SYMPATHY WTTH THE TENANT FARMERS OF IRELAND AND THE IRISH NATIONAL LAND LEAGUE.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 28, 2 August 1881, Page 2

SYMPATHY WTTH THE TENANT FARMERS OF IRELAND AND THE IRISH NATIONAL LAND LEAGUE.

♦ PUBLIC MEETING. Ono of tho most orderly and enthusiastic meetings ever held in Wellington took place last night in the Theatre Royal for tho purpose of expressing sympathy with the tenant farmers of Ireland and tho Irish National Land League I" in their constitutional struggle to maintain an exiatonoo on tin soil which they cultivate." Mr. W. Hutchison, M.H R. , (Mayor of Wellington) occupied tho chair, and was supported on the platform by the following gentlemen:— his Lordship the Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington (Bishop Kedwood), Rev. Fathers Kerrigan, Halbwaohs, MoNamara, and Motluinesa, Sir George Grey, Major Harris, Messrs. J. Shephard, J Ballanoe, J. A. Tole, G. Jones, A. McDonald, W. J. Speight, J. Lundon, anrt H. M. Tawhai, M.H.R's., Messrs. 'J. F« MoDonongh, Ward, Coopor, G. Fisher, C.-. Crofts, J. H. Shaw, Madden, J. R. Browney J. O'Shea, J. Maginnity, and others. In the dress circle a good number of 1. dies were also to be Been. Apologies for unavoidable) absence from tho meeting were received from Mr. H. H. J. Keeves and 0. Pyko, M.H.R.'s. Tho Chairman, who rose amid great applause, said he was not there in any representative capacity, but rather as ono who, having lived a number of years in Ireland, had learned to lovo the people of that country, and to be able to spoak with a oeriain degree of knowledge on Irish affairs and character. He had to express his strongest sympathy with tho Irish peasantry m their determination, on just and reasonable terms, to get for themselves, without being subject to any landlord's oaprioe, tho fruits of their honest industry. (Cheers ) Ireland was one of the most thinly-populated conntries in Enropo. It suffered from stagnation, absenteeism, and gross injustioo. (Loud chaera ) Land onco undor cultivation wns at this moment going rapidly back to bug. He found it Btated in tho report of Mr. J. A. Fox, of the Mansion Houso Relief Committee, that in ono part of County Mayo alone there were 232,822 acres capablo of being reclaimed. This meant small farms of nearly 12 aoros caoii for 20,000 familioa. The ma never shone upon a fairer land than Ireland (Cheers ) Many of thoso present could no doubt see with the eye of memory tho place at that moment. He referred to the little acourato information po s«casod by tho people concerning Irish affaird, and tho small dosire manitostod to hear both sides of tho questi.n. Tho public wore almost entiroly dependent for such information upon the English nowspapers, and this information as a goneral rulo was misleading — not tint linglish journalists de iboiatoly sought to mislead, but because, aa it appeared to him, of tho inability of hnglishmun generally to miderstand the gonins oC Irish character. Not a single Irish newspaper came to tho Parliamentary Library, and only one oamo to the Athennsnm. Tho nowspapers talked of outrages. Why, tho Iriah were without exception tho quietest people on tho face of tho earth. (Choera.) Tho Irish agitation, together with all other agitations bearing upon the settlement of land, had a very important si(rnifioanoo for this new oountry of ours, (laughter.) Wo had boen proceeding on entirely wrong lines in our land legislation, and endeavoring to build up a system of large landed properties, which might go on lor a time, but which would most assuredly end in failure and misery, beoauao it was opposed to the prosperity and comfort of the people. (Applause.) We should never have prosperity for town and country m New Zealand until our land pohey as-t-umed a distinct improvement towards settling an industrial population in lrrg* numbers upon the waßto lands of the colony. ( Loud applause ) Mr. w. J. Spkight, M.H.R.,"hero l'oso and moved the following resolution:—" That this meeting expresses its deepest sympathy with the übjeot of tho Irish L<md League, and with the efforts tho Irish people aro making to obtain tho right of occupying on just conditions the land on which they wore born, npon which they are dwelling, and tho produca from which nffords tho only means of their maintaining Hfo." Ho spoke as a man born and bred in Ireland, and yob who, on reflection, found it nooeSßary to leave that country if ho ever hopod to mako a iutme for himself. Doubtless others present found themselves in a similar position. A meeting liko the present, ho considered, assumed- tho character not of the vindication of any particular nationality, but of tho rights of men. (Cheers.) Two thirds of tho whole of Ireland was hold by 1042 persons. There being such a limited quantity of land open for small settlements, there was an undue competition for that laud ; honco it rose to an extravagant rental. People Wore sometimes horrified to hear of outragos in Ireland. He would be the last man in the world to Bay a word which would sanction these outrages, for breaches of the law wera always a mistake. But thero were circumstances when tho right of revolt was ono to be acted upon. (Cheers.) Down-trodden nationalities in different parts of the world never would have attained their freedom if that right had not been exercised with judgment and valor. Mad it not beon for the operations of the Land League, Gladstone's bill would never have been forced through the Houso of Comtnonß with Buoh'haate as. it had been. (Applause.) Mr. J. Maqinnitt seconded the resolution in a speech written for tho ocoasion. It had been thought, he ajiid, that roligion waa at the bottom of the present Iriah agitation. Such was not the cate. Mr. Parnell, who was tho prime mover in tho contest, was a member of the Church of England ; and engaged in the struggle wera men of all creeds. He invited those present to co-operate to forward the movement. (Cheers.) The resolution was carried with unanimity and amid enthusiastic applause. Mr. J. Shekhan, M.H.R., then moved :— " 1 hat this meeting desires to express its disapproval of the parsing of iho Coercion Act, which deprives tho Irish people of the liberty which is the proclaimed birthright of every British subject." Ho could not claim' to bo Irhh. (Laughter.) At the very outiida he could only claim to bo an Iris 1 ! half-CMto. (More laughter ) But he had drunk iv Irish lovo and Irish traditions with his mother's milk. (Cheers and laughter.) He looked at tho broad aspect of the Irish question, and he believed there wa3 a plague spot on the heart of the British Kmpire which ought not to exist. (Cheers.) He did not claim lor the Irish that they wore hotter than tho ordinary rank and file of humanity ; hut ho did claim that they were as good, and ought to have some chance to live, and to live comfortably too. While ho sympathised with the Iri-h in their grievances, he sometimes felt a blush of shamo on reading about outrages. He did not like to read, as they sometimes did, of shooting from behind hedges. (Applause.) He believed in Home Ku'e, but he would never.be a party to severing the connection with the Empire, because he contended that in time to come the English speaking races would ultimately govern the whole world. All ho asked for. was that in tho race for civilisation the Irish should not be bo heavily handicapped. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Tawhai, M.H.R , (for whom Mr. Sheehan acted as interpreter) seconded the resolution, coming forward amid a storm of appl mse, which lasted for two or three minutes. Ho had heard that measures wore being passed in England which would havo the effect of oppressing the Iriah people, and which would drive them from the land they cherished. He was not an Irishman. (Soars of laughter) Neither was be a Dutch Boer, or a Pole. But he was a man, and therefore he sympathised with the Irish. (Great cheering.) The motion was carried unanimously. Mr B ALLANCK , M. H. R. , hero moved, ' ' rhat this meeting pledges itself to give » substantial aid to the National Land League, to enable it to give assistance to the evicted tenants and tho families of the imprisoned." He remarked that eviction was a comparatively recent invention. In the famine year — 1846 — there were only 79 evictions altogether. From that time the number had gone on gradually increa?in?, till in 1878 the number had reached 17i8, in 1879 it was SCO, and for five months in 1880 it amounted to 1669, while the number of people that ooald hive t>e-*n evicted in that year waa no leas than 15,000. ("Shame.") It was the duty of every Irishman, Scotchman, and Englishman — for the cause waa human— to come forward at the present crisis and extend a helping hand to the distressed, especially when it was remembered that, this di»tre«s was not due to any fault ot the Irish themselves, but was the result of mi3government, persecution, and tyranny. (Enthusiastic cheering.) Mr. Cooper came forward to second the resolution. This was not an Irish qnostion, he said, any more than small-pox was a Sydney question ; and if we did not take oar e

New Zealand would one day be a second Ireland. The motion was then carried amid acclamation. Mr. George FisHEßhere moved : — "That the ladies present be invited to form a committee for the purpose of opening a subscription list in aid of tho Ladies' Land League, and of drawing up an address of sympathy to Miss Anna Parnell and tho Land League, to be forwarded with whatever money may be raised, as s"on aw possible." Mr. Lundon, M.H.R., seconded. He said he wbb an Irishman by birth, in natnre, and heart. The first thing he remembered in the history of Ireland was tho « alking of a lady from one *nd to the other as a proof of its virtne in the time of Brian Born. (Laughter.) For himsolf, he wa=i a native of Garryowen (oheera), and ho Itft Ireland in 1842 to come here with his father and mother. The English know nothing at all about the Irish. (Hear, hear.) For this reason they reminded him of the Now Zealand Government, who brought in a bill to anppress fan-tan and did not know what fan-tan really was. (Laughter and cheers.) They were told that twenty landlords had been shot. When he read of these outrages, the only thing for which ho was sorry was that the shots ever missed the landlords, especially when he thought of the amount of misery, privation, and 6ufferixig that prevailed in the country. (Laughter.) The resolution was here pat to the meeting and carried without dissent. Mr. Tole, M.H.R., afterwards moved :— "That in order to give affect to the foregoing resolutions, this meeting deems it advisable to establish a branch of the Land League in Wellington for the purpose of securing just legislation on all questions relating to land." Mr. J. H. Shaw seconded the resolution, which also was carried unanimously. Bishop Redwood next addressed the meeting. He produced a card issued by the Land League, setting forth the objects of the League. He pointed out the colors of the card — green and ornnge— which were more expressive than a host of discourses, as representing the union of men of oil Bhades of opinion. The objects of the League were to put an end to rack-renting and oppression, and to bring about such a change in the land system as would enable every Irish farmer to become the owner on fair terms of the land he tilled. The means proposed to acoomplißh these objects were organisation among the people and tenant farmers for the purpose of self defence ; refusing to purchase cattle, &c, which might have been seized for impossible rent ; the cultivation of publio opinion by persistent expoaure of the monstrous injustice of the present syetem and its ruinous results ; and a resolute demand for a reduction of the excessive rents which had brought the Irish to a state of starvation, and a temperate but firm resistance of oppression and injustice. The Maoris in their worst pahs were far better off, he said, than many of the Irish he had seen at Home lately. Sir Geohge Grey, on rising to say a few words in bringing the meeting to a close, was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. He asked thoso present to bear in mind that the speeches they had heard meant much more than they thought. They meant that a state of civilisation which had bound the world for it Ion? time was about to pass away. A new civilisation was to dawn upon the world, ar..' they w^re tho men who were leading that civilisation on to tho front. (Cheers.) Let them, therefore, show themselves worthy to be leaders in a great movement of this kind. If they had been told that the Germans, after conquering France, had kept the people down in a stato similar to that in which the Irish now w^re, they wonld have agreed that it was t-rrible and unworthy of a great nation, and from tho bottom of their hearts would have pitied the people in their misery. But the Irish had been kept down in this way for generations. To render themselves worthy of leading tho new civilisation, thoae present must work with purity of motive and with an ardent desire to obtain the good of all, each being prepared to make some sacrifices if necessary. (Cheers.) They must band themselves together to attain their end, and pledge thomselves not to abandon one another until tho great and good things they desired wore achieved, and then not only Ireland, but England, Scotland, and Ireland together would bless the men who had determined on and curried out so great a work. (Loud cheers.) The Chairman having been thanked for bis services, and three cheers having been called for Mr. Parnell, tho proceedings terminated at 11 p.m.