Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 43, 24 October 1907, Page 27

Irish News

CORK — A large Graving Dock The extension of the Haulh'owline Graving -Dock, which was inaugurated" on September - 3 by the' Lord - 'Lieutenant, is a matter, ,as ■ the -" Bishop of Cloyne declared, of the greatest interest to the people of Queenstown. The present dock was completed in 1887 at acost of half a million. But in consequence of the rapid growth in the dimension of battleships and liners it soon became comparatively worthless. Captain . DoineTan, the deservedly popular member for Queenstown, poured a constant broadside of questions on the late Government urging the enlargement and utilisation of the dock.. It is doubtless to his influence - that the project is due. The dock is to be enlarged at a cost of £110,000 to dimensions which will make it - available for the largest ship that floats, and it is expected that it will be completed. . Mhe project offers immediate employment jn its construction, and " promises permanent employment when completed. The Queen's College For Professor -Windle's proposal that the Queen's College, Cork, should receive a University Charter there is a good deal to be said (remarks the ' Catholic Times '). The importance of the college' as a teaching centre has fcjeen growing rapidly. Not for twenty years has it had so many students in attendance as at the present time, and the prospect of a further and continual increase in Uhe number is sure. It is also certain that substantial local financial aid would be forthcoming if there were good ground to hope that the scheme of giving Munster a University of its own would be carried out^ Mr. William O'Brien has already made a generous offer of funds, and there are many others in the southern counties who are prepared to give liberally if the Government show that they are inclined to favor the project. ProtesTants are as eager as Catholics T>fiat .the institution should be afforded adequate scope for development, and there .undoubtedly is, as the. president declares, a desire throughout the whole of Munster that the college^ should receive a higher status and be made available for the people of the province. - Dedication of a Church On Sunday, September 1, in the village of Curtroe, about four miles from Youfihal,._the new Church of St. - Ita was dedicated by the Most *Dr. Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. For many year's the old church was Tteyond repair, buli it retrained for the devoted pastor of the united parishes of Youghal and Curtroe, the Right Rev. Mgr. Keller, P.P., V.G., Dean jof Cloyne, ably, assisted "by his clerical and other brethren, at home and abroad, to bring about the happy event witnessed to-day. The church is a Gothic structure of the early pointed type. The treatment is simple but dignified. A single nave with high-pitched roof, tall, wellproportioned single-light windows on the side walls, a graceful three-light window on each gable, with a belfry on the apex of the front gable, and a simple vestry nestling under the eaves of the western walls — this is the exterior presentment of St. Ita's Church. DOWN— Good Advice The Most Rev. Dr. O' # Neill, Bishop of Dromore, in a letter enclosing a subscription for the Irish Parliamentary Fund, says : 'Independent opposition of all political parties hostile or indifferent to our interests woiild seem to foe the policy required at present on the part of our Paiiiamerotary representatives. And to 'enafble them' to cajrry rEhi« out thoroughly -.they should have 'behinH -them the unwavering and whole-hearted support of everyone who claims f o !b<e a lover of his - country.' DUBLIN— The Use of the Mansion House The Lord Mayor of Dublin refused to grant the Sinn Fein 'party the use of the Mansion House, He would, he said, be making himself contemptible if he, a member of the Irish " Parliamentary Party, allowed the Mansion House to, be used for attacking that party and himself. An Appreciation At the recent meeting of the Dublin Corporation a _ letter was read from Mr. Patrick -Flanagan, Calvert and Lexington .Stn., Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Mr. Flanagan is a contractor and has carried out a number of public works in Baltimore. , During a recent visit to Ireland, fie spent more than a month in Dublin, where He availed himself of the opportunity of in-

quiring into and examining some of the chief works of the civic administration. In regard to the sewage disposal w<orks of the Corporation, he" states — ' I have been through most of the Continental cities as well as most of the large towns in England and Scotland, making observations for myself of the various works carried out by the municipalities, and "as a result of my experience I have no hesitation y in stating that your sewage disposal works are the most efficient' and' complete tnat I have ever seen.'GAL WAY— The Clanricarde Estate, ■ At a largely attended meeting of the tenantry . pn the Loughrea portion of . the Clanricarde- estate, held'in' Loughrea on September 1, Rev. 11. Brennan, Adm., occupied the chair, and said that the recent """declaration of Lord Clanricarde, tliat he never refused to--sell, struck them all as strange. He had not even replied to their repeated memorials for a sale of that estate. - But he might answer one now. "" Mr! Duffy, M.P., said that in districts where purchase operalions had taken place, large bodies of police and "military were for- > merly required to keep a semblance of law and order, in the interest of the landlord, but to-day a solitary policeman would be sufficient. He . enumerated fifteen .. properties around, including about fifteen thousand acres of untenanted land which' had come into possession of the people within the past few years. Clanricarde alone was the disturbing element in that district. Having regard to the - statement made by Clanricarde, that ' he has never refused to sell anything anywhere,' he (Mr. Duffy) suggested that the Estate Committee should communicate at ouce direct with Lord Clanricarde _and fmd out whether he was prepared to' open negotiations for the sale "of all- his property. If. he refused, they would again consider their position. KING'S COUNTY— A Lonely Vigil Mr. John Cannon, a farmer of Galbally, .near Ban0 agher, was found dead on a lonely moor, about two miles from his residence on August 31. His two dogs kept vigil over his. dead body for o>ver tweiityfour hours. He left his house early on the previous day, taking with him a gun and two retriever dogs. As they did not return, Sergeant Masterson and the neighbors went ' in search. Their attention was attracted by the moaning of a dog.~ They found Cannon lying face downwards, his gun clutched in his left hand. The dogs -attacked the party, and it was only after much coaxing that they were able to remove the body. An inquest was held, . and a verdict of death from— heart-failure returned. LIMERICK— River on Fire An extraordinary .occurrence was witnessed at the Limerick wharf on September .2. A steamer was discharging a cargo of petroleum for Messrs. J. and G. Boyd, when some- of the oil flowed into the river and was set on fire by, as it is thought, a match carelessly flung in. The burning oil floated towards the steamer ' Wylam,' which was wrapped in flames. The fire, however, after scorching ~ off some paint,/ subsided, and the services of the Fire Brigade, which arrived on the scene, ,were not required. ROSCOMMON— Grazing Farm Surrendered .. About the ,middle of August the farm of Fortwilliam, Ballintu'bber, containing about 120 acres, was surrendered by the owner, Dr. Holmes, for sale. to the adjoining tenants, through the Congested Districts Board. The farm has been non-residential, and' has been let for grazing, but this year the people refrained from putting any grazing cattle on it. The farm has been handed, over by the owner's agent to a committee of the Ballintubber branch of the United Irish League, up to April next, for the sum of £100, pending the sale to the Congested Districts Board. WATERFORD— A Rigorous Inquiry Necessary Alluding to Lord Donoughmore's assertion at the Irith Unionist Alliaoice meeting ' that violent 'speeches within the last few weeks had led dire.ctly to the dastardly outrage on Lord Ashtown,' the ' Daily News' says :— "' The strange affair to which Lord Donoughmore alludes is at tha moment the' subject of inquiry. Is'obody with such information as we possess can decide whether the explosion was directed against Lord Ashtown ; whether it ~ was a bogus outrage arranged ' by some "enemy of tfie^ Irish Nationalist farty ; or whether if. it was directed against Lord Ashtown it was an incident in a private quarrel, or in a Public q»iarrel. Englishmen have not forgotten their history of Sergeant Sheridan, or the ' outrage ' a.t Drumdo. Lord Donoughmore has no right to conclude that this incident \ was the result of 'violent speeches. 1 In this connection we may nrention that there are a good many

people outside the Nationalist Party who wish to have a very rigorous inquiry under oath of al] the circumstances of what is at" present a mystery. (A cable message received last -week stated that Mr. Bir'rell had refused the demand of the Irish Nationalists for a special inquiry into this mysterious affair.) GENERAL Demand for Lace and Linen The demand^for Irish lace and Irish linen this year "by visitors, especially Americans, has been enormous, and has, so far, surpassed that of any previous year. s Castleknock College The Very Rev. Paul Cullen, CM. (says the ' Freeman's Journal '), lias jukt been appointed President of Castleknock College. His appointment is an extremely popular one, as Father Cullen had been nearly a (quarter, of a century in Castleknock before his recent change to St. Vincent's, Cork, of which house he -has been President for about two years. He is a nephew of the late Cardinal Cullen and a brother of Mr. Hugh Cullen, of Liscarton Castle, County Meath. He was educated at JJastleknock College, and for many years discharged tne important duties of Prefect of Studies there. During his short residence in Cork he made numerous friends, and keen regret is expressed there at his departure. Reducing the Number of Judges By the Judicature (Ireland) Bill, which has received the Royal assent, two Judgeships of the High Court are abolished, and the salary of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland is reduced from £8000 to £6000 per annum. So far back as 1885, on the sudden death of. Sir Edward Sullivan while holding the Great Seal of Ireland, the Irish Chancellorship was offered to the late Lord .FitzGerald, a Lord of Appeal-in-Ordinary, who had previously been for two-and-twenty years a member of the Irish Judicial Bench. Lord Fitzgerald declined to accept the position subject to the condition of the reduction of the salary by legislation, which was then regarded as imminent. Depressing Returns Irishmen and all friends of Ireland (says the 'catholic Times ') cannot read the annual report of Mr. R. E. Matheson, the Registrar General for the county, without feeling depressed.* A carefully-drawn-up, welldigested document, it presents just one feature that is satisfactory. In all other respects it is painful reading. The n-orality of the people, talcing the births as a criterion, continues to be of a high standard. Of the 103,536 children born during the year 97.4 per cent, were legitimate and only 2.6 per cent, illegitimiate— results which compare favorably with tHe returns for most other countries. The province of ulster had the highest and Connauglit the lowest percentage of illegitimate children, the proportions being, Ulster, 3.5 ; Leinster, 2.7 ; Munster, 2.2 ; and Connaught, 0.7. The marriage rate showed a decrease of 0.10 as compared with, that of the previous year ; the loss by emigrants exceeded by 6235 the gain through the natural increase ofthe population ; and whilst the rate of mortality from - tuberculosis has declined in England from 3.3 per thousand in 186~4 to 1.6 per thousand in 1906, and in Scotland from 3.6 per thousand in 1864 to 2.1 per thousand in 191)5, in Ireland it rose from 2.4 per thousand in 186"4 to 2.7 per thousand in 1905 and 1906. Irish Trade An important and interesting report has just been issued by tfie Department of Irish Agriculture on the Irish import and export trade for the year 1905, ascompared with that for the previous year. The. increase in the imports was £1,792,413, and in the exports £2,119,019. In 1905 Ireland paid for imported goods £55,092,343, while in 1904 she only- paid £53,292,930. The exports in 1905 are valued at "£51,331,260, and in 1904 at £49,212,181. In this case, however, a sum of about £2,500,000 represents goods which were returned without having been subjected to any course of manufacture ; so that the net total value of the export trade would be abou? £48,800,000, and the imports £52,600,000 ; this gives us a total Irish export and import trade of^ £10i;400,000. Emigration The annual report of "the Registrar-General for Ireland states that the number of emligrants (natives of Ireland) who lefts the ports of Irefand during the year 1906 was 35,34"4 ; 19,230 of these were males, and 16,144 females. Of the tgtal emigrants, 9.9 per cent, were undeir 15 years of age; 83.1 per cent.- were between 15 and 35 years old, and 7.0 per cent, were 35 or upwards. . '