Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 23 October 1913, Page 39

Irish News

".'••;'- ,: GENERAL. The death occurred on August 29, at his residence, The Spa, Tralee, of Rev. Daniel O'Keefe, P.P., at the age of 72 years. The deceased, who was a native of Dromtariff, County Cork, was ordained in 1869, and had his first curacy in Tralee. He was parish priest at The Spa for nearly a quarter of a century, until failing health compelled him to retire from the mission about seven years ago.. At a meeting held in Carndonagh for the purpose of protesting against the recent outrages in Derry, Rev. P. O'Doherty, P.P. who presided, strongly condemned the action of the Orange demonstrators in that city. How, he asked, were the Derry Catholics expected to endure the degrading celebrations of an insolent majority? On the last four occasions of such, celebrations men of the highest standing had given sworn testimony that those celebrations would, one day, end in terrible bloodshed. While attending Mass at the Friary Church, Kilkenny, on August 26, Mr. Smithwick, formerly member of Parliament for the city, had a sudden seizure from which he never rallied. His death, which took place on the following day, cast a gloom over the district, with which he was so long associated, and in which his unobtrusive charity made him numerous friends and admirers. Within the last few years the total abstinence movement in Ireland has made great headway throughout the country, chiefly through the continuous missionary appeals of the Franciscan Capuchin Fathers, who have been specially deputed by the Irish Hierarchy to undertake the great all-Ireland . temperance campaign. A very important development has now taken place which should place the movement on a still firmer basis. Next year the first Irish National Total Abstinence Congress will be held in Dublin, and the project has received the approval of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland. A representative organising committee has been formed, and at its recent meeting the Very Rev. P. Coffey, Ph.D., Maynooth, presided.

On the occasion of his departure from St. Augustine's, Galway, the Very Rev. D. A. Grotty, 0.5. A., who for some years was Prior of the local community, and who was held in much esteem for his zealous labors, was made the recipient of an illuminated address, a number of books, and a bicycle. Through the endeavors of Father Grotty St. Augustine's Hall was erected, and much-needed improvements were carried out in the church. Mr. Martin McDonagh, County Councillor, presided at the ceremony, his tribute to Father Grotty being supported by the Very Rev. Father Travers, Very Rev. Father Brophy, Mr. P. O'Gorman, and others. In his reply Father Crotty said it was easy for a priest to be zealous with a grateful and generous people. CARSON'S REPUBLIC. In a recent issue Truth says:—'l am interested to learn that the Ulster Unionist Commissioners have completed the provisional constitution for that favored province. The Republic can be started within an hour, and with luck it should last for an equal period. I can well understand that a good many loyal persons will receive salaries under the new regime, but I should like still to know where the money is to come from. Does the Republic undertake responsibility for oldage pensions? And what about education, which in oppressed Ireland is supported entirely by British subsidies ? Does Belfast under a Republic want a school rate? Another point that troubles me is the delivery of letters. Clearly there can be no dealing in the King's dominions with missives bearing a revolutionary stamp and postmark. All these perplexities have, I am sure, been worked out by the Carson Commissioners, and as Mr. F. E. Smith has been called in to give

counsel's opinion, we ought to have full information when that statesman resumes his oratorical career on the 'English platform.' . *'-> .:■.., _; , ••

17TRT7 AT TTTT T A r>"\TTT'\7 TT/-\TTCi-ni. T- \ Killarney House, the seat of Lord Kenmare, was almost totally destroyed by fire on Sunday, August 31. The fire appears to have started in a room on the top floor of the right wing of the building. The outbreak was discovered by a manservant at 5 o'clock, and he immediately communicated with Lord Castlerosse, who informed Lord Kenmare, and the alarm was given to the police.. Within twenty minutes all the available men, under District-Inspector Cheeseman, were on the spot, and by this time a large part of the right wing was burning. The water supply was insufficient, and there were further difficulties owing to the local hose fittings not coupling with those of the private water supply. The flames soon obtained a firm hold, and a great part of the house was in ruins by the afternoon. Valuable works of art of a portable nature, including family portraits, plate, light furniture, and books, as well as the works of foreign artists, forming the furniture of the chapel, were saved, but the principal furniture, tapestries, and the collection of china were destroyed. The building of the house was begun in 1875 and completed in 1881. It was Elizabethan in style, and formed one of the beauties' of Killarney which, tourists never failed to visit. The building originally cost £200,000. The family were in residence, and Lord Kenmare, Lord Castlerosse, the Hon. Dermot Browne, and the Hon. Gerald and Lady Dorothy Browne took part in the work of salvage, in which they were assisted by the police and people of the district. King Edward, when Prince of Wales, . and King George, when Duke of York, were entertained by the late Lord Kenmare at Killarney House. The total damage will probably amount to £400,000. MR. DILLON, M.P., ON LANDLORDISM. Mr. John Dillon, M.P., On Sunday, August 31, unveiled a Celtic Cross in memory of two men who lost their lives at Monasteraden during the Land League meetings in 1881. He said it was a patriotic and praiseworthy.thought for the Nationalists of this district to erect the monument which he had unveiled to. the memory of those men who fell in the days of the: Land League movement—that movement which had. since proved so rich in blessings to the people df Ireland, who then suffered from the rack-renting landlordism which for three centuries lay like a witheringblight on the homes of the Irish race.' When he re & - ceived the invitation to unveil that monument a flood of memories rushed into his mind, and he lived over again some of the heroic days when men had carried: their lives in their hands. The movement found support across the Atlantic in the United" States and! Canada and other countries where Irishmen wereliving. The children of Ireland rallied round thecause and carried it to victory. The landlords were* declaring now that they were all for land purchase.. These gentlemen used to say that they were '• theguardians of England's interests in Ireland, and that no price would ever induce them to sell their land,, but their attitude had changed. Some of them nowsaid that they were going to defy the King's troops.. It was rather embarrassing to old Nationalists like himself that only they were at present the loyal party,, and that the landlords were the rebels. Until the landlords' system was killed it was impossible to make a beginning with the prosperity of Ireland, a prosperity which the people were beginning to enjoy. Other national movements had preceded the Land League, but they all failed, and the men who led them were scattered and broken. Some of them went to the gallows; _ others went into exile; but the men who engaged in the Land League were never beaten. Why had not their predecessors succeeded? Because it was impossible to free the country until the land was freed first. It was impossible to get control of the govern* ment of the country until the dead hand of land-

lordism had been shaken off; but now, thank God, they had overcome that tyranny. The people were in their own homes, and nobody could put them off the land. They were a strong people, marching forward with courage to victory. ' ■ THE EDUCATIONAL LADDER. Most Rev. Dr. O'Dwyer, who presided at a meeting of the University Scholarships Committee of Limerick County Council on August 30, said he trusted they would keep to the present level of their examinations at least. If,they did, he had no doubt whatever that the scholarships would react upon the schools and raise the level of teaching in all of them. Furthermore, he believed that it was a great kindness to young people who might have a certain amount of ability but were not exceptionally clever to stop them early in their career and turn their energies to some useful and practical purpose. Sending them into a University, and leaving them, at the end of their course, stranded, would only multiply the number of the unemployed, and of all the unemployed the most vicious and the most dangerous were the half-educated men. They heard a great deal now about the educational ladder, which was a very good thing in its way. It was well to give poor children of exceptional ability an opportunity of passing up to the higher grades. But if they put too many people on the ladder at the same time it might break down. Furthermore, if that system were carried too far it might turn the minds of the people of the country from honest, honorable labor, from industrial pursuits, which, when all was said and done, were the solid foundations of the prosperity of the country. BATON CHARGES IN DUBLIN. The Daily News and Leader says:— is now clear that earlier estimates of the injuries caused by the police charges in the suppression of the rioting—rioting took place —and in clearing the streets where they decided to do so, were greatly below what the facts warranted. The number of persons sufficiently hurt to be treated in the hospitals was not 200 or 300, but no less than 433. That would be evidence, if there were no other forthcoming, that the police must have acted with an utter want of discrimination. The crowds may have been threatening. Sir Edward Carson has much to answer for that. Some 45 of the police are themselves said to have been injured; but if the Dublin police and the Irish Constabulary cannot suppress a disturbance in which a comparatively small body of strikers is involved without bludgeoning hundreds of people, then it is certain that the Irish police and the authorities in control of them do not know their business. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of direct evidence to the same effect. No unbiassed account of the conduct of the police, and especially of their action in clearing the streets after Mr. Larkin's appearance in O'Connell (or Sackville) street conceals the fact that in the opinion of the spectators the police were completely out of control and wantonly ruthless in their violence.