The Irish Envoys and New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, 26 July 1906, Page 34

The Irish Envoys and New Zealand

A meeting of the Sydney Executive Committee, appointed to nia' c arrangements for the reception of Messrs. Devlin and Dono.an, was held on July 9. His Eminence Cardinal Moran presided, and among those present was Air. M. Kennedy of Wellington. After the transact on of routine business his Eminence said they wcie privileged that e.ening to have the presence of a rcprcsentatn c from New Zealand, Mr. Kennedy, the president of the Irish League in Wellington, who assjicd him (the Cardinal) that the Irish delegates would get a hearty welcome if they went to New Zealand. lie supposed, now that they had no obligation to visit the United States, they might be able to prolong their stay here for some time, and, perhaps, Mr. Kennedy would tell the committee what prospects there would be of a successful meeting or a series of meetings in N.cw Zealand. Mr. Kennedy said he thought the delegates would be quite successful m the four principal centres — Wellington, Chiistchurch, Dunedin, and Auckland. Whether it would be jriheious oi deniable for them to vis.it other parts of New Zealanl could be considered as soon as they heard from Mr. De\lin. As president of the Irish Association, which was only recently formed in Wellington, he was as^ed to communicate with Mr. Devlin, who was at Peilh at the time, but he had received no reply up to the date he left New Zealand. The Irish League was formed in Wellington some weeks ago, air! the members were delighted to hear that the delegates were in Australia. The people would certainly feel \ cry much hurt if Messrs. Devlin and Dono.an did not go to . New Zealand. Under the circumstances he was glad indeed to learn that tho time of their stay in Australia had been extended, so that they might ha\e an opportunity of going to New Zealand after all. lie hoped they would. It was an instruction for him to be present that night, Hewas glad to see the extensive organisation the Irish had in Australia, and he was quite sure they would be equal to the occasion, lie would try and inform himself before he left Sydney as to the population in the various districts of (h's State that the envoys were recommended to visit, so that it might serve as a guide to them in New Zealand when taking into account the inland centres. Yet, they could not close their eyes to the fact that in New Zealand the Irish population and the children d Irish rarents were piobably not more than half the percentage of those in Australia. Though many of their town had populations of 50,000 they would not get the same attendances that they would in a similar population here. Many of their politic ians were of goodwill towards Nationalists, a nd lr> had no doubt they would gii.e them very considerable aid when they came.