Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 20, 17 May 1900, Page 9

Irish News.

4 ANTRIM-— A Belfast Citizen Passes Away— A wellknown figure of the Royal Hospital, Belfast, has passed away in the person of Mr. W. F. M'Elheron, who for upwards of a quarter of a century had been discharging the financial duties of the institution. The deceased gentleman was 84 years of age. DONEGAL.-In Memory of the Pour Masters —Of the many contracts now being entered into for the completion of the new Cathedral in LeUerkenny there is (says the I) fry Journal) none of more historic or artistic interest than the pulpit to the Four Masters. The work of erecting this memorial in St. Eunan's Cathedral has been undertaken by the national teachers of the county, and it could not be in better hands. The Cathedral Building Committee have asked Dr. Joyce to supervise the Celtic tracery of the memorial, remembering, as they do, the valuable help which that great educationist gave in designing the illustrated Celtic cover of the Qartan book, ' Cainne Coluimcille.' The memory of the Masters is an historic legacy to every son and daughter of Tyrconnell. A Mixed Directorate- — Mr. Richard Croker, of Tammany Hall fame, has entered on a speculation which is likely to prove more remunerative than his reported purchase of the Lakes of Killarney. He has become the American director of the ' Granite Industries of Donegal, Limited,' and, as a result, the monument to Parnell, to the fund for which Tammany Hall subscribed 15, W0 dollars, will probably be constructed with stone taken from the company's quarries, in the extensive estate known as the ' Roses of Donegal.' Associated with Mr. Croker on the board of directors of the company are the Duke of Abercorn, who is chairman ; Mr. John Herdman, Strabane, County Tyrone ; Colonel Dickenson, of Earlßfort Mansions, Dublin ; and Mr. Frederick J. Abbott, of Liverpool. The company has just been incorporated, with a capital stock of £100.000, which will be increased as Boon as occasion warrants it. The directors are, it would seem, combining philanthropy and business ideas. The quarries are situated in one of the poorest and most congested districts of Ireland, and the working of them on a large scale will, it is expected, give support to hundreds of families who are now practically subsisting under conditions of semi-starvation. GAL WAY.— The Chairmanship of the District Council' — After a spirited contest, Mr. Edward P. O'Flanagan, solicitor, Tuam' was elected chairman of the Tuam Board of Guardians and District Council. Mr. O'Flanagan is a young gentleman of culture and ability, and is expected to do much credit to the important position to which he has been elected. LIMERICK— The Director of the National Gallery.— Sir Frederick Burton, the purchaser of paintings for the nation and Director of the British National Gallery, died in London about the middle of March. The deceased was a Munster man, having been born in Mungret, County Limerick, and in his early days was the friend of Davis and Mangan. MONAGHAN — Dedication of a Church.— The dedication of the church of St. Joseph, Monaghan, at which his Emineuce Cardinal Logue officiated, on Sunday, March 18, (says the Irish Weekly"), was marked by a magnificent outburst of Catholic fervor and munificence on the part of the people of the ancient town. The appeal on behalf of the new church has realised £1,600 all told, and his Lordship the Most Rev. Dr. Owens, of whose illness Irish Catholics have been grieved to learn, has with great generosity undertaken to be personally responsible for the outstanding debt against the church, and to pay the interest on the money that must necessarily be borrowed, until such time as he will be able to clear it off completely, bo that there will be no other appeal made in connection with the church. Subsequently to the sacred ceremonies his Eminence was presented with an address of welcome from the Urban District Council, in which, after many expressions of sincere congratulation, the Council assured the Cardinal of their unqualified pleasure at the great and praiseworthy efforts at present being made by his Eminence to complete the noble Cathedral of Armagh, and their hearty co-operation in making the approaching bazaar the success to which the high and holy object for which it is organised entitles it. Having paid a noble tribute to Most Rev. Dr. Owens, the Cardinal spoke of the people of Monaarhan as good, strong, sound, sterling Catholics and children of St. Patrick, ready to fight and, if necessary, to die for the faith, as did their forefathers, and also as a truly patriotic people. WEXFoßD.— Censuring a Peer— At a recent meeting of the Wexford Guardians, Mr. W. Pettit proposed that a vote of censure be passed upon Lord Maurice Fitzgerald for the insult he had offered to the Board in communicating with the Local Government Board over certain matters that had taken place at the meeting of the Guardians. Mr. William Sears, T.C., seconded the proposition remarking that the Local Government Board learned enough of the proceedings of their Board through the minutes without sending np special messages from individual members. The chairman (Mr. James Codd, J.P.). Mr. C H. Peacocke, J.P., and other members, while agreeing in condemning the action of Lord M. Fitzgerald as an insult to the Board, pressed the proposer and seconder to go no further with the matter. The morer of the motion agreed to this, and the matter was allowed to drop. Death of a Prominent Merchant-— There was general mourning in Wexford at the death of Alderman James Stafford, a prominent merchant and well-known Nationalist. In social life Alderman Stafford was greatly beloved for his many excellent qualities.