Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 12, 23 July 1897, Page 9

Irish News.

CFrom Contemporaries) ANTRIM.— The Giant's CaUßeway.— The Giant's Causeway Committee are determined, if the funu* are forthcoming, to appeal against the decision of the Vice-Chancellor. Local feeling on the appropriation of the causeway by the syndicate is very strong, and wa have no doubt that the efforts of the committee to safeguard public rights will receive a full measure of support from all who take an interest in Irish scenery. ARMAGH.— Masters and Men in the Building Trade.— A short time ago the members of the Portadown branch of the Bricklayer's Society made a demand on their employers for an increase of wages and a reduction of the hours of labour. The notice having expired a conference of the masters and men was he Id in the Town Hall for the purpose of endeavouring to arrange on amicable settlement and thereby avert a strike, Mr. Robert Cullen presided, and the other members of the Builders' Association present were : — Messrs. Geor/e Bright, secretary ; Joseph Collen. Richard button, William Reid, and Thom>-» CoHei. The men were represented by Messrs William Whitten. Jain- s Shanks, Thomas Hyde, James Whitten find Tohn Whitten. The men risked that their wa'/en should be advanced from G^d to 7Jd an hour, and that the hour* of Libuur be reduced fr>m r>7 to 5fJ hours a week. After discussing the matter tor an hour and a half the ma ters offered to increase the wages to 7d »n hour for a 56 hours week, which the deputation representing the men unanimously agreed to accept. CORK.— Michael Davitt's Return.— Amongst the saloon passengers who landed on Friday, May 14. from the Cunarder, Lucania, which called off the harbour from New York, en route for Liverpool, was Mr. Michael Davitt. M.P., who waa visiting- friends in the United States of America, and waa away for the last six weeks. The hon. gentleman is in the enjoyment of excellent health, and he expressed himself as much pleased with his trip across the Atlantic. Very fine weather was experienced during the passage from New York, which was accomplished in 5 days 14 hours 30 minutes. Some Press representatives waited on Mr. Davitt to obtain his views on the present political situation, but Mr. Davitt was willing to speak on any other subject except politics, on which he had nothing to say. He was pleased to be able to say that times were slightly improved in America. He was glad to learn that there was a great falling off in emigration to the States. From what he heard in the States thousands of tourists from America will visit Ireland next year for the '98 Centenary celebration. DUBLIN.— An Unadvisable Proceeding.— A complaint which seems to have reasonable foundation is made against the action of the Dublin Corporation in issuing advertisements in the Belfast paper, asking for tenders for the printing of the Parliamentary voter's lists. The issue of such advertisements does not necessarily mean that a Belfast firm will get the contract, but it, certainly p ints to a desire on the part of those issuing the advertisement to bring the Belfast people into competition. We think that it is, on the whole, (says the Fireman) a very inadvisable proceeding. The printing trade in Dublin is sufficiently large to secure a good healthy competition at home, and certainly the Dublin printers are entitled to the doing of the work if their terii^ are at all reasonable. We trust that reason and moderation will a< ruate both the Corporation and the printers in the matter, and that unless there is some glaring inequality in the terms no attempt will be made to place tae contract outside the city. KERRY.— Opening of new Tourist Routes.— The lint wanted to connect the newly opened scenery of the Shannon with the well-known tourist routes of Kerry has been supplied. On and after the Ist of June there will be a coaching service daily between Listowel and Tarbert, and henceforth tourists who, having explored the beauties of the West, wish to continue their trip through the '"kingdom" will have all facilities afforded them for the purpose. The communication now about to be provided is one of the moHt important steps yet taken for the development of tourist traffic in the South-West of Ireland and ought be attended with moat satisfactory results. KING'S COUNTY -The Ferbane Church Fetes -Mr. John Gilbert King, D.L., the veteran ex-Conservative M.P. for King's County and former M.F.H., has become the patron and president of the sporting tournament which the Very Rev. Cantn Sheridan, P.P., will bring off in Ferbane in connection with the grand bazaar and open air fete promoted to aid the building fund of the beautiful new church that he has been the means of erecting at a cost of fully £7,000, and which is now in an advanced stage towards completion. The fete will last one week and a day. The programme includes jumping competitions for horses, cobs and ponies ; cycling and athletic events, football tournaments, hurling, tugs-of-war, concerts, etc. A number of valuable cups will be the principal prizes. The Earl of Ros*e, another prominent Protestant, has given a large bank-note as a prize in the general drawing, and many others of the same community are cordially co-operating with the Catholic people to make the great undertaking the success that it deserves to be. LIMERICK.— The Limerick Streets; End of the Sweepers' Strike. — The street sweepers' strike is at an end, and not a moment too soon. Appalling clouds of dust are driving through the streets, and the refuse, which, according to a strange custom in Limerick, is thrown from the houses of gentle and simple out in the streets at nightfall, were accumulating heaps The back streets and lanes were infinitely worse, and there was imminent danger of disease if this lamentable depute was not brought to a close. A conference was held at which the Mayor pre-

sided. Mr. John Daly and Mr. William Field, M.P., were also present. After about an hour's discussion the Mayor promised the men that their grievances would bo thoroughly investigated and justice done them, and on this condition the mci have all returned to work. LOUTH.— Sending work out of the Country— On Satur. day evening, May 15, a meuiiini of the Droghcda Trades Council was held. Mr. Thomas M'Cullough. president, presided. The secretary stated that Mr. M'Cullou^h had been elected to represent the council at the annual Irish Trades Congress in Waterford next month. A deputation consisting of Messrs Peter Kiely, John M'Ginn and John Cook attended from the Typographical Society to ask t c assistance of the council, and through them of the tradesmen and labourers of Dro/heda, to brin/ influence on the shopkeepers of he town to get their letterpress printing executed in the local offices. They calculated Dro^heda lost £<JOO a year for printing which could be as well done at home as in English towns where it was gent. They did not ask litho work, but submitted that that class of printing should be sent to Dublin or Belfast and not across the water. Trades who were making their money in Ireland should support home as <iraiiK foreign manufacturf On th ■ motion of Mr. Carter, h-3 o-ui .1 bj VTr. Downes, a resolution w.is passed, calling on the merchiiMK .in i tr I -s of Drogheda to get their uork done locally, and pltslguig t « n lv <to give every po^ibie .ssi,t moe v any movement which might bo initiatt-d to compel ? lie imprint to be pat to Jill posters, so that ther.' could be no deception as to where they were printed. QUEEN'S COUNTY.-A Great Land Sale.-The arrantments for tho sale of elo~:e on eight thousand acres of the estate of the Earl of Portarlington are now completed, the transaction, having regard to the fertility of the land, its extent, and the price to be paid, being the most important that haa yet taken place in the Midlands under the Land Purchase Acts. The property lies partly in the north of the Queen's County, between Portarlington and Stradbally, and partly in the Barony of Ikerrin, in County Tipperary. That portion that is in the Queen's County comprises 5,600 acres, including 1,."> 00 acres of Emo Park townland, and the rest is situate in the country of which Roscrea is the chief town. ROSCOMMON. - New Church of Ballintubber. — On Sunday, May 16, under most agreeable and delightful anspiceß, the solemn function of laying and blessing the foundation stone of the new church of St. James took place at Ballintubber. The occasion was remarkable for several reasons. In the first place Father M artin, the revered pastor of this particular section of a wide- spread ing parish, was in a position to boast of the fact that the first real day of summsr weather, which means so much, favoured the accomplishment of his great work. In the second place, although it should be mentioned a 9 above and beyond the local interest associated with the work, the Most Rev. Di. Clancy, the Bishop of Elphin, who performed the ceremony, addressed the people afterwards, and his appeal is certain to result in the completion of the great good work to which Father Martin has devoted himself. The old church, a kind of reminiscence of the penal days, lies in a valley. It is unsuited to the requirements of the parish, and a new church has become an inevitable necessity. Thanks to The O'Conor Don, the lord of the soil, a site, an ideal tite as it is, has been granted close to the castle, and justifying in every way the reference made to it by the Bishop. The solemn ceremony was attended by large crowds from all the outlying districts. The scene presented during the solemn function of blessing the corner s»tone was most irnpre.-.sive, and at its conclusion, the Most Rev. Dr. Claucy, Bishop of Elphin, addressed the people from a dais erected close to the cross which marks the position of the Hiirh Altar of the new church. The interesting and impressive function then concluded. WATERFORD.— A Veteran Sportsman. — The fine old veteran sportsman, Johnny Ryan, after h ivii'g been for fifty-five years associated with the Curraghui' re Hounds a-, huntsman, has been pensioned by the Marquis of Waterford, and the remainder of his days will be spent in repose and c<>infort. In 1542. under L"rd Henry, Mr. Ryan began his career with th Cur a li u»res. ami ■luring over half a century saw uiany triumphs of the uha*f. Ho has, too, participated in the sorrows which fell upon the family with genuine and heartfelt sympathy. It was Johnny Ryan who first came to aid Lord Henry after the fatal leap in County Kilkenny, and the gallant Marquis died on the huntsman's knee. We are informed that the old man will enjoy a pension of a £100 a year. GENERAL. The Government and the Irish Landlords.— The Chief Secretxry on Friday, May 14, announced that the Government had decided to yield to the threats and clamour of the Irish landlords and to issue a commis-ion of inquiry into the Land Acts. Naturally the announcement provoked stroi g protects from the Nationalist benches. The object of the commission Uof course (saya the Dublim Freeman) to do the landlord's work of intimidating the SubCommissioners. Many of them hold office by an uncertain tenure, and of course if they conceive that their services are likely to be dispensed with by those in power they will act as their pay masters wish. A more unjust or scandalous proceeding was sur ly never committed, even by the Castle Government, than this ing dry into the exercise of judicial functions which are to c ntinue to be exercised while the Commission which is trying the members of various courts is sitti-ig. The Chief Secretary's -tatement was preceded by a remarkably vigorous speech by Mr. < 'arson, who, from a landlord point of view. ,iM;i;kud Dritish lUHLrovprnniont of Ireland generally. We are nl.'id to find some of the landlord advocates waking up to the fact that British liiivnuiinirat is n curse which affects all classes in Ireland. When this theory waa put forward time after time, however, the landlord classes would

not listen. Irishmen, themselves, could easily settle the land question and every other question with little hardship to anyone if they were allowed to manage their own affairs and use their own resources. It is not too late for the landlords to learn, even yet that they might obtain a settlement from their own fellowcountrymen which would press le»s hardly on them than the muddling legislation ot the British Parliament. A Latin Version of " Father O'Flynn."— A young priest, who belongs to Vincentian Order, and who bears a name akin to that of one of the most lovable and wittiest of the modern Irish poets, has, says the writer of " Day by day " in the Liverpool Mercury, devised a Latin version of the deservedly popular ballad by Mr. A. Percival Graves, " Father O'Flynn," the musical arrangement of which is by Professor Villiers Stamford. The refrain runs in this happy lilting way :—: — Multos ad annos, carissime Flynn, Omni virtute, doctiesime in, Orator optime, doctor altissime, Donegalissime, Pater O'Flynn The O'Connell Celebration. — Celebrations in memory of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Daniel O'Connell have been held all over Ireland. In Cork the Bishop presided at a solemn funotion on Sunday. The celebration was participated in by the religious societies attached to the different churches in the city, while the trades and workman's organisations of the city also sent their contingents. An immense congregation attended, and the cathedral was filled to overflowing. A panegyric was preached by the Very Rev. Archdeacon Coughlan, P.P., of Blackrock. After Mass a procession marched through some of the principal streets to the Church of St. Finnbar. The line of the procession was crowded by an immense body of people, who manifested great interest in the demonstration. Their numbers were computed at from 15,000 to 20,000 people, while fully 10,000 walked in the procession. The Lough was reached at 2.30, and here the celebration was brought to a close in the most solemn and edifying manner. The various bodies filed past the Lough Church and proceeded round the Lough, the front rank of the procession coming back to the chapel yard as the rear ranks entered the Lough road. Thus a living fringe was formed round the Lough, all being in view of a temporary altar, which was erected in the chapel grounds. A bugle call was the signal for all to prostrate themselves when the Solemn Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Canon Fleming, P.P. In Limerick the Bishop was unavoidably absent, but the Mayor and Corporation attended in state. At Letterkenny the Rev. William Sheridan, Adm., in the course of a sermon, related how, in 1842, O'Connell, without waiting to be asked, placed his magnificent advocacy at the service of the late Primate, Dr. M'Gettigan, who, in that year, while a curate at Letterkenny, had been arrested and cast into prison. This incident in Dr. M'Gettigan 'h career was a remarkable one, and concerned the priest's right to regard the confidence placed in him as a clergyman. His fidelity was punished by imprisonment. EXTRACT FROM THE CENTEXARY ODE OX O'CONNELL. (This ode was written in 1875. O'Connell was born in 177r>.) A hundred years their various course have run Since Erin's arms received her noblest son, And years unnumbered must in turn depart Ere Erin fails to fold him to her heart. He is our boast, our glory, and our pride, For us he lived, fought, suffered, dared, and died ; Struck off the shackles from each fettered limb, And all we have of best we owe to him. If Borne cathedral, exquisitely fair, Lifts its tall turrets through the wondering air, Though art or skill its separate offering brings, 'Tis from O'Connell's heart the structure springs. If through the city on these festive days Halls, streets, and squares are bright with civic blaze Of glittering chains, white wands and flowing gowns, The red-robed senates of a hundred towns. Whatever rank each special spot may claim, 'Tis from O'Connell's hand their charters oauie. If in the rising hopes of recent years A mighty sound reverberates on our ears, And myriad voices in one cry unite For restoration of a ravished right, 'Tis the great echo of that thunder blast, On Tara pealed or mightier Mullaghmaat. If arts and letters are more widely spread, A Nile o'erflowing from its fertile bed, Spreading the rich alluvium whence a^e given Harvests for earth and amaranth flowers for heaven ; If Science still, in not unholy walls, Sets its high chair, and dares uncharterod halls, And still ascending, ever heavenward soars, While capped Exclusion slowly opens its doors, It is his breath that Bpeeds the spreading tide, It is his hand the long-locked door throws wide. Where'er we turn the same effect we find — O'Connell's voice still speaks his country's mind. Therefore we gather to his birthday feast Prelate and peer, the people and the priest ; Therefore we come in one united band, To hail in him the hero of the land, To bless his memory and with loud acclaim To all the winds, on all the wings of fame Waft to the listening world the great O'Connell's name. — D F. MacCabtht.