THE IRISH IN CANADA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 40, 29 January 1886, Page 9

THE IRISH IN CANADA.

(From the Montreal Gazette.) The matter of Mr. Curran's speech on the occasion of the opening of St. Anne's Hall is worthy of more than passing notice. He cboße for his theme the progress of the Irish race ia Canada, and although the groundwork of his address was placed in Montreal, ihe deductions to be drawn from the statistics presented may with equal propriety be applied to any section of Canada in which the Irißh Colony is located. The Irish people are, for what reason it is unnecessar/ to inquire, essentially colonists, much more so as respects the mass than those of Scotland or England, and in no country or clime have they found a more hospitable welcome or a more prosperous resting- place than in Canada. In Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick, in Prine j Edward's Island in Quebec, in Ontario, Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen are fonnd in the front rank of the professions, of agriculture, of industrial enterprise, while in the aff »irs of State they exert a large and legitimate influence. Anyone acquainted with the commercial life of Halifax or Montreal and the agricultural districts of Ontario will bear witnere that no more loyal and law-abiding, no more intelligent and progressive, no more industrious and thrifty people than the descendants of Irishmen are to be found. As to the progress of the race in Montreal, Mr. Curran was able to present many interesting facts. From a community so small that, in the expressive words of the late Dr. Benjamin Workman, a good-sized parlor carpet would cover all the worshippers in the church, they have grown, by continuous and healthy progression, into a population of thousands, possessed of great wealth, of influence, of activity, of loyal citizenship, with its established schools, its district congregations, its charitable institutions, its temperance societies, which have administered the pledge to more than 25,000 people. In the two facts that since 1867 the assessed value of real estate possessed by the Irish people in Montreal baa increased from 3,500,000 dols. to more than 12,000,000 dole, and that on the books of the City and District Savings Bank there are eleven thousand Irish names, mostly of the working classes, whose deposits exceed 2,000,000 dols., the highest testimony of the industry and opportunity of the race is found. The prosperity of the Irish is i ot singular in this free country, bat, brought out as Mr. Curran has done, it serves to exemplify the splendid field for honest toil Canada affords.