NEW IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 158, 12 May 1876, Page 15

NEW IRELAND.

We have often commented with regret on the little care taken to direct the stream of Irish immigration to the United States. While I t^pi-OTident Germans had various associations in different parts of the btates, by whom their brother Teutons were taken in hand on landing aud pioneered to some localty where their strength or skill 111 1U w Stl T£T T° f P««*«*U« •mployment, the poor Irish were I allowed to shift for themselves as well as they could. Some semblance l of a society took them m charge of later years at Castle Gardens but . it went a very short way in seeing to their welfare ; once out of its I ken, they might sink or swim for all anybody seemed to be concerned. I It was lamented that while the mflux from continental nations under I direction of countrymen already settled were able to find their way at once to the best parts of the Union, where they joined and aided commumties already flourishing, our people were without guides lost purpose as soon as they touched the Transatlantic shore, and becoming absorbed in the overcrowded city, soon yielded to its temptations j or retained no longer the taste for au independent life or the desire | for a more respectable oue. We are gratified to see that a really ! practical step has bee u taken to root the Irish people in the American j soil, a thing which has been already done on so large and successful ! a scale for the Germans, the Swedes, the Danes, and others, whose j nationalities individualize whole tracts of the Great Eepublic The , plan we have to notice with approval is not only Iri B h but Catholic. It is the inspiration of the Most Key. John Ireland, Coadjutor Bishop of bt Paul Minnesota. This energetic prelate has selected along the line of the Pacific Railroad over 150,000 acres of railway and gov-ru-ment land, of sp Undid quality, and on most favorable terms. On this it is his lordship s intention to locate two thousand Catholic families Minnesota is a State of rery salubrious climate, a land of crystal lakes' of beautiful prairie*, of the dreamy Indian summer, and bounteous harvests a region abounding in fish and game. The soil of the projected settlement is the golden vein of this territory, well adapted for growing all the cereals and offering, thanks to the noble meadow tracts scattered through the district, peculiar faculties for stock raising Water is plentiful, and calculating all the resources available, the Bishop thinks that suitable settlers will be owners of their own hold! ings, and independent if not wealthy citizens in a very few years Dr Ireland gives a cautious invitation. While confident that all who come determined to work will not fail to do well, he warns intending immigrants that they will have some rough work at the outset B? way of lUustrating the probabUities, the Bishop declares briefly but emphatically, "I have convened with thousands and thousands of Catholic farmers in Minnesota. Many a tale they told me of hardships endured m early days. But not one to say he was sorry he settled in land have I found. Whatever were once their trials, they to-day thank G-od with grateful hearts that they are farmers." The Lishop advises settlers to come prepared with £80 and £ 100 to provide for the first season. Of course a great feature of the settlement w^l be the tact that it will render the services and practices of religion more available than these could be to a scattered population dwelling a greater or less number of miles from priest or church. Bishoo Ireland s invitation is directly addressed to the Irish inhabitants of the Eastern States. It is to be hoped that the response will be such as to increase the movement begun by the good prelate. The more our people are drawn away from the overcrowding and vice of cities the brighter thejf uturc of Ireland iv America,—' Dublin Fretmau,' '