Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 4, 28 January 1904, Page 9

Irish News

ANTRlM.— Another Big Steamer On December 5 Messrs. Harland and Wolff launched the large twin screw mail and passenger steamer, Kenilworth Castle, from the north end of the Queen's Island. This vessel is 570 feet long and about 13,500 tons gross, and will be the largest vessel trading to the South African colonies, and one of the finest vessels in the colonial Imperial service. She has been built to the order of the Union Castle Mail Steamship Co., Limited, of which Sir Donald Currie, G.C.M.G., is the head, and his firm, Messrs. Donald Currie and Co., of London, are managers. As is usual with vessels built for the Union Castle Line, there was a christening ceremony, and on this occasion it was performed by the Lord Chief Baron. Dearth of Employment The dearth of employment in Belfast, from which the working classes are at present suffering, formed the subject of a discussion at a recent meeting of the Improvement Committee of the Corporation, and an effort will be made to relieve the distress. The shipbuilding trade has been in rather a depressed state for some time past, and as a consequence hundreds of tradesmen and laborers had to remain idle. We understand, however (says the ' Irish Weekly '), that matters are beginning to mend in this respect, and that before very long there will be ample employment for shipyard workers. CAVAN. — A Centenarian passes A few weeks ago there died in Cavari Workhouse a man named James Reynolds at the extraordinary age of 120 years. He had been an inmate for only eight days, and was compelled to enter the workhouse owing to the loss of his eyesight. Reynolds was a native of county Roscommon. CLARE. — Another Centenarian At the great age of 103 years Mr. Michael Hassett passed away recently at Kilrush. Universal regret is felt in the town and district at his demise. He was a member of one of the old West Clare families, whose devotion to faith and country he courageously and consistently sustained. CORK.— Yet Another The death of Mary Twohig, at the remarkable age of 105 years, at her residence, Coolnedane, Macroom, was announced on December 10. Deceased was born in the year 1798, and she used to relate many pathetic incidents of the days of the crowbar and batteringram. She enjoyed perfect health throughout the course of her long and eventful career. She used to knit and read up to a few weeks prior to her illness, which was of brief duration. DONEGAL.— The Fishing Industry So great has been the traffic on the Lough Swilly Railway owing to the large herring hauls at Burtonport and Downings, on the Donegal coast, that the Great Northern Railway Company have had to put on a special night fish train to deal with the consignments in order that they may reach the Belfast, Dublin, and London markets fresh. Quantities of the cured fish are being sent to the Continent. Kippering was going on at Burtonport when the last mail left. Bundoran's Pastor Canon McKenna, P.P., Bundoran, who died on December 6, was affectionately known as one of ' the church-building McKennas.' At Enniskillen, Newbliss, Aughnamullen West, Bundoran, and Ballyshannon, he has left handsome memorials of his life and work in magnificent churches, well equipped convents and schools, and commodious parochial halls. DOWN.— Land Purchase The tenants on the Ardmillan Estate, County Down, have accepted the landlord's terms of 24£ years' purchase on second term rents, first term being graded as second. Sporting and other rights are reserved to the tenants. DUBLlN.— Gerald Griffin Centenary The National Literary Society recently celebrated the Gerald Griffin centenary, and a lecture was delivered by Mr. T. A. Murphy, 8.A., Dr. Sigerson presiding. The lecturer narrated the life story of the poetnovelist from his birth in Limerick. Shooting and fishings were his recreations. When he went to London things went so low with him that he wrote at one time : 'If I could make a fortune by splitting matches I think I would never put a word in print.' He was successful in his tales, but his novels followed and

made his success. It was in 1838 he became a Chris. tian Brother at Cork, and was happy in his vocation. His death occurred two years later. The lecturer divided his study into three parts— drama, poetry and romance— and dealt critically with each division.' The lecturer considered Gerald Griffin essentially a dramatist, but there was not market for the drama when he wrote, and that discouraged him. * The Half-Sir ' was- instanced as conveying something of Griffin's own life, and the ' Collegians ' as his chef d'oeuvre. KILDARE.— Land Purchase The landlord of the Colley Estate, Carbury, Co. Kildare, has accepted the tenants' offer to purchase their holdings at 21£ years' on first term and nonjudicial rents ; 24£ years' on second term rents', andi 20f years to cottier tenants. Sporting rights to be vested in the purchasers. KILKENNY.— Land Purchase It is announced that the tenants on the Lower Grange Estate, Kilkenny, have arranged to buy their holdings at 21$ years' purchase of first-term and 23 years of second term rents, two years' arrears to be forgiven. MAYO.— Land Purchase The sale of the Ballinglen Estate, Co. Mayo, has been agreed to on the following terms— The tenants to buy at 23 years' purchase on second term, and 27 years' first term rents, and one perpetuity leaseholder an abatement of 20 per cent. in order to bring them to second term level ; some arrears to be wiped out. A Mayo Man Honored It looks (says the ' Weekly Freeman ') very like as if the British police were not able to produce a man of sufficient calibre to look after the lawless in London, and to protect the crowned heads that occasionally visits Great Britain from the Continent. Superintendent Melville, from Sween, County Kerry, the genius of Scotland Yard, has just retired on a pension of £280 a year. Had the position held by Mr. Melville been an extraordinary Civil Service position, or the usual kind of sinecure associated with oihcial life, we can quite imagine the kind of appointment that would have been made to that \acated by Inspector Melville. But the Government of England know that it would be madness to put a duller, no matter how well recommended, at the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard. It was clear that a man of brains should be appointed. Chief Inspector Quinn was the selection of the authorities— another Anglo-Saxon, this time not from Kerry, but from Mayo. WlCKLoW.— Defying the Association In consequence of the Medical Association of the County Wicklow demanding that the salaries of Dispensary Medical Officers should be fixed at £200 a year, much interest attached to the election of a doctor for the Tmahely Dispensary District, which was decided a few weeks ago by the Shillelagh Guardians, who offered £120 a year for the position, together with the usual allowances. Dr. Joseph Murray, a native of Mullingar, County Westmeath, was unanimously elected. Land Purchase The Very Rev. L. Byrne, P.P., presided at a meeting of tenants. It was announced that a landlord of a county Wicklow estate had agreed to sell at 20 years' purchase on first-term, with a reduction on present rents 'This offer has been accepted. An Appointment Dr. P. J. Hamilton, of Arklow, County Wicklow, has been appointed Certifying' Surgeon under the Factory and Workshops Act, in succession to- Dr. Halpin, for, the district of Arklow, which includes the Arklow and Dunganstown Dispensary Districts, comprising the Electoral Divisions of Arklow, Arklow Nos 1 and 22 Urban, Kilbnde (part of), Ennereilly, Dunganstown South, Dunganstown East, and Dun'ganstown West.