AFFAIRS IN IRELAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4881, 5 February 1903, Page 5

AFFAIRS IN IRELAND.

CABLE NEWS. vxiinn I'lixss association. —by electiuc xelecjuai’H. —corviucHX-

OPERATIONS OF THE COERCION ACT. LONDON, February 3. Summary jurisdiction under the Coercion Act fins been revoked in the boroughs of Dublin, Limerick and U aterford, and in ten rural districts.

MR WYNDHAM’S LAND BILL. LONDON, February 3. In the course of a speech at a levee in Dublin to-day, the Earl of Dudley, Viceroy of Ireland, announced that Mr Wyndham’s Irish Lund Bill had been drafted. It exceeded all former Bills in generosity towards genuine tenants. Notable landlords hud been consulted in drafting tho measure. BOYCOTTING IN SLIGO. STRONG LANGUAGE BY A JUDGE. (Received February 5. 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, February 4. In an action for damages for boycotting nt Sligo, one of the defendants, Father Spellman, president of the Sligo brancli of tho Land League, did not appear, alleging that the plaintiff’s solicitor in opening the case had sneered at tho priesthood. Judge Morris declared that_ the “ shuffling and reprehensible priest ” was amonablo to the law, and was not entitled to plead his sacred office, particularly when the heads of the Church everywhere condemned boycotting. Ho gave judgment for the full sum claimed, and regretted his inability to quintuple tho amount.