IRELAND AS IT IS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 16, 12 August 1887, Page 9

IRELAND AS IT IS.

(Agricoltoral correspondent of the Otage Witness.) ' Dablin, Jane 8. 808 nearly three weeks I ha** been travelling in Ireland, eeein? as much as possible of typical agricultural distriots, and mA^wS into the condition of fche people, from vkst I ban mutn I .» .Z lamed, to say nothing ot rant and clothing, as they sell Very little off the lMd, and what they do selJ is now very low in price. Wherever I have **"?? > ba TL l ! Ot ?! d tbiß Very ■ l K nl fl«nt fact : th»t the good anS well-situated land i* in the hands of landlord, and large S>ierV while tbe land not wor.h cultivating is left to small teSnto rS are two way* of accounting foAthis, either of which may be 'the true way in particular mstonces. iC may be said that the landlords and •gent, have kept the test <# the J,od f w thmse!v» 8 \S theS favourites, or to let to large occupiers who could outbid the sma'l tenants, or who, if they did not actually pay «ore rent? could S ?er better secanty for punctual payment. Theext^iTebogsandmountafn «Mtes, according to this explanation, have beep leftto small cultiJa° tors, m each land would not pay anyone to cultivate with hired labour The other explanation is that the large occupiers, having at onSa better knowledge of farming and more capital than the smaH ones have improved the laed and put it into the superior condition that Ji now obvious to even the paßsing observer. Now, Ido not donbfthat there are maaj instances in which the latter explanation it the true one. As * rule, the small occupier* farm badly At a great exoen diture of labour they have removed rocks fronf the landfwhichTfn many parts cuversd with bould-rs, while others have reclaimed boe by draining, digging, and burning it. But after having done tha? most of the* have pursued an exhausting system of farming, growing a little which they make with a cow and a pig. But then the treatment they have been subjected to is in ereat meMure accountable for their bad farming. If i man improved Ms holding m the day. before the Land Act was passed, his rent was commonly put up, and so improvement was discouraged. The la7ge tenants have suffered in this way also, but have been better ab"£ protect themselves either by long leases or by the more equPl terras °LS* rr f ftlmng ' Wblcil men of ca P ital «« command as compared wi?u needy tenants At any rate lam persuaded that in the greii majontv ?? ff n n tT ?e? c f ,6t, 6t explanation of the fact that the bit of the land is m the hands of large occupiers is the tree one, partly because of the situation of the land in question, and partly because I h^Xen 2,5f?J P ?*? m W u blCb the land haß cleared ot a numbeTof STSLS^ T ke ?^ f ° r Or f lar^ e °ccupier,:and that, too, after th. poor men, or their fathers before them, had reclaimed the land Irom a state of comparative worthlessness «nrn I tir d °" t bte ? y ?? tbSt the lOW P" CeB ° f Mttle . and fw « «°dered what were "fair" rents, as paid m the Land S^^hJ?*, T^-- JUJ U ° 6arly eTery caße iQ which I have i£T« SJ the rent is it has appeared to me much too high for the & m ° untain f«ms in Kerry, where a tenant could get a TE5f litt^ W t re ,/u° o^ t bey Canaot make endß meet now. Sd aS te SS''^ ba i f - bred K f rry beifer8 ' at two y ea " of age, IS Hil S a l eW yeatß back> whereas vow the y caQ hardly get £3 for them. Then butter used to sell at Is and Is 2d a pound in the country di.tnct 6) while at the present time it makes only 6d to Id, or less for bad quality. On ths small mountain farms in Kerry the tenants have nothing to sell off the land but a head or two of cattle and a pig m the yard, with or without a little butter, as they cultivate only • few patches of potatoes, oats, and grass fo, hay— all required to feed their families and their cattle in winter. In ma. cases a man has only one cow, and the butter made from a small 5? r lin° W 1B + a T y *TUT U q uaDtlt y- There are numbers wbo do cot Sid iuTSS ° fhproducef h produce ofl th « land in a yew, including live stock and with that they have to pay rent and buy clothe, and other Ihelmng of theee people ie wretched in the extreme. Their diet oeoßuts of potatoes aud skim milk, and a little wheat-flour bread occasional y as long as the potatoes Ust, and often of maize meal for the rent of the year-with the milk as before. Tbey hardly ever £?S™ c ' t ! bQt ? et S ealt bmiD e now aDd tbeD - Yet the children ElTau," gPUW UP y *° d BtrODg ' tb^ miJk Wug their «f-»« "*?* I , xxt0 * a numbe '- of the eof ages-all built by the tenants of stone (only too abundant), and roofed with oat straw, heather ridge, or reeds. There are usually two rooms, always with clay floors and sometimes without chimmys or even a hole in the roof to let out thr smoke of the great firee. The pig and fowls usually, and in many cases the cows also, sleop in the living room, while the milk is Mt tor cream ,n the bedroom-u.ten under the bed There is Sally ancJh fe rr n tw * il VlDg 'T- ln lO ° m J found three 00^ 2 another two calves, and in neveral pigs and fowls. In many houses andas^al aßWaia BW air TH atab '!' aud ln '"^ ambers only one cbau and a small table. The people on the ground round the peat fire or sit on the bed or something to take the place of a chair ir/o^ Connemara ; tbe Btal * of the people is worse than it is in Kerry nearly all that great district b.iug mountain and bog-the mountains themselves being mostly boggy up to the summits The s?ntM? » T PatC " eH hire aQd "»ere,?. worth no more tJan a ««n f vf fK raziu g- » nd a Kreat deal is not worth half that SHnrt/fn thoua - nds^ People living on small plots o land and a ran on the mountains fora few stock, payin/reallv exorbitant wot. oonaidenng tha almost worthless 'character of fie land. The men, for the most par:, K0 to England to get wurk in the

| summer, and receive beaide, help from their children | Q Borlandland and built the houses and sheds for the cattle cultivated The people m Connemara are inferior ia pby*iqae to those of tS^L" 0 /^^ that l haT «"«ted r except wheTs the, a?TS the t*ck of tourists, wb* ■ pen d a good deal of toonev andllS the Aildren, too, hare a half .starred look, no doubt because the™ »r« ?h°.r?r ° D m » DJD J h,°ld.ingßh ,° ld . ingB - Ia Other P«rta ol°Gal^aTd?a ia?o £ L ES I J Mn n * relcbedly P° or la^, the state of the p" pte pTr^V-n^-^tX^ Emigration from the South and West is greater now than evw b.for P , chiefly to America. The necessity for tbisTto bTdeplorT occupiers But in the South and West-iu fact in ?he greater part SaSSSI lhiQg To* rXn* to *w J v p ount y Cork I foand the people comparatively DroeDerona. *Zl tT*'!? by the low pric * of bßtte^ oorn?ind P clTtler4 Meatb, where there is some of the richest pasture in the world the nn n D ric?and 7 h° C< H Upi? i by lMge grazieM ' who did well till^fe feU LeTand ' * Ot b6en iQt ° UlßWsr> the mO3t P^aperoua proJTnce of Some of the great landlords are very generous to the neorjla There are instances in which wealthy men are now7p«nVn g mCfon their estates than they get eat of them. In times past, however eS rents have been put up outrageoualy, and in spite of recent r^duc! t . JJf beau *y f the co^T in the Killarney and Connemara distacts is in striking contrast to the squalor of the population; No Crops in Ireland are generally looking well though very backward. In my next letter I shall have more to say abouTthe it*te of the country and the di«,ult land question in its geneVal bearing evH S a S ?° m Ire Und ifl 8oin « oa thiß ?«** more "P^ly than fa,lnnf a ,lnn »r 'i fiae .v y ° Ung men and women-the flower of the popuSISL .V ' cal f not w<mh (a "»i°B reut-fres. Many ol the poa^^^ thZ nn°n7' r tbOnt lfc in many cases - Inßtead of milk some of S m% P^th tthe? 9^ he ? 9^ ep ° atmeal in boillQ 8 wat er and use the liquor worn D r r ts of i ir «i siaQ5 iaQ C T meal ' N ° ° De Wh ° haß Dot Been tbe which P th™ ? la , n t Ca - U fom any idea of the conditions under which thoinands of Irish tenants and their f» m ihea endeavour to w,U P d o I 7I 7 S h B ° U i tOg f her> N ° BCheme of tegislatiire for Ireland Sirring 5°M- "^T/ 1 Pr ° VideS fOf a r « difit » b °tioa of land, enlarging the ho dings of tenaota who have only from three to ten SS a tmg remoTmg th ° 8e WarSb ° arS tryiQ^ tO live on laQd not wortS

fhp A ? Jf lC^ 0 T- 8 Jubllee Was the day appropriately set apart bj S-w T v°* n V?^ 111 ,' 6Ctor Of the Church of the H oly Innocent New York for the cel.brslion of a Solemn Mass of Requiem for the repose of the souls of the 1,500,000 victims of the Government-creftted famines in Ireland during her reign. v,re*i«u Irish gratitude found expression far enough away from the time and place which evoked it, when the Earl of Aberdeen was presented with a memorial from 300 lending citizens and officials of Ban Fnm. Cisco The kmdoess and humanity displayed by him during his term of office as Lord. Lieutenant of Ireland are remembered by Irishmen everywhere who, unhappily, are not troubled with any conflicting claims on their gratitude by any other Lord Lieutenant since the days of the hnmane Chesterfield.— Pilot. y P™,f / or . cibl ? illustration of the spirit of caste which characterises ISll t l* m m ? Und £ tb x c fact noted by °" esteemed contemporary, the Wutem Watchman, of St Louis, that there ia not one negro worshipper in all the eighty Protestant chorches in St. Louis. In the light of this truth," comments the Watchman, " Low «andly d vine appears the Catholic Cburch. she cuuld not make a racJ Ho S TahlJ Bhe t t " ed> hl ? he could not P reve^ aegro kneeling at the Holy Table with a white man, any more than she could chut her confessionah agaiast the sinner." Let us add hereto the testimony of \h* American Catholic Tribune (coloure i) : •' If every so-called the ™!? tr^l C r UrCb 1Q the Wurl l Wli « D - awa y ™*> inatontly the coloured Catholics would be at hum , t , ulQl P Catholic Chuxch