Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 5, 25 May 1883, Page 25

Irish News.

{From the Irish and American papers.]

Three hundred women will start from Limerick this week for New Hampshire, where they will be employed in a cotton factory. The Board of Guardians have voted £50 towards furnishing the emigrants with an outfit.— Cablegram. "London, March 10.— Mr. Trevelyan, Chief Secretary for Reland, in a speech in the House of Commons this afternoon, assured , the House that the condition of Ireland was , more tranquil than it had been for some time paßt."— Cable de&atch.^Ttie tranquility of a gagged, manacled, and prostrate man. The Press muzzled, public meetings forbidden, trial by Government-juries established, a curfew law in full, operation ; the country filled with soldiers and armed police, a famine wringing the vitals of tens of thousands of men women, and children, who are denied food and offered the work-house or the emigrant ship ! A tranquil country ! God avert such ghastly tranquility from every other country in the world ! The Catholic Bishop of Baphoe has written to the Press severely criticising the Chief Secretary's proposals in reference to Irish distress. With, regard to his reference to the poorhouse as an efficient means of relief, the' bishop points out that in West Donegal 14,000 np.rsons are destitute, while there is workhouse accommodation for 3raly 800. Mr. Patrick Egan has acted well and wisely to clear out of the British dominions. They meant to have him, and probably to bang him. With wretches like Carey ready to swear at the bidding of the Government hacks called Irish judges, and with juries selected by these same judges to find the verdict, no man's life or liberty is safe in Ireland. Every man who thinks, knows that the Land League had nothing to do with assassination. It was the only influence in Ireland against violent retaliation. But men like Forster, driven to ferocity by their own failure to rule, have ready tools to do their dirty or wicked work. A meeting was held in Moneyrea Hall to consider what steps should be taken in reference to the position of the farmers under the Land Act. Two cases on the Downshire estate had been before the Sub-Commissioners on Wednesday, and the solicitor for the landlord had claimed the. buildings and drains under an old lease. A report was made to the meeting to the effect that the landlord's solicitor had used disrespectful language to the tenants, jeering them about the quality of their clothing. One tenant said that his brother had been refused as a tenant because he kept a greyhound, and notice to quit was produced in reference to the land. Copies of the Downshire lease were laid before the meeting. It contained provisions to the effect that upon certain occasions the tenants were to give their best beast or best piece of plate, or a certain sum of money ; use all their straw, etc., on the farm ; have all their corn ground at a particular mill ; plant trees as often aa the landlord removed full-grown ones, and other extraordinary provisions, including that upon which the landlord now relicd — viz., that at the end of the lease the tenant should deliver up all buildings, drains and improvements of every kind to the landlord. A curious racing case was decided at the Leitrim assizes recently by Judge Barry, on appeal from Mr. Waters, County Court Judge. The proceedings were brought by the stewards of the Drumshambo races, Co. Leitrim, against Mr. J. D. McDermott, to recover possession of a " Traders' Cup," valued at twenty guineas, of which he had obtained possession under the following circumstances : — In the year 1877 there was a race meeting in Drumshambo, and the principal event on the programme was the " Traders' Cup," value for twenty guineas, to be won three times before it became the property of the winner. Three horses started for this race. Mr. McDermott's Round-the- Corner came in third, but Mr. McDermott lodged objections to the other two, and claimed the cup. After considerable litigation the matter was decided in his favour, and he obtained possession of the cup on signing an agreement, to give it up for a subsequent race at Drumshambo on receiving a month's notice. There was no race until 1882, when the stewards advertised a race and collected subscriptions, but when they came to demand the " Traders' Cup " from Mr. McDermott b* refused to surrender it, claiming it as his absolute property on the ground that his horse had won it the first year, and had not been beaten either of the two subsequent years when the race should have been held. Judge Barry, however, overruled this contention, and ordered him to give up the cup. The Catholic clergy of the diocese of Swinford have passed a resolution in which they charge the Government with neglecting the distressed people and condemn the remedies offered — namely, the workhouse or emigration. After a fire which occurred in Dublin on the premises of Mr^ Doyle, Pill Lane, a fireman discovered a tin case filled with revolver cartridges, and a pocket-book containing a number of greenbacks. Farrell, the informer, was in the employment of Mr. Doyle, and the ammunition and money are believed to have belonged to him. An Enniskillen correspondent says evictions are imminent in parts of the county Fermanagh, although but a few have been .Jfected recently. It is stated that Douglas Pyne, suspect, will contest the county Waterford, in connection with Mr. Power, of Tramore, a National candidate, at the next election. A charge brought against a number of little boys for obstructing the police while posting notices under the Crimes Act, and shouting " Harvey Duff," was dismissed by the magistrates at Drimoleague Petty Sessions. The distress around Kells and Navan continues, and the help rendered is utterly inadequate. " The land-thieves give nothing, says a correspondent,

It is understood that in the course of a short time a woollen factory will be started in the vicinity, of Ballindraite, Donefjal. The Westport Guardians have passed this resolution : " That inasmuch as the bulk of local taxation falls upon the ratepayers of Ireland, and 68, owing to the continual failure of the crops, and the progressive increase of the poor rates and of the county cess, the small tenant-farmers request the Government to introduce a bill into Parliament whereby the lands of this country which originally were the property of the Catholic Church be restored to the Catholic clergy in trust, for the support of the poor of the respective parishes ; and that a copy of' this resolution be sent to the several Boards of Guardians in Ireland for their adoption." Mr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sub-sheriff of the county, accompanied by sub-inspector Connors, Cashel, and a large force of constabulary, proceeded to the lands of Ballinahinch, Cashel, and evicted D. Quintan, for non-payment of rent, on the estate of George Errington, M.P. Dr. Ferguson, the medical officer for Gweedore, in his official report upon the condition of t the poor, says, of the children, that poverty and destitution are too clearly evident, and that diarrhoea and influenza, which largely prevail, are traceable to insufficient, low, and unvaried diet. Two bailiffs, named Monaghan and Hoctor, despatched recently from Tullamore by sub-sheriff Whelan to eject & tenant named Spollen from his holding ai Killahtubber, near ; Glare— a decree for possession of which was recently obtained 1 by Thos. Hackett, of Castle Armstrong, 'the landlord— deliberately set fire to the house, thereby destroying it with the furniture which it contained. On the information of Spollen the bailiffs were arrested after returning to town. Hoctor was admitted to bail ; Monaghan remains in custody. John Harold Barry was charged at Castletownroche with trespassing on the lands of a fanner- named Barry while hunting. ' The complainant had published aTnoticelvarningnoJrtreipassers. ,On the day referred' to Mr. Barry and three other gentlemen were riding across his lands. He warned them off. Three of the gentlemen turned back, but Mr. Barry persevered and rode through a field of corn and vetches. 'I he defendant wrote, stating he would make no defence, and Mr. Baton, R.M., imposed a fine of only fire shillings. Of course, Eaton is a brother sport. An eviction took place in the townland of Letter, about four miles from Clonakilty, under very pitiable and distressing circumstances, by which a delicate man, his wife and five children are thrown on the world to beg or enter the workhouse. The tenant evicted, Michael Cullinarie, held twenty-six acres from Francis B. Bennett, J.P., Rosscarbery, at the yearly rent of £17 11s, the valuation being £13. The sheriff's officer stated that strict orders were given not to allow them back as caretakers and not to allow them in any way to trespass on the farm. Accordingly, the entire family, in a most pitiable plight, l left the house, and, having made a fire, boiled some potatoes by a corner adjoining their late farm. Great commiseration is felt for this large, helpless and unfortunate young family. At a meeting of the Granard Board of Guardians a letter was read from Lord Longford notifying, for the information of the Board, that he has recently brought under the notice of the Government and of the House of Lords that, in the opinion of many persons favourably disposed towards National Education the appointment of a Sister of Mercy as schoolmistress is not in accordance with the rules of the Board of National Education. He entirely recognised the devotion of the Sisters of Mercy to the duties they undertake in the cause of piety, of charity, and of education, but under the system and rules it does not appear that they are eligible in the usual course for employment in schools that retain their connection with the National Board. The Guardians unanimously resolved that they, as the representatives of the people, cannot agree with Lord Longford's opinion in the matter. An Athlone correspondent says : Not for many years has the river Shannon risen to such an alarming extent as at present in and about Athlone. Hundreds of acres of land adjoining the river are covered with water, representing one immense lake, and a number of houses are completely submerged by the floods. From Athlone to Seven Churches, a distance of about six miles, over seventy families have been obliged to abandon their homes, the consequence, being that serious destitution prevails. The greatest destruction has been occasioned to property. Large quantities of potatoes are rotten in the ground, and owing to the recent severe storms a large quantity of hay and corn stored in haggards has been swept away by the current. For miles round the country presents one vast series of lakes, rendering spring operations utterly impossible. Reports from the country districts states that a number of sheep and cattle have been drowned. Four families residing convenient to the quay in the Westmeath division of Athloue were flooded out of their houses. The moving bog is visited daily by a large number of persons. It is only a mile and a half from Castlerea. The bog is known by several names, but principally as the Baslick Bog. It stretches four miles along the conntry towards Frenchpark, some parts of it being two miles in width. The visitor has to leave the road, and go through the fields adjoining it for about two miles on the north-western side of the road to where it first started. It moved in an easterly direction until it covered two houses, the occupants of ..which took refuge in the town. When it crossed the road it took -a south- westerly course, until it reached a sort of valley which runs by the side of a small river, and then it started in a southern direction fur about a mile and a half, where it passed within fifty yards of several houses. There is an immense quantity of land ruined from the road to where the bog gets into the river. Before the bog started down the valley a hare and hound were running in it, and ran along into the bog, from where they could not be extricated, and are to be seen there drowned. The bridge in the centre of the town of Castlerea is already nearly choked up with " scraws." No traffic can be carried on for a considerable time on the Ballinagare road, as a large part of it is covered with the bog. The people are trying to remove it by letting the rest of the bog pass on. About eight families have preparations made to clear out at a moment's notice,