Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 1, 2 January 1902, Page 9

Irish News.

ANTRIM.— Fire in Belfast. During the fearful gale which visited Belfast in the early part of November a fire of considerable dimensions broke out at Castle place, in the premises of Messrs. Leahy, Kelly, and Leahy. The gale fanned the flames so that the Fire Brigade could do little but try to prevent them from spreading to Messrs. Meenan and McKe.lar's establishments. In this they succeeded, but the fine premises in which the fire originated were completely glutted. Terrible Storm. A storm of unprecedented severity swept over the nertEern counties of Ireland during the second week in November, when considerable damage ,was done in town and country. Belfast felt the full force of the storm, which was accompanied by torrents of rain. The streets were in many cases covered with water to a depth of several feet, and pedestrian traffic was entirely suspended. The storm raged with such violence that many houses were unroofed, fences blown away, and chimneys were demolished. A great many accidents occurred during the time the storm was at its height. A high wall along the Shamphill road was blown down, the debris falling on two men, one of whom, W. J. Miskemmon, was fatally injured. CORK.— The Exhibition. The Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction having invited the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland to select some of its members to act with the Department in organising the art industries section of the coming Cork) Exhibition, the Society has asked the Earl of Mayo, Count Plunkett, Sir Arthur Vicars, and Mr. T. W. Rolleston, to form a small committee for the purpose. The Department proposes to commit to the gentlemen named ' the special taski of forming a representative exhibit of historic Irish industries.' The Town Clerkship. At a meeting of the Law and Finance Committee of the Cork Corporation, it was decided to recommend to the Council that the duties of the Town Cle/k and Law Adviser be discharged as heretofore, and that the salary be £600 a year, to be increased by increments of £20 for five years. The Queen's Colleges. It is rumored (says the Cork ' Examiner ') that the Agricultural and Technical Board have in hands a scheme for the acquirement of the Queen's Colleges at Cork and Galway for the purpose of converting them into agricultural colleges under the Act. DERRY.— A Brave Act. At a recent sitting of the Petty Sessions Court at Derry, Alderman Bell, Chairman, called forward S. W. Wray, of Rosemount, and presented him with the certificate on vellum of the Royal Humane Society for saving life at Moville in August last. His Worship congratulated the recipient on his gallant conduct and heroic deed done at the peril of his own life, and hoped that the youth of Derry would cultivate themselves to heroism, such as was displayed by Mr Wray on the occasion. Mr. Wray thanked his Worship for his kind words, and assured their Worships that although his act had been looked upon as heroic, yet his action was one of impulse, sustained by determined purpose of mind, viz., that of saving the life of a fellow-creature. DUBLIN. The Dublin Corporation, by 50 votes to 7, conferred the freedom of the city upon Mr. John E. Redmond upon his return from America, where

he had been conducting a vigorous campaign. Mr. Redmond, speaking at Dublin, defied Mr. Wyndham to use coercion. There were plenty rea^y to share Mr. Conor O'Kelly's fate. Ireland was never better equipped for a final fight with England, and the more menacing and dangerous the movement the more the American masses would help. Mr Wyndham (Chief Secretary for Ireland), speaking at Exeter, minimised the movement in Ireland. He said the Irish Land League had only established 40 branches. DOWN.— Centenarians. A Belcoo correspondent writes :—: — Mrs. Anne Keanny, Drumkeenagh, celebrated her 102 nd birthday recently. This district must be very conducive to long life, because the following old people who were up to and over 100 died inside the last 12 months :— Mrs. Rose Lilly, 110 years; John McKegan, 105 ; Pat Leonard, 100 ; Mrs. Anne- Lilly, 99 ; Mrs. Bridget Lilly, 104. All those people lived in the Holy well district. GALWAY. The Bishop of Galway has raised his voice against the multiplication of public houses in Ireland. The Bishop was administering the total abstinence pledge to hundreds of children about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on the day when the magistrates were presiding at the local licensing sessions. And his Lordship forcibly asks how success is to crown his efforts if the licensing magistrates are working against him by constantly increasing public houses and the temptations of which they are the centres. So far has the increase of public houses gone that at present in the city of»Galway there is one such house for every hundred inhabitants, including the babies. It would- be something like a miracle if, where there are so many inducements to indulgence in strong drink, drunkenness did not prevail to an abnormal degree. A Presentation. In the early part of November Rev. Brother Joseph Daly, 0.5. F., President of St. Francis College, Mount Bellew, was presented with a beautiful address by the students on his departure from Mount Bellew to discharge more important duties in one of the other monasteries of the Order. For the past 15 years he had labored with indomitable energy for the welfare and advancement of the institution. He had been mainly instrumental in building up a new college at Mount Bellew. KERRY.— Death of a Priest. It was amidst feelings of deep and widespread sorrow, not alone in his native diocese of Kerry, but throughout the neighboring diocese of Cork, that the death was announced of the Rev. C. O'Sullivan, P.P., Dromtariffe. Father O'Sullivan had been in failing health for many years past, but few believed the end was »o near. He passed quietly away at an early hour on November 8, fortified by the rites of the Church, and sustained by the attentions and comforts of his devoted curate, the Rev. Father Fitzgerald. The deceased, who was a brother to the late venerated and patriotic Mocsignor O'Sullivan, of Kenmare, had been for the past 20 years in charge of the large and important parish of Dromtariffe, which embraces some of the broadest acres of Duhallow and West Muekerry. LIMERICK. The Month's Mind of the latelßev.William Downee, P P., Ballingarry, Limerick, took place on October 30. This is the first time for [about a century that the diocese has been without a prießt of the name of Downes. Three nncles of the late Father Downes had been priests. One died a young man in Rome, and is buried there in the celebrated cemetery of Mount St. Lawrence, and the tomb of the young Limerick priest attracts the attention of Irish visitors to the Eternal City. Another Father Downes died P.P. of Patrickswell over half a century ago, and the third was the late Dr. Downes, P.P. of

Kilmallock. Dr. Downes also spent hia early years at Rome, where he read a distinguished course of theology. He was a class-fellow, and at the examinations a strong rivsl, of the late Cardinal McCloskey of New York. In their college days at Rome the Cardinal and Dr. Downes formed a friendship which, endured to the end ; and when Dr. Downes was in need of funds to go on with his church at Kilmallock the Cardinal welcomed him to collect for this good work amonj>Bt the exiles of Erin in New York. In Father Downes a deep, earnest piety was united to a genial and kindly nature. From the beginning he had won the affection of his people, the respect and esteem of his fellow priests, and the confidence of his ecclesiastical superior!. Early in his missionary life he was placed in positions of responsibility ; and when etill a comparatively young curate he was appointed to the pastoral charge of the large parish of Athea. When the important parish of Ballingarry became vacant by the translation to Limerick of the Very Rev. Dr. Shanahan, V.G., Father Downes was selected to be his successor. The Pastor of Rathkeale. General regret was felt at the death of the Very Rev. William Molony, V.G., Rathkeale, which took place in the Parochial House. Father Molony had reached the ripe old age of 75, but up to a few weeks before his demise he was hale and hearty. He succumbed to a lingering illness, which he bore with singular fortitude. He_had been over half a century in the mission, hia first parish being Dononghmore. In 1878 he was appointed to the parish of St. Manchin's, and in 1886 was given the dignity of Vicar-General. Seven or eight years ago he was transferred to Rathkeale, in succession to the late Very Rev. Archdeacon Halpin, and here he labored zealously till overtaken by his last fatal illness. Father Molony was the essence of a good, genuine, holy priest, and his amiable qualities established him firmly in the friendship of the Boatda of Guardians with whom his duties brought him in contact, as well aa in the warm affection of his flock, LOUTH— Steam Packet Company The Dublin correspondent of the ' Yorkshire Poßt ' says that negotiations have been proceeding for some time between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company and the Drogheda Steam Packet Company for the purchase of the latter undertaking 1 , the capital of which is £133,000. The railway company have offered £75,000 for the Irish concern, the shareholders of which have given their directors carte blanche. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's object is to develop the trade of Irish Midland counties. TIPPERARY.— An Early Death. Deep regret was felt in Tipperary when the news was received of the death at Mothetwell, Glasgow, of the Rev. Henry Gl«eson, fcecond youngest son of the iate John Gleeson, of Garrogh, Portroe. The deceased was only 26 years of age, and was ordained at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, in July last. He was nephew of the Rev. H. J. Gleeson, of Coora, Clare, and brother of the Rev. M. Gleeßon, Milltown Malbay, Clare, and al6o of the Rev. Jeremiah Glee&on, Rector of Jackson, California, and of the Rev. Matthew Gleeson, Rector of Nalley Junction, lowa, U.S.A. GENERAL. Carrickmacross Lace. Carrickjnacross lace was first made m 1820. Its origin is unknown ; it is said to be Persian and also Indian, and the patterns seem to bear out both assertions, some of the parts being traceable to Persian pottery and others to Indian shawls and carpets. Another theory is that the designs were found in a Botticelli picture, in which case their origin might still be Oriental. A Bigoted cry. We (' Catholic Times' ) recently remarked in our columns on the damage which the Government is doing to British trade and industries by withholding University education from the

Catholics of Ireland, and thus handicapping them in the struggle against the competition of foreigners. We are glad to notice that this point is brought out by Mr. R. B. Haldane, M.P., i nan article which he has contributed to the current issue of the "Monthly Review.' Mr. Haldane sees, as every well-informed man now does, that this country will have to brace itself up for e\en fierce competition with America and Germany, and that neglect or lethargy will be fatal to prosperity. He hab studied the German University system, and recognised that its double aim, pure culture and the application of the highest knowledge to- commercial enterprise, as a growing feature of German life. Why not, he asks, establish in Great Britain and Ireland a system of teaching of a University type, with the double aim of the German system ? Why not have in Ireland two teaching Universities, one in Belfast and the other in Dublin, adapted to the local requirements ? Why should Great Britain court failure in Ireland by constantly yielding to the cry of ' No-Popery' ? Hard facts are at last "bringing home to British legislators the folly of bowing to bigots. Economic Statistics. Mr. James M Cann is one of the foremost commercial men in Ireland. He is the chairman of the grand Canal Company, and has extensive connections with bfinkiDg and railway enterprises besides. For a long time Mr. M'Cann had Unionist leanings, but being above all things a business man, a man of figures, the logic of fact 1 ? made him a Home Ruler, and he was returned at last election for one of the divisions <.f Dublin, for which he polled a very co eirte - able number of votes that potsb'v no ordinary Home Rvi'e candidate would have received. Mr. M Cann has wriit^u a tr < d deal abcut the economic siie of H me Rule. During the week, in an addre-s de ivcired in Dublin in connection with the needing of the Bankers' Institute, he returned once more to the subject, and dealt once again with it in a very convincirg fashion. It would be a surprise to those wVo regarded Ireland as an agricultural country that not more than one-fifth of the land of Ir< land is given up to tillage and fully foutth-fitths remains as pasture. Stranger still ia ihe fact that the tilled ground yields as much as the pasture, although only a q iarler of the area, so thnt the battle, to make the bullocks give place to men, is a bit tie to make the produce of Ireland five times as valuable as it is. A Page of Irish History. General Sir V\ iliiam Butler is preparing for the Irinh Literary Society a paper on 'Cromwell in Ireland,' a subject which h s not yet been treated trom the Irish a-peut by a military expert, and to which Sir William is bringing a considerable c mtribution of original research. Nuns as Nurses. Some correspondence has been published which took place recently between the Irish Bishops and the Local Government Boaid with reg&rd to the position of nuns as Workhouse nuises in Ireland. The position hitherto has been pom^wh^t anomalous and unsatisfactory, but it would seem from the correspondence th*t matters an in the way of being adju ted. The Local Government Board insists on the appointment of twain >d nurseß to every Workhouse infirmary, but it expressi s itself willing to a low the superiors to act as head nurses iv ho-pitals where nuns r.re already placed, provided that trained nurses be also appointed ; ar d in cases where trained lay nurst-s are already head nurses, the Board is willing that nuns should be introduced, provided that the position of the lay nurses be not interfered with. The most strikirg part of the correspondence is the confession on the part of the Local Government Board that it in : 1 fully sensible of the excellent work of reform which has been effected by the nuns in the Workhoupes which have beax plaod under their charge. The cleanliness, good order, and comfort, and t,he improved moral tone which seems invariably to foilow upon the introduction of the i.uns are very striking.'