A Splendid Reception

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 20, 14 May 1903, Page 10

A Splendid Reception

The Most Rev . Dr. Healy paid his visit as Archbishop of Tuam to Newport on March 19, and mot with a most enthusiastic reception from his paushioners, for Westpoit is an archiepiscopal parish. The horses were taken Jrom. his carnage, which was drawn, amidst deafening cheering from an enthusiastic crowd of some thousands of people, to thu piesbytery, where the Archbishop wa» presented with an address by the Urban Council In reply his Giace delivered a most mipoitant speech on the subieci oi 111 1 i i h land, and especially en the grazing evil in the A\osl What he saw of the land gave him the impression that it was not m the hands of men who were able and willing to till it No Government could justify itselt before the Empire, and befoie the nations of .Europe, which would permit the recurrence of famine in a population where liulusttious men were starving on wretched patches of mountain, while the better lands, which were untilled and would ked the people, were rie\oted only to the sustenance oi cattle. Although he had no authoiily to speak, he could undertake to tell them that this matter woulu bo taken in hand by tho Government before the piesrnt year was out, and that they would piobablv see a public authority erected shovtlv, furnished or strengthened with ample powers to bring about a great reform on terms of justice and equity for all. He would be wanting in his duty as an Archbishop, as a priest, as a Christian man, if he did not do his utmost to cause the utter misciy and wretchedness so frequently seen in that district to disappear for ever lie believed in a qlonous futuie for Irishmen of evoiy creed and class if they would unite, forget past diffeiencc, help their countrymen to live at home, and do aw ay with the discrace "of tuning to appeal to large-hearted people, when they themselves were willing to work and had the means of subsistence before them.