Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11, 18 March 1909, Page 427

Irish News

ANTRlM— ltalian Earthquake Fund The Most Rev. Dr. Tohill, Bishop of Down and Connor, acknowledges a.- cheque for £200", from Miss Teresa Hamill, Trench 'House, Belfast, towards the earthquake fund. Miss - Hamill and her sister wished to make it the occasion of - expressing their heartfelt thanksgiving to the Holy Father, ~- who felt so intensely the terrible sufferings of his unhappy children, and for " the • many spiritual favors which the Hamill family had received from his Holiness. Banquet to Mr. Devlin Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., was to be entertained at a banquet in Belfast on February 11. Mr. John Redmond, M.P., chairman of the Irish Party, was to preside oiii tho occasion, and was to be supported by Mr. John Dillon. CLARE— The Quilty Disaster - » The following members of the County Clare , Force stationed in the • Ennistymon district have received, from the French Government the bronze medal and diploma bear-" ing the signature of the Minister of Marine, for their services in assisting in the rescue of the crew of the French, barque -Leon XllL^which was wrecked at Quilty, CountyClare, on October 2, 1907. District Inspector James Reid, Ennistymon; Sergeant John" Maloney, MilltownMalbay; Sergeant James Brien, Mullough; Acting-Sergeant Daniel Comerford; Constables Denis Shanahan, Patrick Doran, Richard. Kell, Thomas Gillman, Michael O'Shea, ' John W. Giles, Peter Clancy, Owen F. Kerrigan, James " Harrington, Timothy McCarthy, Patrick Hayes, Francis Rooney, and William R. Mcßride, since transferred from Miltown-Malbay to Belfast. The medal is inscribed with the recipient's name and attached to a very neat French tri-color ribbon. His Majesty King v Edward VII. has granted special permission for the acceptance and wearing of the decoration by the men so highly honored. DERRY— White Gloves for the Judge Judge Oyerend, K.C., was presented at Magherafelt Quarter Sessions with a pair of white gloves in recognition of there being no criminal business. In acknowledging the compliment, the. judge thanked the sub-sheriff, ant! expressed the hope that the satisfactory state of affairs would long continue. - DUBLIN— A Destructive Fire One of the most alarming fires that have occurred in the City- of Dublin for a, considerable period broke but at an early hour on Sunday morning, January 24, in the extensive manure and chemical works of Messrs. W. and H. M. Goulding, Limited, situate at the North Wall extension, and promptly obtained such a hold as to necess'i-J: tate the continued labors of the full strength of the' Dublin"." Fire Brigade for several hours before the -flames were finally subdued. Damage to the extent of several thousand • pounds was done. The Lord Mayor - Alderman Coffey has been elected Lord Mayor of Dublin for the ensuing year. He is a -Nationalist "and, alifeflong temperance advocate. Some Irish History Speaking at a, gathering of the National . Literary - Society in Dublin, Dr. Sigerson said that the Normans^ excluded the Irish Catholics from the walled cities and expelled the Irish monks and nuns.' When they changed v their religion in -England, the Penal Laws- followed, but in both cases the question of religion entered, not at all — ,* it was a question of the government of the country 'and' of the ignoring of the people by an , autocracy . When, ' Englishmen passed over to Ireland they ceased to be Englishmen, and once the interest of the' English settled in Ireland, seemed to overreach in any degree upon the interest of the English remaining in England, the colony- had to go "' under. Throughout the whole history of Ireland v -it had been manifest that whilst settlers came as conquerors and as strangers, they soon fused with the people of Ireland, - owing to the strange glamor .of the Celtic nature. It was thus that men like Swift rose "to defend the interests, ofthe colony against oppression, and spoke with a voice which endeared them to the entire nation. Licensing Legislation \ .. ' With the opening of the new year (writes a Dublin correspondent) renewed eiforts are being made to deal with. the drink evil." . Under -the auspices of the Irish Association for the Prevention of Intemperance, large and enthusiastic meetings have been held in Dublin and Belfast, at each of which the dominant note struck was ' Onward

still.' This is only as it should he, for although considerahle improvement has taken -place in the habits "of 'the people, there is plenty of -work for temperance advocates still- to do. Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P., who presided at the Dublin meeting held in the Ancient -Concert Rooms, said that the bill which the Lords so contemptuously rejected was not dead yet. Thai bill was the bill of the Gov- . ernment, ■ and the Government would see that the -work bestowed upon it was ;not lost. With ' regard to legisla- f tion; he trusted that long -before this Parliament came to tin end his friend, Mr. Hazleton, and he would have an opportunity -of vpting for an .Irish Licensing Reform Bill. . He hoped that Lord Lansdowne, who had brought all the . of the land trouble upon the country by the rejection of the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, would not be allowed to begin another period of wreck and ruin for the country by perpetuating the evils of the liquor traffic as he had undoubtedly perpetuated the evils of an unjust land system. - • GALWAY— Resignation of the Bishop The resignation is announced of the senior Irish Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Francis McCormack (Bishop of Galway and KilmacduagH), and its acceptance at .Rome is notified. Throughout the diocese the news has caused the most profound regret. ' Dr. McCormack was born at Ballintubber in .1833, being therefore, in his 76th year. Educated at Maynooth, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1862, and in 1871 was appointed from a curacy to be Coadjutor-Bishop of Achonry,. succeeding to the' See in 1875. From there he was transferred in 1887 to the United Sees of Galway and Kilmacduagh, and to the Apostolic Administration of Kilferiora: The Galway diocese is a comparatively modern one, being .erected in 1831. The, Bishop is a member of the governing. body of tlie University College, Galway. - The Bog Slide Some eighty people have been rendered homeless in consequence of the bog-slip at Ballygar, County Galway, while one poor woi&an, Mrs. McDonnell, lost her life in the disaster. The sufferings and misery ' of the afflicted peasants, whose homes have been obliterated by the avalanche, are great indeed./ Bereft of ''fcheir 'little holdings, without food 'or shelter, or the means to provide either, their lot is deplorable. The scene of misery as described by .those on the spot is enough to melt the heart of eve a the most hardened. An appeal for the victims has been made by Very Rev. Dr. Kielty, Ballygar,* and Mr. John MacDonnell, vice-chairman, Galway County .Council. The latter says the sufferers wpre a thriftjk. industrious people, but the .future looms drear and hopeless before them. if immediate help is not forthcoming. •' KILKENNY— The Archbishop of Trinidad After an" interval of nearly;-, two years'" (says, the Freeman's Journal), an appointm£n|f has ■ been made to the Archiepiscopal See of Trinidadyuin the person of the Most Reverend John Pius Dowling, OvP., who has administered the" diocese since the death, in 1907, of the. Most Rev. Vincent- Patrick Flood, O.P. The new Archbishop, was born at Fresntorcl, County Kilkenny, in 1860, and made his _ classical- studies at Rockwell College, County Tippera'ry. In ,1881 he entered the Dominican Order at the Novitiate House in Tallaght, and finished his ecclesiastical studies in Rome, wheTe he was ordained in 1887. He"'returned .to- Ireland the following year, -and spent the next nine years' in' Tallaght as Novice-Master and Professor. In 1897 he returned to Rome as \Prior of San Clemente. After spending seven years in "tlie Eternal City, be was appointed- "Superior of the Tririidad : Dominican- Mission, and Vicar-General of the late Archbishop. The. new Archbishop'has been always' "of a retiring spirit/ and has been noted. for his' devotion to prayer an"d >study- as well as ior his , kindness; .and charity. His administration of the diocese for the'-last . two years has given unqualified satisfaction to -the clergy and laity, -and his pastoral letters have made it .evident that he /will be a' worthy successor to Dr. Flood.~ „'..-' . . LlMEßlCK— Technical Education s It was announced at a .recent .meeting .of the Limerick Technical Instruction Committee that Mrs. O'Brien, South Hill, had promised a donation of £100 towards the Dunraven Scholarship fund. - : MAYO— An-Eviction w v - A . correspondent sends us (Catholic Times) a copy of an Irish provincial paper, in which appears an. account of evictions on the Logan- estate, West Mayo, and asks whether the details are not such as to make the reader's blood boil. That they are -of the" most harrowing character cannot be denied. The tenants wbo have been evicted because they have been a' few pounds -short in the- rent

live on a bleak hillside. Their dwellings are utterly wretched. The land is too poor, .to raise. grain crops, and only by the hardest labor can- they eke out a subsistence. ~ Three ladies who are returned as. the owners of the estate reside in England, and, have , never been in the^ district in their lives. The agent lives in Dublin,. and lii&_only appearance in- the neighborhood is an annual ;visit to Westport for the purpose of -collecting the - rents or issuing processes of ejectment.- One of the -tenants, a man named Geraghty, who was sued for the non-payment of rent two years ago, presented such a .pitiable aspect in court that a subscription was then and there raised for him by the Clerk of the Crown and Peace, the solicitors, and others. This man, though he is 75 years of age, has been evicted from his little holding. His wife, who is ten years his senior, and has been confined to bed almost constantly for years, was also thrust out of the miserable hovel in which they lived. In another case, a tenant's wife, who was very serionsly ill, was likewise ejected, and altogether it is not too much to say that the proceedings of the evicting party were simply brutal. . It would be astonishing if a district in vhich such incidents take place were not in a disturbed condition. ' • TIPPERARY^Restoring Evicted Tenants On January 23 the following evicted tenants were reinstated in their holdings by Mr. McElligott, Estates Commissioners' Inspector:. Mrs. Rody Gleeson, Denis Looby, and Win. Hoare. Some of these tenants were evicted as long ago as 20 years. Some time ago, after the- passage of the Evicted Tenants Act, the Estate Commissioners sent down an inspector to value these holdings, etc., with a view to their compulsory acquisition. Sir John Carden subsequently appealed on the grounds that the price was too low, and that he-wanted these lands as a home farm. The result has fceenTthat the tenants who are now reinstated have become the purchasers of their holdings at an annuity reduced from tlieir former rent by about 50 per cent. In addition, the tenants are receiving a free grant of about £100 each to help them to restock their farms. WEXFORD— A Welcome Home Sir George Le Hiinte, lately Governor of -South Australia, has returned to his estate in Wexford. The tenants greeted Sir George with a torchlight procession. GENERAL Mayoral Elections The following is the result of the Mayoral elections in the principal provincial towns: — Belfast, Sir Robert Anderson (re-elected) ; Cork, ' Councillor Donovan (reelected) ; Limerick, Alderman Donnellan (re-elected) ; Waterf ord, Alderman Thomas Whittle (re-elected) ; Sligo, Alderman Higgins; Clpnmel, Councillor Cahill; Derry, Councillor McFarland (re-elected) ; Drogheda, Councillor Peter Lynch ; Wexford, Alderman James Sinnott.