Lieut.-Colonel C. Dalton (killed); Captain 0. V. Fox, Lieut. -Colonel N. C. Ferguson, Lieut. -Colonel R. J. Copeland, Captain J. S. Dunne, Lieut. F. P. Freeman, Surgeon-General T. J. O’Donnell, Capt. J. J. O’Keeffe (Legion*of Honor). The - position of Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper and permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, vacated by the death of Mr. Joseph Nugent Lentaigne, has been filled by the appointment of Mr. Gerald Horan, barrister-at-law, who has been acting as Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor since the latter’s appointment. Mr. Horan has been for some time in the enjoyment of one of the most extensive practices at the Junior Bar; and he is a popular figure at the Four Courts. Second-Lieutenant John J. Ryan, 16th Lancers, who was taken prisoner in Flanders on Feb. 16, is the eldest son of the late Major-General T. R. Ryan, D.L., of Scarteen, Co. Limerick. Born in 1871, and educated at Oscott College, he served in the South African War in the Leicester Imperial Yeomanry under General Sir Leslie Bundle, receiving the medal and four clasps. At the outbreak of the present war he received a commission in the Lancers, being the eldest of seven of his name and family serving at the front. At Wicklow Spring Assizes Mr. Albert E. West, High Sheriff, presented Judge Madden with white gloves. His lordship said : Mr. High Sheriff, the most pleasing instance in the- experience of a judge is the receipt of a pair of white gloves at the hands of a High Sheriff. My knowledge of the County Wicklow as Law Officer and Judge of the High Court extends over a number of years, and during all these years it has always borne the character of a law-abiding and orderly community, and it is with very great pleasure I now accept the emblem of its absolutely spotless character. In the short period since their return to Scotland, the Marquis and Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair have already done much to remove the wrong impressions regarding Ireland which prevailed in the North. They have addressed various meetings, and at all of these they have expressed their appreciation of Ireland and the Irish character. At a meeting of the Tai'ves Literary Society, the Marchioness delivered a lecture on ‘Some Aspects of "Life in Ireland,’ and described the progress which the country was making, under the more enlightened methods of government, which had been pursued in recent years. Mr. Joseph Nugent Lentaigne, whose death has taken place at a private hospital in Dublin, .was a member of a well-known Dublin family, being the eldest son of the late Right Hon. Sir John Lentaigne, C. 8., P.C., of Tallaght. He was born in 1847 and was educated at Clongowes Wood College, where he. displayed marked ability, and obtained his B.A. degree. -He was called to the Irish Bar in 1870. Some years later he became Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper and

Permanent--Secretaryi to the Lord J:Chancellor of Ireland, which positions he held up to the time of his death. . He was also a Justice of the Peace for County Dublin. A Home Rule celebration of an interesting character was held recently on the Meenachrane Estate, which lies in the Valley of Glenelly, in the north-east of Tyrone. Miss H. Skeffington: Thompson, the owner of the estate, to celebrate the passing of the Home Rule Bill, gave her tenants a dinner. The relations between the owner of the estate and her tenants have-always been not 'only of a friendly, but of a really affectionate nature, and the celebration of the passing of the Home Rule Bill was the expression of the political and personal joy shared by landowner and tenants, alike. . ■ Addressing the Grand Jury at the Louth Assizes, Mr. Justice Boyd said he was happy to state that their duties would be extremely light. He had narrowly escaped the honor conferred on his colleagues in County Meath of being presented with white gloves, because there were only two cases to be considered. These were ■ cases of no magnitude whatever. Fie was also happy, to assure the Grand Jury that from the police reports he saw that the county was in a state of peace; order, and prosperity. The county had been progressive, and was improving, and he tendered his congratulations to the Grand Jury, X Deep sympathy was felt for Mr. A. A. Anderson, Secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organising Society, on the death of his eldest son, Lieut. Philip Maurice Ramsay Anderson, of the Royal Irish Rifles,, whose death took place in France from wounds received in action. This is the second son Mr. Anderson has lost through the war, the other, Lieut. Alan Anderson, having been killed in the beginning of December at the battle of Le Pelly. At the outbreak of the war the eldest son returned from the Argentine, where he held an important post, and joined King Edward’s Horse. On receipt of the melancholy news of his brother’s death he applied for and received a commission in the Royal Irish Rifles, and soon found himself on active service. Although his experience on active service was unfortunately very short he distinguished himself as a brave soldier. - . HEAVY LOSSES AT THE FRONT. : According to the last census returns, there were about 2,500,000 persons of Irish birth or descent living in Great Britain. Adopting the usual methods of calculation, this means that there are about 450,000 males of military age. How many of these have gone to the colors. Mr. F. J. Crilly, the secretary of the Irish National League of Great Britain, through his district secretaries, has been making an exhaustive enquiry into the whole matter, and he has now forwarded to the press, in as complete a form as investigations so far permit, the results of that enquiry. He has found that, excluding the western, southern, and eastern counties, 115,513 Irishmen have joined the colors since the war began. For the purposes of organisation the United Irish League divides Great Britain into seven districts. Here are the figures for each of these districts; —Lancashire, Cheshire, and N. Wales, 40,786; Scotland, 25,760; Yorkshire, 19,730; North of England, 13,400; Midlands, 5800; South Wales, 4577; London, 5460; total, 115,513. x -Lx-A These figures could be further augmented by returns from many places in Lancashire, North Wales, the Midland Counties, South Wales, {ind the West of England, which have not yet com*© in. The North of England total includes the Tyneside Irish Brigade of 5400 men, which has been raised in Newcastle-on-Tyne, and which is one of the most remarkable features of the recruiting campaign in this country. A very large proportion of these men are members of the Irish National League; indeed, it would be safe to say that 99 per cent., of them are Catholic and Nationalist*. - , • ‘ The latest casualty lists (says the Sussex Daily News) give eloquent testimony to the very heavy losses which have been sustained by the Irish regiments at

; ; x !xATT'b ATT'' ■ the front. The tale of the Munsters is well known. The ,18th Royal Irish have suffered very, heavily. In ■ looking down the record' of their casualties it is ■ impossible not to notice the extraordinary recurrence of,- certains names. Thus' in: the latest list there are no less ' than;:thirteen Ryans and thirteen Walshes, as well as ten Powers. ; These names seem to be in peculiar abundance in the 18th, perhaps " for local recruiting reasons. Other , Irish regiments Royal Irish Rifles, the Connaught Rangers, the Royal Irish Fusiliers, to mention only —are still returning big batches of.'killed, wounded, and missing. ' “ sergeant O’LEARY. V.C. Mr. Daniel O’Leary, Kilbarry, Macroom, Co. Cork, has received a letter from Lord de Yesci, Regimental Adjutant at • the headquarters of the Irish Guards, London, enclosing an extract from a communication from the front alluding to the gallant conduct of his son on February 1. Lord de Yesci takes occasion to offer his own personal congratulations to the father of the -Irish hero, of whom they ‘ all feel proud.’ A The extract, which is from a letter from the 0.C., Ist Battalion Irish Guards, and which has been forwarded to .Sergeant O’Leary's father at the instance of the Lieut.Colonel Commanding the Irish Guards, has the following sentences: — At 10.5 a.m. the fiercest bombardment I have ever seen began and lasted for ten minutes. Then the attack began, but stuck after it had passed a barricade held by (Lieut.) Lines and 14 men. '. . Innes and his 14 men ,were ordered to charge, which they did most gallantly, and took the attack with them. One man, -Corporal O’Leary, Irish Guards, rushed up the railway embankment and calmly shot down Germans behind the first barricadefive in all — and then rushed on to another barricade, and shot three .more, and took two prisoners all by himself.’ Extract of another letter dated February 4 —‘l forgot to mention that I promoted Lance-Corporal O’Leary full sergeant for gallantry on the field.’ A movement is now on foot to honor Sergeant Michael O’Leary, Y.C. To this end a circular to the press, signed by the Earl of Bandon, Alderman H. O’Shea, Lord Mayor of Cork, and several other public men has been - issued. -