NEW ZEALAND AND THE REDMOND MISSION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 30, 23 November 1883, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND AND THE REDMOND MISSION.

(Melbourne Advocate, Nov. 10th.) The Irish-Australian. Convention brought the delegates of the Irish National League back from New Zealand much earlier than they otherwise would have come. In the time they spent in that Colony they were unable to complete the important work which carried them thither. There are several important places to which they could not go, and very many Irish colonists have lost the opportunity of hearing the principles of the new national organisation eloquently expounded and earnestly advanced. This is much to be regretted, but it was. under the circumstances, unavoidable. It was the result of a miscalculation in fixing the date of the Convention. The intention was to allow ample time for the visit to New Zealand ; but, through unexpected claims on the attention of the delegates, delays -occurred which could not have been foreseen. However, there 'is good reasojti to be satisfied with the result of the New Zealand mission. The Irish in that Colony have behaved splendidly ; they gave the Messrs. Redmond aod Mr. J. W. Walshe an enthusiastic reception, and they subscribed liberally to the funds of the League, thus proving their sincerity aud winning the admiration of Irish colonists in these northern provinces. They have thus earned the gratiinde of their countrymen at Home, and established for themselves a claim to much consideration in the trust the dear Motherland reposes in the fidelity and generosity of her children abroad. This is their reward, and a higher one they could not desire nor receive. Not a little praise is also due to tke Press generally throughout New Zeal vxd for the Rpiric in which it treated the delegates. For helping them we shall not thank the N. Z. Tablet, for in doing so that journal only faithfully discharged one of two sister duties for the performance of which it exists. But there is no reason why we should not acknowledge that its services in this instance were rendered with characteristic ability and earnestness We have often had the pleasure of referring to our contemporary as a mo lei Catholic and Irish journal, but never with more pleasure than on the present occasion. It is inflexibly true to principle and dauntless in the assertion of it. And its boldness is never rasbnes j , for it may with the utmost confidence be trusted to make good its words and bring confusion on its assailauts. In a word, for its honesty and ability, it is a credit to Catholic and Irish journalism. The Auckland Freeman's Journal also played its part ably and well in this crisis, and so proved itself worthy of generous .support from the considerable Irish population among whom it circulates. We are giad to acknowledge tbat the tfeatment tlie delegates rec ived from the secular, or English, section of the Press was no% with few exceptions, either unfair ©r ungenerous. Its conduct contrasts strikiugfy and much to its advantage with that of the Victorian Pr< s=. Its articles were in most cases written by men fit to occupy their places, for they extended f.iir play to the delegates, and discussed their case with calmness and moderation. These writi rs oiffered on several points with the representatives of the League, but wilfully mis-represented neither their words nor th«ir motives as was, and is, being done in Tictoria. The tone of the Pr< ss in New Zealand is manifestly above that in Victoria, over wtiich no broad and l.beral-minded man, in a political sense, seems to exercise any contiol. Aud, as a natural consequence, the people there are more tolerant of the opinions of others than the public bodies iv this Colony are. In the Eouthern Colony in scat cely an insiance was a theatre or public hall refused to the delegates. Here that waa'ihe rule, almost without exception, and the miserably little and bitterly spiteful views of the Victorian journals are the explanation of a difference which redounds so much to the credit of New Zealand.