Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 10 March 1910, Page 382

Notes

Amongst the Lawyers The colleagues of a prominent English jurist gave him a dinner in recognition of his transfer from the. Chancery Court to the Admiralty Court. With graceless disrespect to the late Laureate he closed his speech of thanks with the lines of Tennyson:* May there be no moaning of the Bar When 1 put out to sea.’ impartial Politics Portraits of eminent men are sometimes appreciated for reasons which the original would probably regard as far from flattering. While canvassing during the recent election a lady visitor to a country cottage noticed a picture of Mr. Asquith pinned against the wall, and ventured to congratulate the inhabitants on their sound Liberal views. ‘ Lor bless you,’ answered the wife, 1 I don’t know who ’e be. I just put him up because ’e is the livin’ image of ray dear dead father.’ . England’s Compliment to Ireland / Perhaps the English have no great opinion of Ireland; perhaps the Irish have no great opinion of England; but there is one little matter in which the English pay us a great compliment and show us a respect which we are apt, curiously, to insist on sending back, writes the Dublin Freeman. If a man wants to find Irish manufactures supported with a whole heart he must look away from Ireland;

he must look to England; and he will save time by looking in at the English police courts, at: the Old Bailey, for instance. He will learn of the shaming of English traders, men of solid substance and sound repute, for trying to palm off- upon their English clients English goods as made in Ireland. He will find that what, onlyi a little while ago, was almost a bar-sinister in Ireland is an honorable pedigree in England. The English need not to be awakened and exhorted and bullied into buying Irish goods the English public is. more anxious to buy them than the English traders are to sell them the public will have the Irish goods, and traders are driven to pretending a virtue when they have it not. Irish goods are made in Birmingham or in Bermondsey, Irish popb'n, Irish linen with a good weft of Virginia-cum-Manchester cotton Irish eggs are laid in Southwark backyards; there has been much Cork butter that never had the chance of getting the true bias Donegal homespuns are spun in very unhomelike dens by ‘ peasants ’ from Poland. And so on through a long list of goods; for (said counsel in the latest case of fraudulent labelling) the name of Ireland excites a certain amount c-f interest in the minds of the people of England, and it is an advantage to the defendants to deal with Irish goods.’ Mr. Redmond : Master of the Situation Now that the Irish Party hold the fate of the Liberal Government in the hollow of their hand, great interest centres in the person of the Nationalist leader, Mr. John Redmond, M.P. Here is a character sketch of him by the Mail Parliamentary Representative: —‘Mr. John Redmond has made himself a power by steady, persistent work, an iron will, an unflinching devotion to the cause which he considers right. The son of an Irish member of Parliament, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was afterwards called to the English and the Irish Bar. He became a clerk in the Vote Office of the House of Commons, but "he gave this up in 1881 to represent a constituency in his native country. Elected for Now Ross, he left the Vote Office to take his place on tho floor of tho House. Ho began with a record, for on his first day at Westminster he made his maiden speech, created a scene, and was suspended before the clock struck twelve. He was in the twenties then. Now his feelings are just as passionate, but his methods are more effective. * ‘ From the day he entered Parliament Mr. Redmond has always been a prominent figure in the Nationalist Party. His chance came at the Parnell split. He stood by Parnell, led the little party which remained faithful to him, and finally was selected to guide the destinies of the Nationalists as a whole. This is no easy task at the best of times, and the way Mr. Redmond has held his followers together, in spite of sectional strife, is a tribute to his power not only as a politician, but as a leader of men. It is his impenetrable self-restraint which has helped Mr. Redmond to attain, his present power. He organises, he directs, ho controls. He is a master of Parliamentary strategy. He knows how to play the waiting game, but he has not wasted the time he has spent in waiting. Many years he has utilised in moulding his impulsive . and highspirited party into a united whole, looking forward to the opportunity which time was sure to bring. True, he has struck incidental blows, and struck them shrewdly. Ho has demonstrated that,* perhaps beyond any other leader in the House, he knows how to make the best of opportunity —when to remain silent, when to move. * ' ‘ He has been described as an orator. That, perhaps, is hardly correct. He has a clear, forceful, but rather hard voice, his words are well chosen, and ho always makes his meaning luminously clear. But there is no quality of appeal in his words, and it is difficult to imagine him stirring the emotions of an audience. His personality tells because it is evident he knows what he wants, and means to get it. But he has no power of persuasion over a gathering. He is inferior in this to some of the younger members of his party, notably to Mr. Kettle. The House of Commons likes Mr. Redmond, He comes of good stock, and even in his fiercest moods one does not forget that he is an Irish gentleman. He- hits hard in debate, but he is always courteous, always tactful, and dignified. Organisation and opportunity have been the two things in his

mind for a generation past. Now his hand is on his sword, and he is looking to the decisive conflict before him.’