Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 15 July 1909, Page 1107

Irish News

CARLOW— Evicted Tenant Reinstated Mr. Daniel Maher, Newcastle, who over 20 years ago was evicted from a farm of 80 acres, situated near Abbeyleix, Queen's County, as a result of his adherence to tho principles of the, plan of campaign, has been fortunate in the recognition of his claim for reinstatement under the recent Act. He has been provided with a farm of 40 acres in Carlow, his native county, which has been stocked and eqipped for his use by the Estate Commissioners. Mr. Maher, with his family, has been residing in Newcastle for the past six years, and lately > occupied a laborer's cottage under the Kilkeel Rural District Council, within a slioTt distance from Newcastle. CORK— No Foundation for Report We (Freeman' s Journal) understand that Mr. William O'Brien, who is spending the summer in "the Apennines during recovery after his recent illness, is engaged in writing the inner history of the Conciliation Movement of iho past seven years, the object of which was to win over tie Irish Protestant minority and the British people of both political parties to the cause of domestic self-government for Ireland. There is no foundation for the statement that Mr. O'Brien is retiring to Jerusalem. DUBLIN— Aid from America The Trustees of. the United League, Dublin, receivad recently the following cablegram from Boston : ' National Treasurers United Irish League to-day forwarded thousand pounds. Answer Ireland's friends to factionists. This makes six thousand pounds since Convention. We stand by United Ireland.' Memorial to Mangan On Saturday afternoon, May 22, a memorial to Jam^s Clarence Mangan erected by the National Literary Society in the Park, St. Stephen's Green, was unveiled by Dr. Sigerspn, F. R.U.1., president of the society. The monu-ment-takes the form of a bust of the poet in bronze, by Mr. Oliver Sheppard, mounted on a solid limestone pedestal. Within the enclosure reserved for those who had received invitations to the ceremony there was a large gathering of ladies and gentlemen, and' there was" also a large body of people outside. Dr. Sigerson, who unveiled the memorial, said : 'In the name of the National Literacy Society of Ireland, I now unveil and confide to the~custody of the commissioners and to the care of the public this memorial of Clarence Mangan. Against the dark background of his life he raised a fabric of fair poetry, which shines bright as ' apples of gold amid foliage of silver ' — the admiration of other lands, the glory of his country. In gratitude for his genius, in memory of his patriotism, in evidence that our generation is not forgetful of benefactors, and in the hope of inspiration to future times, we ereot this monument. Here, in the city of his birth, in the land of his love, we erect it, bearing its beautiful symbol of our Ideal Erinn, whose desire and whose honor abide 4 in the noble affection of an undivided nation.' The National University The National University Commissioners (says the Freeman's Journal) have accomplished * the first part of /their task with expedition. They have made their statutes for the government of the National University and its constituent colleges. A large part of the statutes is occupied by the elaboration of the provisions of the various charters • and the enactment of such supplementary provisions as aro required by the charters. In these matters the commissioners have been bound by the Act of Parliament and the charters, and have had to accept settled conditions. In several directions, however, rthey have been able to exercise statutory powers of their own, and it is in the exercise of these powers that they have given their work a characteristic stamp. T,h.us in the case of the University they were free to appoint the various faculties in the University, and in naming them they, have given the University what, it is to be Hoped, will prove a characteristic tone. Tims, in addition to the older groupings of studies, we find faculties of Celtic Studies, of Philosophy and Sociology, and of Commerce, 'while Architecture is given its rank in the faculty which used to be known as the facility of Engineering. So with the degrees. To the old distinctions are added the degrees of Master and Doctor of Celtic Studies, Bachelor and Master of Architecture, and Bachelor and Master of Commerce. The elevation of the Celtic and the Commercial Departments of the University to the rank of faculties will be heartily approved by the Irish public. It gives these subjects the importance due. to them in an Irish University, and will^ impress upon the student mind the

value that attaches to the studies in the economy of the national life. GALWAY— Address to the Bishop A beautiful farewell address from the priests of Galway, Kilmacduagh, Kilfenora, has been prepared for presentation to the Most Rev. Dr. MacCormack. The address, which is in album -form, consists of six illuminated pages in the Celtic style, each ' page being a distinct original design. The first contains the title of the address, into tho ingeniously monogrammed letters of which is introduced a finely painted miniature portrait of the Bishop, whose coat of arms and crosier and mitre still further embellish this page. Panels introduced into the design of the second and third pages contain miniature paintings of St. Francis Xavier and St. Joseph (his Lordship's patron saints) respectively. The three succeeding pages are furnished with delicately executed paintings of West Bridge, Galway; Clare-Galway Abbey, and Corcomroe Abbey respectively. KING'S COUNTY— The Judge's Congratulations County Court Judge Curran, K.C., in opening the business of the Birr Quarter Sessions on May 25, said, in his address to the Grand Jury : ' There is but one • case to go before you. It is a charge of forcible rescue from a sheriff's bailiff, and I don't anticipate that you will have any difficulty in dealing with it. I think I may fairly congratulate you upon the state in which I find this division of the King's County on the present occasion.' LEITRIM— Drowning Fatality On the afternoon of May 22 a young man named Stephen Moran, of Carrick-on-Shannon, a saddler, went out fishing in a flat-bottomed punt along with his brother, who became ill and was sent home. Soon afterwards Moran was observed to be disentangling his lines, but was heard to shout, and fall head foremost .into the river, disappearing immediately. It was not until three-quarters of an hour had elapsed that Moran's body was recovered by grappling irons. The scene on the bank was heartrending, as the victim's brother,' Mr. Mat Moran, a noted Gaelic athlete, made desperate attempts to save his brother's life. LOUTH — A Borrowed Surname At the Dundalk Quarter Sessions a Russian Jew, who gave his name as Henry Carroll, sued the High Sheriff for illegal seizure. Plaintiff was closely questioned as to how he came to have an Irish surname, and stoutly maintained that Carroll was his proper name. The judge expressed his doubts as to a Russian bearing a the name of Carroll. Th 3 jury found for defendant. TYRONE— Parliamentary Vacancy Currency has been given to a rumor that Mr. T. M. Kettle, M.P., will receive an appointment on the staff of the National University of Ireland, and the Professorship of Economics was referred to. Appointments to the staff f the new University have not yet been made, and most of them may not have been even discussed (says the Irish Weekly). Bub if Mr. Kettle should become Professor of Economics in the National University, he would be one of many professors who represent constituencies in the House of Commons; and it is doubtful whether his acceptance of such an office would necessitate a bye-election. Any M.P. who accepts ' an office of profit under the Crown ' automatically ceases to represent his constituency until he is re-elected. But is a professorship in the National University, or in Trinity College, an office ' under the Crown ' in the sense of the Chief Secretaryship' for Ireland, the presidency of the L.G.8., or a County Court judgeship? What— in Ireland, at least — we may call the moral difference is obvious; the legal difference is a question fo/ lawyers. GENERAL Old Age Pensions In the House of Commons recently Mr. Hobhouse informed Mr. Menzies that out of the £8,750,000 estimated to be required for old-age pensions in the current ye&r about 2£ millions would be payable in Ireland. Irish Savings The'' figures given in the report on the banking ani railway statistics or Ireland for the latter half of the year 1908 by Mr. Russell's Department are interesting. The central facts are that the deposits and cash balances i»j joint stock banks at the close of December stood at £52,068,000 (exclusive of two and a half millions Government and other public balances in the Bank of Ireland) as compared with £50,379,000 at the corresponding date of 1907. The Post Office and Savings Bank deposits wero £13,274,000, as compared with £13,026,000 in 1907. Tho report points out that in the case of the Post Office Savings Banks the number of depositors has more than trebled in the course of twenty years.

Irish-American Pilgrimage ■ The Washington correspondent of the London Daily News, wiring on May 16, says: A number of prominent Irishmen have met here for the purpose of forming a National organisation to promote a pilgrimage of IrishAmericans to the Old Country next year. When Mr. Richard Croker was here he urged a number of the men who are at the head of the present organisation to carry out such a plan, and declared that Ireland was far better to-day than it ever had been. Since Mr. Croker's return the movement has taken more shape, and is now on the high road to success. Mr. Francis J. Kilkenny, who is the originator of the movement, and presided over the first meeting held yesterday of its organisers, declares that fifty thousand Irishmen have signified their intention of visiting Ireland in August and September of 1910. The various steamship companies here have promised to give the pilgrims cheap rates, as vessels bound eastward at that time of the year are running practically empty. The idea has been taken up with great enthusiasm all over the Union, and at yesterday's meeting letters commending the scheme were read from distinguished Irishmen over the whols world. Dr. Douglas Hyde wrote declaring that the pilgrimage should be made an annual one, and that he believed it would have the happy effect of linking relatives and friends in the Old Country and there in closer relations. Ireland and the Stamp Duty Against a united protest of the Irish representatives (says the Freeman's Journal) the Government carried the resolution doubling the stamp duty now charged in conveyances or transfers on sale of property and leases. The protest was based upon the clear case for differentiation in favor of Ireland owing to the number and character of transactions under the Land Purchase Acts which, in any fairly balanced scheme, would entitle the country to special consideration. But the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not to be shaken in the conviction that Ireland, so far from having any cause for complaint, is rather favorably dealt with — if not by the Budget, by the whole body of British legislation. When it is objected that the spirit duties press very severely upon a country where the manufacture of whiskey is a staple industry, relatively important as the manufacture of English beer, which escapes taxation, he retorts by pointing to the large mimber of old age pensioners in Ireland, as though the -conditions responsible for so many aged poor in this country implied no reflection upon the manner in which it has been governed. When he is told by Nationalist and Unionist that the increased Stamp Duty in land transactions will bear more oppressively on Ireland than on England or Wales, his answer is that the Irish tenant purchaser is given an ' enormous advantage ' by the State under the provisions of the Land Act, and should be the last person to complain of his proposal. His whole argument illustrated Mr. Dillon's point, that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was drafting his scheme for raising thirteen millions he had regard only to the conditions of the country where most of the money was to come from, and had no. regard to the different circumstances' of Ireland. That :s the lesson to be drawn from all British Budgets, but it has rarely been so strongly impressed as by the fiscal scheme drafted by a Radical Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ireland and the Budget The All-Ireland meeting called by the Lord Mayor of Dublin to protest against the Budget evoked a representative attendance from all parts of the country. The meeting succeeded in uniting interests and parties usually irreconcilably opposed. Mr. Redmond, who was detained in London by a meeting of the Irish Party, sent an apology for non-attendance, and most of the Irish members were absent for the same reason. Letters of regret were also received from Lord Dunraven, Mr. John Fitagibbon, and from a variety of politicians and public men, including the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Dr. Douglas Hyde, Lord Iveagh, Mr. William Field, M.P., and others. The Lord Mayors of Dublin and Cork were the first speakers, and Colonel Everard, who is greatly interested in the tobacco industry,followed. Mr. Harrington, M.P., and Mr." A. J. Kettle also spoke, as did Mr. Andrew Beattie, D.L., and Mr. James Talbot Power, D.L. The resolutions passed protested against increased taxation in Ireland as being a further breach of the Act of Union, and also authorised the formation of a committee to take steps to prevent tho imposition of "the increased taxation proposed and to raise the entire question of readjusting the financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland.