THE RIGHT HON. "T.P "

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 52, 30 December 1925, Page 49

THE RIGHT HON. "T.P "

gg . The Right Hon. Thomas Power O'Connor, ||p£.P L . > P.C., reached his 77th birthday the ,other week and received myriads of congratulations from his innumerable friends, per.jsonal and political, in all parts of the world. Worn in Athlone in 1848, "T.P." took his M.A. degree in Queen's College, Galway, before he was twenty years of age. After a short experience -as reporter in Dublin he came to London in his twenty-first year, and eventually obtained an appointment on the Daily Telegraph. In 1880, when Mr. Parnell was recruiting the Irish Parliamentary Party, "T.P." became Member for Galway. . At the Redistribution of Seats in 1885 the Scotland Division of Liverpool was formed, and as it contained a majority of Nationalist 'voters "T.P." became its Parliamentary rep- \ resentative and has remained so since uninterruptedly throughout the forty years that have elapsed. As a writer he first came into prominence through the publication of a Biography of Lord Beaconsfield which was printed at the zenith of the career of that famous Tory Premier. Early in life "T.P." contracted the habit of starting newspapers. He founded the London Star which still survives. He also founded The Sun, a London evening paper, and afterwards the Weekly Sun, to say nothing of M.A.P. and T.P.'s Weekly. He has been always, and remains a most industrious journalist with amazing productivity. To thfe Irishmen of Great Britain he was known as President of the various Irish leagues which organised the Irish vote in Britain during the past fifty The names.of the organisation chang-ff-Jdloccasionally, but "T.P." was its perpetual president through all its activitiesa genial tyrant whose ruling frequently savored more of Draco than of Demos. The Labor Party

was credited with the intention of making him a Peer, but stopped short at making him a Privy Councillor which gives him the designation of Right Hon. One of the most prominent and popular figures in the political and literary life of modern England, at times fiercely (and not unwarrantably) criticised by his political compatriots, "T.P." remains one of the truest Irishmen of his time and one of the most disinterested devotees of Dark Rosaleen. ❖❖ Mount St. Joseph's Boys' Home, Waverley Favored with glorious weather the boys of Mount St. Joseph gave an outdoor entertainment to their benefactors and friends • on Saturday afternoon week. An exceptionally meritorious programme arranged for the occasion was carried out without a hitch, and the forty-four performers who took part in it won the praise of the many friends, who came from Dunedin and from Mosgiel. A bevy of young ladies from the secondary department of St. Philomena's College presided over a sweets and ice-cream stall and .did a brisk trade, the "Waverley boys" being liberally regaled at the expense of thevisitors. Guessing competitions held during the . afternoon proved very exciting. We noticed that quite a number of parents sent their " children with presents for the orphans, thus ;I putting into practice the advice given on

the recent Confirmation Sunday, in St. Patrick's Basilica, by his Lordship the Bishop, namely, to train the children to help the poor. The Sisters of Mercy and the orphan boys under their care at the Mount, are deeply grateful to all the good friends who so generously helped them, and earnestly pray that God's best blessing may be bestowed upon these dear friends and their families. <«> BETHLEHEM AND THE EUCHARIST. ("He came unto His own, and His own received Him not!") At coldest, darkest hour of night our God came down To this poor earth, and men received Him with a frown! Dear God! And we? Can we afford to cast a stone At coldness of the Bethle'mites ? What of our own? Had they but known that night of nights that God was nigh! Perhaps they would not have Him thus on straw to lie ! While we! We know that in our midst the Saviour stands, And calls to us, with plaintive voice, with outstretched hands: "Prepare My way, make straight My paths! For lo! I come I come to you, within your heart to make My home!" Yet we, His chosen, cherished children, go our way, Unheeding Him Who for our sakes dwells night and day Within the narrow prison cell His love has sought— A Prisoner, held fast with bonds His love has wrought! I At Bethlehem the angels sang their carols sweet, The simple shepherds laid their offerings at His feet, The hearts of Mary and of Joseph were aglow With love whose purity outshone that midnight snow I The sages, from the far-off East, adoring, knelt Before the Babewith faith sublime, God's presence felt! The shepherds and the saintly kings have passed away, But Jesus' love has chained Him here, and so to-day We still may come, the heavy-laden and the poor, The blind, the lame, the leper-white, and find a cure! He longs to ease the racking pain, to soothe the brow, Oh! foolish heart, why live in grief? He calls you now! —E. de M.