Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 18 April 1912, Page 39

Irish News

GENERAL.

The members of the Irish Party have each decided to contribute £SO of their parliamentary honorarium to the Irish National Fund in aid of Home Rule. -

.-. An ancient chalice has been found in a lumber loft at Newbaunj near New Ross. It is stated that a priest lived in this place about 1730, and it is thought that he must have hidden 1 the chalice in a moment of danger. ; It is still in an excellent state of preservation.'

; Rev. Father Thomas, O.S.F.C, at the general meeting of the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Association in -.Dublin j.; stated that during the past year the Fathers had administered, the pledge to 76,584 persons, while 15,000 children enlisted in the Young Irish Crusaders. '"-"_"■' "'A". ''"'.: ''-'"'."""• ;'"'" *'■:'":":': s["' >r ' : "~*- :

I S. Waterford Town Council has now. the distinction of , having two lady members on the roll of membership. At the recent by-election in the Custom House Ward, Mrs. Lily Poole was returned at the head of the poll with 179 votes, against .129 for Mr. v Thomas Dunne and 83 for Mr. Patrick Cahill. •', /."- ' ""

News has reached Carrickmacross; of the death of Rose Anne Costello, who had reached the extraordinary age of 118 years. . She died at New Stevenson, near Glasgow, and had been a resident of Chapel Hall for close' on eighty years. ' Rosie,' as she was familiarly called in the village, was a native of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, her maiden name being Larkin.

:■ i Mr. P. O'Connor, Waterford, who.holds the running long-jump record of the world (24ft 1.1 fin)., has been admitted a solicitor, and will practise in. Waterford. During his athletic" career he 1 won upwards of £IOOO worth of valuable prizes and 50 championships. He retired from athletics in 1905, after distinguishing himself at the Olympic games in Athens. ■ ...:;-, '

z Replying to Mr. J. G. Swift Mac Neill in the House of Commons, Mr. McKenria said he was aware of theproclamation signed by Lord Londonderry inviting the people of Belfast to prevent a public meeting from being?; addressed by a Minister of* the .Crown, but he did not [think it necessary'., to \ take any action in regard to Lord Londonderry's retention of the offices of Privy Councillor- and Lieutenant of the County of Down. -WhenfMf.''-MacNeill- inquired whether 22 Irish members of Parliament had been sent to prison for less offences than Lord Londonderry had committed there were loud Ministerial cheers. 5: i: .[' \:~ : ,. ,

OLD-AGE PENSIONS. , Vb . In the returns of .pauperism the effects of the Oldage Pensions. Act are' discerned (says the Freeman's Journal). Compared with those for the corresponding period of J 1910, they show a decrease of 2422 in the average number of workhouse inmates on Saturdays during the quarter, and a decrease of 14,622 in the average number on out-door relief. But the best test is supplied by comparison with the averages for the fourth quarter of the ten years, 1901-1910. The number of workhouse inmates shows a decrease of 4971, and/the. number of persons f on outdoor' relief -*-shows a decrease of 16,795, the total under both heads being no less than"2l.9 per; cent, under the average for the fourth quarter ~:. of } the ten years. The estimated decrease in the population, as compared with the average population for those years, is 0.6 per cent. "'--.,- ■<

SMPATHY WITH LORD PIRRIE. ' A letter from the South Belfast Parliamentary Association (Unionist), : dated r from the - ; J Independent Orange Hall, ■Great Victoria street, Belfast, has been written by Mr. • T: H. Sloan, ex-M.P., and Mr. William J. Moore, :; to j, Lord -_Pi rrie the letter conveying A the congratulations of the . body mentioned to his Lordship on the successful meeting '; over* which ;;he presided'; at Celtic Park, Belfast, on February 8 ; and protesting in

the strongest way ; . against the [cowardly attack afterwards made upon Lord' and Lady Pirrie. ' The latter adds that resentment at the attack on Lord Pirrie and his wife is widespread in Belfast, arid-will; continue until civil and religious liberty, which is :' so much talked about, ;prevails 5 As this ;[ statement and these sentiments (remarks the Catholic H etrald)y emanate front an Orange Association; it 'cannot hereafter be. pretended that Ulster Orangeism is unanimous in its opposition at least to the fair and open public discussion of. the Home Rule question, or that it'concurs 'in the f cowardly outrages perpetrated by a section of the Orange body on Lord and Lady Pirrie, as well as upon some humbler victims, as a consequence of the Churchill' meeting in Belfast. - ■■'■"..';' ■■" "'— :"""■*■' '' ''""•" '■ " '"■ -'- ■':'-"" r '-•■.!":'".""'. '-'5

' HDEATH OF SIR FRANCIS CRUISE. ,;.;., //Medical science, literature, and art have sustained a great loss through the; death of Sir Francis Cruise, which took place on February 26 at his 4 residence in Merrioh square, Dublin, 'at'the age of 77. For fully half a century he was a prominent figure in the life of Dublin, and his passing away, although . at an advanced age, is widely regretted; He was educated at Belvidere College, from which he passed to Clongoweß and thence to Dublin University, where he graduated in arts and medicine. Settling down in his native city, Dr. Cruise worked assiduously, and in the course of a few years became one of the most famous physicians in Dublin. In the midst of a busy professional life he devoted much of his time -to literature^• of which he was passionately fond. His deep research- in connection with the ' Imitation of Christ ' earned for/ him the esteem of many distinguished ecclesiastics , and learned laymen. , A devoted Catholic, .he t took an active interest in every movement intended for the welfare of his co-religionists; In 1905 the /Holy Father conferred upon Sir Francis the decoration of a Knight of St. Gregory, of which he was prouder than of any other of the many ; distinctions conferred upon him. The son of Richard Cruise, •of RahoOd; County Meath, he 5 was the; lineal descendant -of Sir Maurice Cruise, who settled in Ireland in the twelfth century, receiving large grants of land. The family, whose • motto is" ' Crux contra -Maligna, g suffered much for the Faith. / One of the/streets at-Kempen, near Dusseldorf, is named after the deceased owing to his labors in honor of Thomas a K'empis. Of music Sir Francis had a profound knowledge. ....;;:,;"; : ' ; - r --V' ; -=-^' ; -/ -:^•>—/,/;;;• ,;•.-:

- A SLIGHT INCREASE IN POPULATION. ;/ ;^ : An ; increase in the population of /Ireland is indicated in the quarterly return issued by the RegistrarGeneral. During the quarter'ended December 31 last there were registered in the 827 Registrars' districts 23,875 births—a number equal '- to an annual birth-rate* of 21.8 in every 1000 the estimated population—and 17,025 deaths, .representing'an/annual; rate of 15.6 per 1000. In the same period (according/'tb'thereturns obtained by the Royal; Irish Constabulary and the Metropolitan' Police, who acted as enumerators at the several seaports) 4791 persons emigrated" As the births exceeded the deaths by 6850, there is a gain of 2000. It should be added that the birth rate for the quarter was 0.2 below the average j for the corresponding 5 quarter of the [ten years 1901-1910, and 0.1 below the 'rate for the fourth quarter "of 1910.

0 / '.■ J IRISH HORSE EXPORTS. ... An activity that has not been equalled for years is observable at the moment ' in one form of British exports (says the London Daily J Mail). Continental buyers of the best sort have always had a ■ liking for Irish horses; but this year war and . other subsidiary causes have swelled this liking to a passion. f The Italians are considerably the most eager of all the purchasers. They are to be seen at most of "the ; larger Irish fairs offering good prices; but - they prefer to discover the horses on the farms and buy quietly " Their most eager competitors are the • Germans, J and-the trouble, the rival buyers take >'to escape one another's notice is not a little amusing. One of the dealers who

was collecting a large consignment for a group of Italian officers said that he met 'j with ino competitor on the part of the British army. ,He was in a position, as were the Germans; to give up to £7O for a good five-year-old. ■•.'•;It ( is quite rare for our army buyers .to give more than £4O, though now and againlatelythey have given as much ,as £SO, and there is some disposition to pay rather more attention to excellence than cheapness.

SOME PLAIN TALK BY ME. BIRRELL. Addressing a meeting of his constituents at Bristol the other day, Mr. Birreli said that there was only one obstacle in the way of Home Rule. The bill 'would go through to-morrow, within six weeks, without opposition, without fury, without loss of temper, without oratory. The obstacle was a belief, no doubt genuine, in the minds of the Protestants of Ulster, that somehow or 7 other, with -a, domestic Parliament, they in''; their religion - would be oppressed and that -they would be subjected to spoliation of their property. The Parliament in Dublin would be a subordinate Parlia-_ merit. 'lts measures will have to receive the sanction of the Crown. If it attempts to do anything outside its powers a court of justice will declare those laws of no avail, and, secondly, it is not within the poweralthough it is almost an insult to the great majority, of the people of Ireland to assume that they wish to do anything of the kindit is not within their power to do anything of the kind _ Suppose these securities were to be of no avail, and that this wicked, monstrous Parliament in Ireland set itself to oppress the Protestants and penalised r them in their religion, attempted to; differentiate between Catholics and Protestants in the matter of taxationto levy taxes; on "Ulster which they were not levying on Leinster or Munster, why ; Ulster need not rebel—we; would rebel for her! The whole force of the Empire would be behind Ulster, and there would be -no occasion for gentlemen of the Bar to take arms.—(Laughter.) x What these people are frightened of is not their civil or religious liberty. They don't like the notion of the Executive and the administration of "the country passing into the hands of the great majority of their fellow-countrymen. They have come to regard themselves as a superior race, like the Brahmins in India. lam confident that when the thing is accomplished, as • obviously it is going to be, they will throw in their lot, at all events, it is my ; belief, and if I did not believe that there 'will- : be no oppression and no spoliation, I for One would have nothing to do with it. If Home Rule is abandoned, what is to happen? You must end the farce of having in Parliament Irish representatives, eighty out of a hundred of whom clamor for nothing* else but Home Rule, and who in the event of its refusal' become nothing but obstructionists. ■ The Irish representatives C have had ■ a singular influence upon the House of Commons. It is they who are responsible for the existence of the closure and the guillotine. lam not sure that they have not had something to do with restricting the power of the House of Lords. Reject Home Rule, and you must revert to the government of Ireland by coercion. But that is not what the Tories would do, God bless you they would try bribery out of the British to overflowing as the result of Tariff Reform. They will hand over two or three millions to Ireland for drainage and railways and, social reform, but the English taxpayer would not stand this, and the position we would find ourselves : in pa»es ones imagination. Home Rule is -the' honorable, the thrice honorable, way out. It is the-path that has succeeded all over the world, even in South Africa, and it is ; the path that will ; bring; peace to Ireland.' - •■■ ■-'.■ ■