AN IRISH REPUBLICAN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20234, 19 February 1934, Page 9

AN IRISH REPUBLICAN.

Archbishop Mannix in Christchurch. Charmed with New Zealand when he visited the Dominion ten years ago on the occasion of the jubilee of Archbishop Redw'ood’s consecration as a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, the Right Rev Dr Daniel Mannix, Roman ‘Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, is making another tour of this country during his visit to take part in Archbishop Redwood’s diamond jubilee celebrations. Archbishop Mannix was a prominent figure in connection with the Irish disturbances in 1920 as an uncompromising advocate of the complete independence of Southern Ireland. Political and economic subjects wer® not discussed by the Archbishop in an interview, but he said that he had been struck by the apparent prosperity of the Dominion. He had particularly noticed the well-kept farms and neat farmhouses of the North Island and it seemed to him that New Zealand was in a much more prosperous state than were a number of other countries. Advocate of Independence. Throughout a distinguished career at a professor of mental and moral philosophy and later as president of St Patrick’s College. Mavnooth, Ireland, Archbishop Mannix was an ardent advocate of the complete separation of Ireland from the British Empire. _ Ho carried on his campaign in this direction when he was appointed CoadjutorArchbishop of Melbourne in 1912, and when war broke out in 1914, he became one of the leaders of the anticonscription movement in Australia, After becoming Archbishop in 1917, ho continued to support the setting up of a republic in Ireland and in 1920, when there was spasmodic fighting between the Sinn Feiners and the Black and Tans in Ireland, he left Australia on a visit to that country. The British Government, however, interfered with his arrangements and removed him from the liner on which he was travelling, taking him by means of a destroyer to Penzance, where he was secretly landed. In 1925, no restrictions were placed on him when he visited Ireland and he was joined there by Mr de Valera. Despite the granting of dominion status to Ireland, he continued to urge the establishment of a republic, and in 1927 he raised a fund in Australia to assist the de Valera movement.