MISS ANNA PARNELL ON THE SITUATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 494, 29 September 1882, Page 23

MISS ANNA PARNELL ON THE SITUATION.

Father Cantwell forwards to Tippemry the following letter which he has received from Miss Anna Parnell : — Dublin, July 19, 1882. Dear Father Cautwell, — In reply to your questions about subscriptions I am very glad to have an opportunity of saying something to you about what seems to me a very serious question. Evictions are likely to increase ; so alio is oppression from the landlord party likely to increase ; and it may come to pass that those who have rejected with horror the idea of undergoing eviction in order to baffle the oppression of the present may come in time to wish that they still had the alternative offered to them. When I say that evictions and landlord oppression, which are almost convertible terms, will increase, the opinion may seem strange to those who Consider that the power of the landlords has been shaken to its foundation, and the death-warrant signed for the system they are identifiel with. But it is the very fact that the landlords have been thoroughly frightened and irritated that makes them so dangerous to the country now more than they have ever been before. It is true that a very determined resistance to rackrenting has met them in many parts of Ireland ; that many persons have made great sacrifices and displayed great courage and ingenuity in conducting this resistance ; large reductions in rent have been extorted thereby ; but the very energy displayed against them has roused the landlords to the danger of their position, aud although their incomes «nay have been reduced — partly by the withholding of a portion of the usual rent for the maintenance of those who pay it, more by the absolute non-existence of a large part of this usual rent — still they have received a great deal of it. and will be willing oow, as they never would have been under different circumstances, to apply a portion of the rent they luve received to secure more in the future, and terminate the evils they are now suffering. In all they do they will b<? backed up by the Gjvc'rnmem, and they will be encouraged to make an effort by th? fact that they have in the Land Court and Land Act a macbine-J that will give them facilities they never had in the past for rainng their rents easily and quickly, if once they can break dowa the pressure on the Land Court from the opposite side, which forces it to ke-p up the appearance of being for the protection of the -tenants. The new Lind Cc p>ratioa scheme is one of the evidences of this state of feeling amongst the landlords. Whether it is in itself formidable is an open question ; that about it which is most important fc> the tenantfarmer-! U the fact that very nearly every penny subscribed to the funds of this corporation, as well as to the Kmergeasy and Defence Association, is paid by themselves. They should, if they wish to p otect themselves against the operation of all tlese societies, give more than they do now for that purpose. Th«y cannot depend, as they have done in the p ist, on the money of «he Irish in America. We ours Ivesdonot expect to receive more from them than will enable us to fulfil past obligations, nor do T think it right that they should be a-ked for more than this. We kave, therefore, to face th<» double truth that evictions will increase, -*nd if the evicted are to be supported it must bn from funds contr»outed by the Irish tenants, excepting as regards those for whom we are responsible. We have been able to make a calculation, by the experience of the last 18 month*, of the sum necessary for t\u proper support of evictions, and the result is that we believe if t*e estates from which we receive applications for assistance would subscribe one shilling in the pound on the valuations of the estate* a sufficient fund would be collected for the maintenance of evictions on those estates. It would, of course, be necessary that th« subscription should be paid beforj any contest between landlord and tenant had arisen which would render evictions likely, so as to £ive the benefit of the money contributed by those estates which migit procure a satisfactory settlement of their difficulty to others nat so fortunate. Moreover, the fund raised in this way would only be sufficient for evictions ; it would not serve to satisfy the thousand' and one wants of other kinds which we are now called on to pruviie for ; so I would suggest that it n i°ht be well in, future for those who are not connected with the land to apply what thoy wish to g?ve for the good of their suffering fellow-countrymen to the relief and defence of the victims of the new law, or rather of the Act thai h;is annihilated law and substituted for it the will and desire of every landloid, magistrate, and policeman, aDd let the ten.mt farmers apply their sub criptions to the object which concerns themadve-i 8O vitally. If they are not willing to do this I fear thj prosfKjet b-fore them is a gloomy one, and it would have been better forth ra not to have exciud the fear aud the anger of a class so cruel and greeriy as the Irish Hndloids by an opposition they were not prepared tv carry to its legitimate issues. They will find themselves ii the pvutiun of a man who bas wounded a savage beast, but has failed to kill it.— l remain, yours truly, Anna Parnell.

According to statistics just issued by the Ministry of the Interior, it appears that since 1871 crimes and misdemeanours in Prussia have increased at the enormous rate of about 1 1 1 per cent. In 1880 alon* the number of prisoners rose by nearly 15,000.