Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue XXI, 7 April 1893, Page 11

Dublin Notes.

The reports from the electoral contests now proceeding at Hexham (where Mr T. D, Sullivan, M.P., is speaking on behalf of the Home Sale candidate), Cirencester, Gatesbead, and Stockport are of a decidedly inspiriting character, and there is undoubtedly a chanoa that three of these seats,,at present held by the Tories, may be cap* tured. The gains at Walsall and Pontefract have, contributed materially to moderate the views held by the Unionists as to the possibility of destroying the Home Bule Bill. Shonld the other three seats be won the majority .will be up to fifty before Easter, and the back of the Opposition will be fairly broken. Even the House of Lords cinnot fail to take notice of this progressive movement of opinion in favour of Mr Gladeto.ne'a Irish policy, and they may be inclined to think tyice before committing tbenaselveg to a struggle of the ultimate result 1 of which the people will have already given them a foretaste. The letter of Mr P. J. Tuohy, secretary to the Bjard of Works, .as to the liability of landlords for' loans contracted for the purposes of improvement by evicted tenants, shows how little substantiality there is in landlords 1 grievances. At their recent convention the landlords protested against 1 the attempt to make.:them liable tor " debts contracted by tenants " on foot of works " which were badly executed in many, cases." The Commissioners of Public Works hava instructed' Mr Tuohy to place the truth before the' public. Asa matter of fact, the improvements are always valued by an-indepen-dent commission before the liability of the landlord is fixed. What the landlords .really' ask, "therefore, is to be; allowed to grab, in case ( ot eviction, not only the tenant's own interest in the farm, which is, in nine cases out' of ten, value for many times the rent due on the holdiDg, but the interest of the State in the holding as well. Mr Tiiohy'a letter suggests the question — when is this valuation to be carried out ? Is it immediately on the writ of eviction being Berved 1

(From the Weekly Freeman.) Thb Independent Labour Party have given another Home Bale seat, Haddersfield, to the Unionists; This is the seventh or eighth donation that the opponents of reform have received from these so-called advocates of the labourers' rights. The Home Bale majority would now bt over fifty bat for their action. Whether they are likely to advance their cause by tactics of this kind it is for themselves to determine. The CounteßS of Aberdeen, in pursuit of her noble and successful mission to encourage and develop Irish cottage industries and gather information as to any Irish exhibits in coarse of preparation for the Chicago World's Fair, has been on a toar to different puts of the country. On Friday, February 10, she visited Carrickmacross, the home of the famous lace industry, then Clones, then Limerick, Clonmel, *nd Cork. In all places her ladyship received a most enthusiastic reception, and found the most cordial co-operation in her work from all interested. The result will be eminently satisfactory to the lace, cottage, and minor industries of Ireland. The distress in Donegal seems to be spreading, and, to make matters worse, it is accompanied by a serions outbreak of fever. Those districts in which the people have begun to suffer are for the most part mountainous tracts. It is prettly clear that the poor-law is not at all able to cope with the present state of affairs. At this moment the rates in the divisions where the distress prevails., are 2s 4d in the pound, and any attempt to relieve the suffering people by outdoor relief wonld end in increasing the rates to such an extant that hardly anyone could pay them. This would be very unsound political economy, and some other means must be devised.

Or is a period allowed to elapse f For, in the latter casa, if there be deterioration in the improvements, the deterioration is the work of the landlord , and he Bhonld be made liable for it. We hope that now that this matter is raised this point will be cleared up. Meantime, we have a new example of the extravagant ideas entertained by the landlords with regard to their rights. The.Waterford Oitigm announces this death of Bobert Keating, formerly. of Garranlea, Tipper ary, which took place at his Dublin residence at the patriarchal age of 93. He died on the anniversary of his birthday — the 3rd of February. To most of the present, and even of the last generation of fox-honters, Hi Keating was bat little known, as be had long resided in Dublin ; bat' so far baoE as the twenties of the present century he was a constant follower' of the Tipperary hounds, and to the end of r hia long life' took the keenest interest, in the field sports and well-being of his native county. "I hopa Burke is having a good season," was one of the last things he said to the writer of this notice the last time .they met, and that was on Christmas Eve- Gifted with a wonderful -memory, he was a 'charming raconteur, and' his delight was to teach alittle circle of young men at his hoßpitableboird, and tell them of many a stirring scene. One of these scenes was so extraordinary that we may recount it, and Mr Keating was probably the last surviving witness of it, viz — a duel near the Moat of. Knockgraffon between a Scully and a Purefoy, somewhere about 1812. Rumour of , the rendezvous and its object somehow got oat. Mr Keating, then a met* boy, stole off there on his pony, and when the principals, came on the ground there was already a huge crowd present. -.Neither party, however, would listen to any. postponement ; and as the feeling ran high, and in order -to meet . the difficulty and " see fair' play,", an officer ■ present galloped off to Cahir barracks, -brought' out i pome dragoons, kept order while each man had bis shot ! Strange, bat true. The late Mr Keating sat in Parliament for many years as M.P.

for Waterford, and was for long on intimate terms with Lord PalmerBton. la a way they bad kindred tastes, and of that eport-loving Prime Minister he could tell m*ny a witty tale. As such rare old men pass away, let us hope that others may be found to fill their place, in whom the milk of human kindness flows as genially and as