Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 12, 23 March 1899, Page 9

Irish News.

ANTRIM-— Election of Lord Mayor of Belfast.— At a meeting of the Belfast Town Council, Councillor Otto Jaffe was elected Lord Mayor for the year 1899 by a practically unanimous vote. Mr. Jaffe is the head of the firm of Jaffe and Co., linen merchants, and the selection has given universal satisfaction. An Example for the Orange Lodges to Follow.— An illustration of the broad-minded catholicity of Iri?hmpn m domestic affairs is disclosed in a correspondence just published in Dublin. Dr. Kane, the redoubtable Orangeman, died suddenly towards Ihe latter end of November, leaving a widow and seven children inadequately provided for. Unionist Belfast, in the per»on of the lately •knighted Lord Mayor, appealed to Nationalist Dublin to help in a public subscription. The answer of Mr. D. Tallon, Lord Mayor of Dublin, in appealing to his fellow-citizens, is an excellent objectlesson. ♦My politics are widely different,' he writes, ' from tho;-e of Dr. Kane, and I have no sympathy with the extreme views he so frequently expressed, though I admired the manly frankness of his character.' The Freedom of Belfast City— Belfast is going to confer the freedom of the city on Mr. Thomas H. Ismay, of the Liverpool firm of Ismay, Imrie and Co., the founders of the White Star line who have had all their splendid ships built by Harland and Wolff. A Belfast Man Decorated-— For his brave services in the Cuban War a Belfast man named James Bashford, son of Mr Charles Bashford, of Percy street, belonging to the Illinois Naval Reserves, has received the decoration of the Congress, which carries with it a pension and is the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in England. A Crimean Veteran in a Workhouse.— Among the inmates of the Belfast Workhouse is a Crimean veteran named David Watson, who enlisted in the Royal Regiment of Artillery at Lisburn on May 4, 1852. His record may be gathered from the fact that he has a Crimean medal and clasps, Turkish medal, French medal and New Zealand medal. He was thirty years at home before he got a pension and then he was allowed 9d a day. He was seven years in the field, took part in twelve engagements and several scrimmages and is now over sixty-seven years of age. ' CORK.— Continued Success of the Butter Market.— The advent of butter factories in Limerick and Tipperary, arid the presence of numbers of local buyers acting on behalf of Eno-lith co-operative societies, were supposed at one time to lead to" the detriment of the well-known Cork Batter Market. There was a diminution in the supply for a few years, but it is now gratifying to know that the market is quickly regaining its former prestige As compared with twelve mouths ago the volume of business passing through the market phows a large increase, and to quote the words of an Irish paper — ' The Exchange which was lifeless in 1M!)7 is now as busy as a bee-hive.' One of the chief causes indeed the principal one - which haa contributed to this happy result has been the success which has attended the newly-established department for fre-h butter in which alone over :SU,OUU 561bs packages have passed through the market. CLARE.— OId Age Pensions are Better than That.— At Freigh Caetle, Miltowuinalbay, lives an old man named Thomas Hennessy, who on last Christmas Day celebrated his lOGth year. This old man is allowed 2s Gd a week by the Guardians to maintain himself and his wife. DUBLIN.— Death of a Dublin Man in New York.— News has been receive! in Dublin of the death in New York of Major Edward L. Coffey in his 86 th year. The deceased was born in Dublin, studied at Trinity College, and then went to Woolwich. He entered the army of the East India Company, and was aide de camp to Sir Charles Napier at the Battle of Mcanie. For twelve years following he was Postmaster-General of Scinde. He resigDed from the British Army during the civil war, and engaged in j blockade running. His family in County Cork dates irom the ninth century. Major Coffey is survived by two s-ons, l'rof. Edward Coffey of San Diego, Cal., and Mr. Barton Haxall Coffey of New York. His brother, Mr. David Cuffty. is Master in Chancery at Dublin, and he was related to the Earl of Clare and Lord Dunboyne. Ending his days in a Workhouse.— The North Dublin Union has many strange histories within its silent walls One of the strangest and saddest is that of a white-haired old man who walks about quietly in the ranks of the permanent inmates wearing the same rough uniform, and apparently in no way differ-

ing from his companions and surroundings. In the sixties he wae well known, not only to Dublin, but to all Ireland, as Valentine Vousden, a prince of drawing-room entertainers. He used to write his own entertainments and compose his own s<on"-s with re-nrvk-able cleverness. But the public is fickle, and entertainers seldom lay by money for old ape, and so one of the cleverest sojiety eatertamers that Ireland has ever known is ending his days in the ' passionless peace ' of the North Dublin Union. I Misdirected Energy.— Tha Dublin FrreuiaiCs Journal is responsible for the following :— Captain Alfred James Edward Monteith rrevflyau, who three years ago left Dublin to walk around the world for, it i« «aid a W a«*er of CSOOOO. is announced to hay c recently arrived in St. Lonis with 140 days in which to return to Dublin within the t^m-. of the wa-'er With his companions he started on December 22, ISJCi.and travelled East, walking through Europe and Asia Minor to Egypt. The terms of the wager were that each should depo.it £10,000 in Dublin, and if one or more died or failed to complete the trip the survivor or survivors were to receive the purse. If all died on the trip the Dublin Hospital was to benefit by the full amount. The three went to Australia, where two men died, and Captain Treveiyan had to continue the journey alone. After travelling through India he arrived in Manila ju&c before Admiral Dewey did, and was a witness of the scenes which followed his coming. From Manila he went to San Francisco, and walked to St. Louis, whence he has started for Baltimore, and from Baltimore he will return to Dublin. Captain TruyeJyan is .said to have seen a great deal of service, and was in the Soots Greys when he left the army in 180,"). The Bank of Ireland.— At the lhalf-yearly meeting of tne Bank of Ireland Mr. Charles E. Martin, Governor, stated that upon the whole tie high rate of interest had been remunerative to bankers, and had checked wild speculation on stocks and shares A dividend at the rate of six per cent, for the half-year was declared! Intermediate Education puzzles— At the Intermediate Education Commission at Dublin, Archbishop Walsh stated that he had bought a book on conjuring by Hoffmann and found in it several puzzles which had figured in arithmetic examinations. KERRY— Rumoured Sale of Muckross Abbey— it is rumoured that Sir Albert Kollit, M.P., is in treaty with a prominent London In-urance Company for the purchase of Muckross Abbey with which Mr. Herbert parted some time ago. Muckross Abbey as is well known, is one of the most beautiful residences in Ireland and is situated in the heart of the most picturesque scenery in County LONGFORD— Another recruit to Home Rule. -The latest recruit to the National cause belongs to an old and distinguished Anglo -I ri^h family who have given their name to Edgeworthstown in the Cnuuty Longford, and to many volumes of racy Irish litera' ture. Maria Edgeworth was of that family ; so was the Abbe Edeevyorth, who attended Louis XVI. on the bcaffold, saying to him at the la'.t moment, ' Son of St. Louis, ascend to Heaven.' Mr Antonio E. Edgeworth, in bin address to the County Council electors of hia divi-ion, reminds them that he is strongly in favour of a properlvendovved ('.it hoi io University, and that he has taken a foremost place m the agitation for the reduction of the over-taxation of Ireland' And wh.it was the main factor in causing him to abandon the U nionißt party / It was the refusal of the Government to make any attempt to deal with the financial grievances of Ireland. That convinced him of the absolute necessity of an Irish Parliament with control of us own customs. The Irish people have a trump card in the excessive taxation of their country, and they ought to play it for all it is worth. y J MEATH-— Selecting- a Successor to the Late Bishop.— A meeting of the parish priests of the diocese of Meath was held in Mulhngar on Tuesday. 24th January, under the presidency of his Imminence Cardinal Logue, for the purpose of selecting three names to be submi ted to the Holy See for the appointment of the successor to the Lite Most Rev. Dr. Xulty. The result of the ballot was a* follows —Right Rev. Mgr. Gnffney, P.P.. Clara, 2!) ; Most Rev Dr H.ggins Assistant Bishop of Sydney. 15; Right Rev. M<>t Gau^h' na'Vi I '"' KdH 7 KeY " Mlchael Doolpv . Resident Navan Semi-WATERFORD.-Death of a Parish Priest.-The death of the Iky. Mautiue Keating, p.in-h priest of Duuhill, is reported lhe (leee.wd had worked with great, energy and devotion in various parts of the diocese for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people, arid in their joys and sorrows he alway- displayed a paternal interest and a most anxious solicitude. In Waterford, by his «- O od ne-s or heart and amiable traits of character, he made himo^lf universally popular. l

GENERAL.

Irish Members of the English Bar.— lt is a curious fact that the Nationalist members who ory for Home Rule for Ireland are constantly gifing new members to the English bar (says Meynoldx Newspaper-). Among these we have already such patriots as Mr. John Redmond, Mr. William Redmond, Mr. Arthur O'Connor, Mr. Bernard Molloy, Dr.Commins, and the latest addition is Mr. T. a. Curran, jun., the ever- juvenile and always popular member for North Donegal, who has just been called. An Irish Football Team in France.— A team of Irish footballers travelled to Paris early in January to meet a French team at a game of Rugby. On the previous day the Irish representatives beat an English team at Home Hill. After accomplishing this feat they had to travel all night. An ugly journey it ia from Victoria to Dover, thence across the Channel, and away to the Gay City, when the winds sweep fiercely over the narrow Strait. But the travellers turned up smiling within a rifleshot of the Louvre, and disposed of the Republican players without turning a hair. It must have been an interesting match— and we hope many like it will be played in the future. Football is a new game in France, but it has enthusiastic advocates in Paris, and they have been practising for some years. That Sunday's struggle was of a friendly character, and that the French appreciated their Irish visitors was shown by the subsequent proceedings. The Irish Party's Funds-— Lord Tweedmouth addressed a Liberal meeting at Duns, Berwickshire, on January 19. Dealing with Ireland, his Lordship, for the first time in public, referred to the £2000 cheque which he had been accused of giving to the funds of the Irish Parliamentary Party. Not a single sixpence out of party funds that were under his control, or from his private purse with the exception of £100 which he gave himself, had ever passed through his hand into the hands of the Irish party. Having been consulted by Mr. Blake, treasurer of the Irish Party Fund, as to their diminished resources, he offered to give £2000 out of his own private purse, but after this proposal had been laid by Mr Blake before his colleagues, he thanked his Lordship, bufc said it was an offer which it was impossible for them to accept. With regard to the £100 which he had afterwards given in response to an appeal from a meeting, that also had been declined and returned. Success of Labour Candidates.— The most noteworthy feature of the local Government elections in Ireland (writes an English contemporary) is the existence of a new force in Irish politics which they reveal. The uprise of a labour party is a new development of the popular movement, which must claim the attention and exercise the thought of statesmen of every political hue. It has to be counted with in the present, and will have to be counted with more in the future. The trend in that direction in Ireland ia stronger than in England, where the efforts of labour to secure direct parliamentary representation have hitherto been foiled. The example set in Ireland will leave a reflection upon England, and there will doubtless be a reciprocity and combined action between the radical elements in both countries, which will give an additional momentum to this new movement. TOO Many Judges- — The over-manned condition of the Irish Judicial Bench is at present much in evidence. While the Hilary Sittings are in full swing in the Four Courts, Dublin, two judges of the High Court, the Lord Chief Baron and Mr. Justice Madden, have been sitting, by the appointment of the Lord Lieutenant, on a Commission, on which the Lord Chief Baron is the chairman, to investigate the working of the Irish Intermediate Education Act. Politics not a Factor-— Some rather curious results of liberality to political opponents appear in the local Government elections in some parts of Ireland. The Unionists of Enniakillen placed a Nationalist at the head of the poll, and the Nationalists of Monaghan plaoed a Unionist at the head of the poll.