Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 20, 3 March 1893, Page 9

Irish News.

Artnagfll. — The following redactions in rent were made at recent Land Commission Conrt held in Armagh : — Hugh Harris, Landlord— Tenants— Catherine O'Neill, old, L 4 ; new, L 3 ; Michael Djbbin, new, L37s 6d ; old, L2ss ; Patrick O'Neill, new, L 5 18s 9d ; old, L 4 10a. The Earl of Caledon, Landlord— Tenantß— Teresa Hughes, old, L 5 2a 4d ; tiew, L 4 ; same, old, L 22 10d lOd ; new, Ll2 Miss Molynenx, Landlady— Ttnanfs, William Graham, old, L 7 Is 4d ; new, L 5 ss. Clare*— Near Eilfenora was witnessed last week a very extraordinary scene. Viators to Liedoonvarna who have made the usual excursion to Lake Incbiquin will remember the pretty park which skirts this village, and withia which a finely built residence looks oat from among the trees, and the inquiriug excursionist will have been told it was the residence of Mr O'Donnell Blake Fs'er. It is so no longer. He was evicted with all due formality of law. The subSheriff officiated, and the inevitable Mr Emerson represented the claimants for rent: When the eviction was completed an emergency man was duly installed in tbe spacious bouse— the most imposing mansion, I should say, in which aa emergeccyman ever established himself. The circumstances which led to Blake Fostei'a eviction were these : When he came of age be found hi? property heavily encumbered, co heavily indeed, that after a time he surrendered it to the courts, and himself became tenant of Ballykeal, paying a smart rent for his holding. Like other farmers here about Blaka Foser bad difficulty in making land pay, and though he fought gallantly against the bard timeß, the battle was a losing one, and he fell into

arears. The creditors of the estate gavo him short shrift, and the result hap been the appearance at Ballykeal House of the Fub-sheiiff and of Mr Emerson and the emergencymen, and the owner of tbe ancient hou c c of the Blake Fosters was by due process of English law evicted from his home. Cork* — A large pea monster, resembling a whalp, was washed ashore nn the rocks near Kerry head, about a mile to the We9t of the coastguards' station, wLere the Catherine Richards got wrecked and still lies stranded. H. H. Townsend, agent of Smith-Barry, with the sub-agen 1 , Mr So Hi van, attended at Donovan'd Ho'tl, (Jlonakility, for the purpose of recdving lents of Smith-Barry's tenants in tbe D<\rrary, Ardfield, and Barryoe Districts. A reduction of 20 per cent was giauted to yearly tenants, end 15 ptr cent to tenants whose rents were fixed by conseut. On both days the office was crowded with tenants. The commeicial education of Catholic youths intending to pursue a business career formed the subj ct of a targe and represertative meeliDg of the Catholics of London recently, under the presidency of Archbibbop Vaoghan, at the Archbigriop'a house, Wea - miniter. Amongst those present : — Tbe Lord Mayor and Sir Albert Bollet, M.P., tbe President of the Chamber of Commerc. It is proP'sed to extend St Edmund's College at Ware, at an estimated cost of £15,000, to carry out the new system of commercial education devised by the Chamber of Commerce, which places modern languages and technical instruction in tbe forefront of the curriculum. Sir Albert Rollet, who is a Proteotant, in the course of an address supporting the project, paid eloquent testimony to tbe efforts of the late Father Charles Davis of Baltimore to further technical education in

Ireland, and described the Fishery Schools at Baltimore as the best in the world. Derry. — A. circular letter was recently issued 1)^ *be Drapers' Company to a number of their late tenants, statin* tb|t ttje'purrbaae. money of thrir holdings it now ready'to be paid over to ttyp comp.ny, but the interest doe >s November 1 must 'first be paid. The amour.t sent forth in the circular seems to be one-and-a*half-ye<ra' interest on ibe purchase money at foor rer cent. It is calculated that about 100 tenants have been furnished with thesa circulars. Those tenant* are very much surprised at this, is the,- all firmly believed that ihey would have no furtbir payments to the company. These tenans allege that they pad one-balf-year's interest to tbe company, after the award was made by Messrs Healy and Dlckson, now two years, according to which, the tenants assert, they were only to pay one half -year's interest to tbe company, and that, after that, the/ should become liable to the Land Commistion. Donegal.— Nationalist Donegal has the proud boast of not having furnished a single case to tbe Winter Assizes. Tbe destitution which was aprehended in the Q weed ore district is already beginning to make itself felt, and the outlook is of the gloomiest character. The sad condition of the peasantry demands relief on 'he earliest possible occasion. Belief works like those imti-tu-cd in 1880 would cope with the threatened disaster. Dublin.— At the meeting of tbe Corporation last week Alderman Dillon proposed "that tbe special servicts which Sir Thomas Brady, in the cocrse of bis long public life, rendered to this oountry, merit tbe recognition of this council, and that the council recommend bis claim to tbe fullest consideration of the Treasury and that copies of this resolution be forwarded to tbe Lord Lieutenant, the Chief Becretury, and all tbe Irish members of Parlia-

ment." lie said <he "ountry ought to be grateful to Sir Thorna 8 Brady for all he bad dooe during bis public life, and condemned bis trea'tnent by the Government. Alderman Sir Robert S> xtcn seconded tbe motion, which was unanimously carried, Fermanagh.— The land-owners feel tbe day is rapidly approaching when they willstani denuded of all power and influence. Virtually landlords rule! the country for hundreds of yearr, and that a vigorous effort would be made to resist their final exr.nlsion from place and power is not at all unnatural, but rather as it (•houM be. A meeting of land-owners of Fermanagh was recently held in Enniskillen, at which tbe Karl of Belmoie pret-ided. The attendance was large. H^w thiy look upon affairs now in Ireland may be g trered from the address of the Earl of Ennitkilleo, who moved the first resolution as follows: — 1. That tbe dependence tf ihe present G< vernment for its continued existence on the good p easore of a f^c'ion known to have for its deliberate aim tbe rain of Irish landlords renders tbe maintenance in an efficient state of tbe orgarieat'on of the Irish Lmd-owners' Convention a matter of vital importance, and we pledge curselvi s to support an! assist in in every way in our powc, aud mil upon all other land-owners to do the same. 2. That, as justice to Irish land-owcers and to the public r quires that any public inquiry regarding evicted tenants should inciule a thorough and impartial investigation into ths origio, history, and resutsof the evictions in Ireland, ard as the "Evicted Tenants' Commission " ha» plainly shown itself of a paitisan character, limited and one-sided in the scope of its inquiry, and arbitrary aod unfair in iB procedure, we entirely endorse and approve of the advice to take no part in i s proceedings given to Irish land-owners by the Executive Committee of the Convention. 3. We r joice to

learn that these land-owners whose estates have been scheduled for iDquiry by the Commissioners intend to publish a full statement with regard to the matters under consideration, and we hope that every land-owner whose estate may become the subject of inquiry by the Commission will do tbe same. CSalway. — A number of evicted tenants on the Clanricarde estate were about to arrange their diff rencs nnd settle with tbpir landlords when tbe Morley Commission was fet afco 1 , and, relying upon the great things promised them through its meanp, they backed down and preferred waiting the development of events. The splendid polished granite slab erected on the principal bridge of the Corrib, and on which an attack was made some time apo, was again made the victim of po ideal spleen, for one nigbt recently some persons effaced tbe whole inscription, which changed tbe name of the bridge from its ancient title »o that of tbe William O'Brien Bridge, and stated that it was erected by the people of Galway in honour of Mr O'Briec'a incarceration in Galway Gaol for his patriotism and sufferings for Ireland. The inscription is now altogether effaced. Rev P. Egan, Duniry and Abbey, gave evidence before the Evicted Tenants' Commission, and in reply to Mr Roche, Q.C., stated that a considerable portion of the Lewis property lay within his district. The mountain district of the estate was in the parish of Woodford ; the latter land was in his own parish. He was aware that in tbe Lougbrea and Woodford districts a number of teaants had to complain of grievances, and none of them were, so far as he knew, so badly treated by the landlords as the Lewis tenants. The circumstances of the tenants were very poor indeed. The rents on the estate were about forty per cent over the valuation, and he believed juat as a matter of ftct if the tenants got the land for nothing the

majority could not make a living upon it, for the reason amongst others, that their tenements were so small, and that th> y held a vtry bad class of land. Tbe President— How did they make treir rentb ? Father Egan— A great deal of money camo fiom America and Australia. When the children of these poor tenants were about 13 years or so they had to go as Bervants, cr else they bad toemigrite on assisted passages to America or to Australia, and the relatives nnd friends of the people there, who had also emigrated years before, were in the habit of sendiug heme monfy to assist their parents to p. j y their rents, and it is my belief that in many cases that was tbe way the rent was paid. Kerry* — The tenants who hold their faims at Knockeenduy from Dr Ahem at Kilwortb, County Coik, applied for an abatement of rent and left the matter in the bands of his agent, J. D. Gurtajne who gave a reduction of twenty -five per cent. An eviction of a peculiarly harsh nature was carried out lately on the lands of Hollymount, near Rathmore. The tenant was named John Ocakley. and the landlord— the representative cf the late Cartain Fagan. In 1882 the Captain had reduced Coakley's rent from £28 10s to £22, but the Cap'ain having died his reprrs -ntatives called upon the tenant to pay up forthwith arrears to the amount of £60, which sum was made up of the reductions voluntarily made by the late landlord. Being unable to pay, poor Coakley wis evicted his wife being dangerously ill &t the time. Kildare.— The Kildare Hounds bad an extraordinary run last weeK with a mountain fox, which, starting from Billyhook Guise, beat the pack after going some fifteen miles in a nearly direct line. Idtnericfe.— Bev Matt Ryan, CO., Cola, was examined at the Evicted Tenants' Commission, and ia reply to Mr Roche said the trouble commenced on The O'Grady estate about the Ist of Octoler, 1886. On that day the tenants requested lim by letter to meet them

in Herber'stown. He attended and took the chair at the meeting and the tenants discussed the low price of tbe dairy produce, and some of them thought that the entire rent should ba wiped ont that year, en 1 what would remain would barely cover tbe expense of working tbe farm. Ih<; tenants were unanmous in demanding 30 per cent abatement oo the recta fixed in '83 by the landlord's own valuer, E. Moroney, and 40 per cent on (he rents not reduced, these litter covering only 24 Irish acres. Witness found it was said by Mr Russell that the tenants demanded forty per cent abatement oi the rents fixed in '83 ; that sta ement was false. There were about sixteen tenants with farms from sixteen acres to 114 acres, and he understood all signed the agreement of '83 out of court with the exception of Thos Moroney, Mrs Crimmins, and Patrick Hogan. Thos Moroney '•) place was not valued at all ; Mrs Crimmina's place was valued, and she refused to accept as judicial rent the value put on the farm by Edward Mcroney, the landlord's valuer. Longford. — Longford new fair was he'd on Friday week for pigs and on Monday for cattle. Pigs acid txtremely well. The ruling prices were :— For bonbams, 25s to 30s ; store pigs, 35s to 43s ; fat pige, 13 to L 6 lOs. On Monday the cattle fair took place ia a drenching shower of Bnow. The atteodatc: of sellers was large, but buyers were scarce. However, a good many sales were effected, and a considerable business was done. The recent hard weather seems to have greatly cut up store cattle. Prices generally ruled :— Fat cattle, 46s to 003 per cwt ; springer cows, Ll3 to £20, according to quality ; two-year-oldp, L 6 to L 9. according to condition and quality ; stripperp, from L 4 10s to Lll 10s. Tyrone. — In thetownlsnl of Carran, near Stewartftown, an old and respected lady, Margaret Molloy, died at the advanced age of 100 years. Deceased, up to her demise could relate events of ninety years ago, having retained full possession of all her faculties.

Waterfortl.— A force of fifty police were present at the eviction of Jeremiah Murphy at Fenor lately. It was stated that Murphy owed his landlord, Count de la Poer, over £200 in rent, with heavy law costs. The eviction passed off without the slightest disturbance, but thiDga are not as peaceful as usual in the village since.