Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 46, 15 March 1895, Page 23

Dublin Notes.

(From contemporaries.)

A SNOWBTOBM of intense severity swept ovei Dublin towards tbe end of week ending January 12. On Saturday traffic: was out of the question, and business was completely suspended. The snow was knee deep in many places and pedestriaoiem quite impossible. Telegraph and telephone wires were blown down, and communication with the outer world cut off. The resources of the charitable institutions have been almost exhausted in endeavouring to relieve the sufferings of the poor. Sir John Arnott, w ; th bis usual generosi'y, has contributed £100 towards a relief fund. A few small subscriptions have been Bent to the daily parers for the same purpose, but no organised action has been taken so far.

That tha education imparted by the Christian Brothers is Fecond to none in the land is acknowledged on all sides. Tbe latest to bear public testimony to this fact is the new Bishop of Clrgher, tbe Most Bey Dr Owens, who, previous to his consecration, fillel a professional cbair in St Patrick's Collegp, Maynoo'b, witn much distinction. Speaking on Friday, January 18, to a large representative aeßemblage of tue Catholics of Monaghan, his LordshiD gave expression to his views regarding the exclusion of this excelleut teaching body from any share in the money granted by the State for primary education in Ireland. As Dr Owens pointed out this glaring injustice becomes gTeatly aggravated when we find it snstained by a Government professing itself friendly to the claims of theso echools— by a Government that is itself kept in power by tbe vote of Catholic Ireland,

Mr Justice Monroe has actually released his grip on one Irish estate. He has accepted the offer of the Land Commission to purchase on behalf of tbe tenants the estate of Glounalogha and Shanavoher in the parish of Kmgwillinmstown, Courjty Cork. But it took five years to complete the negotiations, so the landlords nee-i not tiemble est the Larded Estates Court judge will fl >od the market. The peasants of Glounalogha and Shan/*vuher were encouri^ed to persevere by ihe sound advica and unfailing a^is^ncd of th°ir p itr ioti j pastor, Rev D rm J. O'Riordan, P P. Tbe pric ■, we uti er-itani, is a fair one, and it may confiiently bT expectoi th-it tho ermmcp ted peasant proprietor will profit by their release from Jir Jus'ic=; Monroe's tpnder mercies.

We QFrtnnan) have received from a Diblin man in Melbourne! Mr Michael Connolly, a strong protest against the statement of Mr John Bedmond that the enthusiasm of the Nauonahsts of Australia in the Irish cause :s on the wane. A more unfounded statemeot, be declares, was never uttered. "The same feeling exists now," writes our correspondent, " as existed when he waa here; but I can tell him it does not exist towards himself politically. He would fr d it out if ho but showed himself at present in Melbourne." If tbe Irishmen of Victoria and their descendants are not showing the eanae measure of support to the cause at home now as formerly it is due to the deep depression of all business in the country. But ' the same intense love of the National cause prevuls now as at all times." •' I trust and hope," concludes this Dublin exi'e, ' that the Iri9h people will relagate Mr Redmond to that obscurity from which he Bhould never have arisen to deal destruction to the best interests of our beloved land." Coming from one who helped to the measure of his ability to make Mr Redmond'd mission to Australia in 1883 a success, this expression of tbe honest opinion of one of the rank and file deserves to be recorded.

Mr Morley the other day received a deputation with reference to the Rasmus Smith Endowments. Mr T. M. Healy, M P., who introduced the deputation, and Father Humphries, who is a thorough master of the subject, placed the matter in the clearest light btfore tbe Chief Secretary, who acknowledged that thu state of things required an immediate remedy. He was unable, however, to hold out any hope that a Bill dealing with the question would be mtro-

duced during the next Session of Parliament. Among the adven turera who came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell was Erasmus Smith. He, of course, plundered the nnfortunate peasantry, a highly laudable act in his master's estimation. Ha died extremely wealthy, and in his will bequeathed a large sum of money for the education of the tenants on his property. Those only who forßook the old faith, hewever, were to profit by the money tbua left for educational purposes. As they were few and far between, nineteentwentieths of the tenants have rrceived no benefit whatever from tba bequest, and nearly three millions have been lost to the cause of primary education. This monstrous state of affairs cannot continue much longer, however.

Mr William O'Brien draws a terrible picture of Ihe condition of affairs in some parts cf the West cf Ireland. On the one aide hunger has laid its heavy hand upon tbe people. On the other tbe landlords hnve showered legal piocesses upon them for rents which they cannot pay. Huager and wri's are the order of the day. The bUteriog ram and downright famine must soon follow unless something is done to help the people and stay the rapacity of the landlords. In all the congested districts of Ireland there is some distress of a similar kind, but the most acute stage has been reached in Mayo and wh' re the distress is most acute, there, above all other places, the landlords seem to be most insistent on their rents, At first we find the laodlordd supporting Ihe Nationalist public bodies who called out for Government aid In order, as they hoped, to raise up difficulties for Mr Morley they testified to, and even exaggerated, the failure o[ tee potato crop. Bat when as a natural consequence it is suggested that now ia an appropriate time to maka reduc'iona in their rents they suddenly foTget that any distress exists at all. Tbere is very little use in talking of Land Acts with reference to thesa poor tenants. Tbey seem out of reach of any possible Land Act. They tnvebeeD driven into thsglenaof Mayo, where they have sat tied down ia miserable villages upon miserable pitches of land, on which they are are c^-tenaitp, and for which the landlords try to m^ke them pay rent, This is thj hi«tory of many isolate i spots in Ireland, but it is the history of nearly all the West. Tbe tenants who cultivated the , moderately goo 1 l.md oa tbe plains were driven out to bo replaced by land grabbers, and settled down as tquitters, without rent, upon the almost barren a'ope ; of the mountains. Here, after awhile, tbey made p, itches of potatoes grow, ani the moment the landlord siw crops down he came with a drmxnd for rent for the land which the people hid actually made the natives. Waen the potato crop fails no r< nt can be hai. Rut then therd is gen-rally se^i relief potatoes, , and the landlord ein peiz3 the seed, wh'ch hs very often does. Then I if there are relief funds and relijf work-j, ten to one ha gets some of the money intended to keep the life in the people, and they starve on willingly in order to keep the roofs over their heads. The Irish party I have over and over again begged of Parliament to do something for i these poor people. Parliament c uld apparently never be got to , understand the cisc, and the result is that every Executive that has | ever ruled in Ireland has, at some pprio 1 of its existence, heard the I wail of famine go up in the West. Whatever is to ba finally done to ' cure the evils of the West something must be done now, and imme1 dutely, to relieve the present necessities of the people.

Mr Gawne, of Dunedin (says the Southland Times of April 13, 1891), has just been on a visit to lnvercargill to push business a htile. Not that it wants much canvassing, for since he commenced tbe manufacture of his Worcestershire Sauce, the demand has kept pace with hie capacity to supply it. He makes a really good tbiDg, lndistinguis 1 ! nble from the famous Lea and Pernn's, which he places upon ont's table at a much lower price, and tiusts to that to secure a steadily growing trade. Those who have not yet tried tbe Colonial article thculd put their prejudice as'de for a time and test the question with a boUle or two. — ADVT.

A ritual for Holy Week, a binhday present from Lonis XVI to the Princess de Lamballe, bearing tha arms and cipher of tbe king, and containing his autograph and that of Marie Antoinette, was the book that brought the highest price in 1894. It was sold in Paris for C.GOOlols.