Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 9 April 1914, Page 39

Irish News

♦ GENERAL. The petition from Limerick Corporation asking for cheap money for a housing scheme was presented to the House of .Commons on Friday, February 13, by Alderman Joyce, M.P. It was one of a comparatively small number found to be regular, others having been informal, having been printed, instead of being in writing. - In St. Andrew’s Church, Westland row, Dublin, on Sunday, February 15, Very Rev. Cyril Ryan, 0.D.C., preached in aid of the House of .Mercv and Sick and Dying Poor, under the care of the Sisters of Mercy, Baggot street. The social problem was not to be solved, said Father Ryan, unless each one complied with the duty cast upon him as a citizen in accordance with his means and opportunities. The nuns of Baggot street discharged a noble work of Christian benevolence, and did that work in a quiet and unostentatious way which was the special mark of true charity. The Sisters of Mercy made annually about 1500 visits to the sick poor in some of the most wretched localities in the city, and many heartrending and touching cases of real misery and distress come constantly before them, requiring timely and generous aid. On Friday night, February 13, an exceptionally severe wind and rain storm passed over Middleton district. County Armagh. At one time the wind reached hurricane velocity, and the farmers of the district suffered severely owing to corn, hay, and flax stacks being .blown down and scattered about. Heavy showers fell, and the river Blackwater overflowed its banks, and the low-lying lands adjacent were submerged. The same severe gale, following the heavy snowfall, raged over Mayo on Friday night, and did considerable damage. Telephonic communication with all the post offices was cut off through the wires being broken. Trees were felled, and caused serious obstruction to vehicular traffic, and the rivers which were swollen to abnormal extents,' carried away sheep, cocks, turnips, and mangolds. The damage was greatest along the river Robe, which has never caused greater devastation than this year. IRELAND’S CLAIMS; GENEROUS TRIBUTE BY EX-LORD MAYOR. The question of Home Rule was debated by the members of the Delphian coterie at their meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel on Monday , night, February 16. The debate was opened by Sir Thomas Devereux Pile, who, in 1901, was Lord Mayor of Dublin. Many people who said they were opposed to Home Rule were only opposed to it, declared Sir Thomas, because they thought that Ireland wished to interfere with Imperial affairs. 'lreland had never, asked to do that. On the contrary, her demand had been that she should be able to manage her own local affairs. i For nearly twenty-five years he had been in public life. He was a Nonconformist, he controlled large businesses, and had substantial properties in Ireland. He was essentially one of the men about whom Sir Edward Carson was so keenly anxious. He had represented one of the most Roman Catholic wards in the city of Dublin. There were hundreds of Protestants in Ireland with the same record as he had, and .who owed their business prosperity to their Roman Catholic countrymen. He paid ,a tribute to the late Mt. George Wyndham, who had said he desired to kill Home Rule by kindness. But, if ever a man left Ireland an almost convinced Home Ruler, Mr. George Wyndham did. _ He ventured to say that if Mr. Balfour had stood behind Mr. Wynd|ham; in the Dunraven Devolution scheme, they would not be considering the question of Home Rule to-day. Ireland’s Place in the Empire. ' . : : | Sir Thomas stated that he supported Home Rule because an overwhelming majority ' of the Irish* people demanded it, because* he had seen the disastrous effects

of coercion, and the. disastrous effects of killing Home Rule by kindness. Ireland was not a mere collection of counties.. Ireland was a country with a distinct race, with a separate history, and with a different religion. Nothing but the granting of Home Rule would, He asserted, make Ireland a contented country and a strength intead of a weakness to England. ■-X '"v The Intolerance Charge. He was ashamed of the attacks made against his Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen on the ground of bigotry. 'His personal experience had shown him that there had been none. Sir Thomas declared that Sir Edward Carson and .those with him were deliberately trying to create and revive civil dissensions and personal animosities to protect the interests of a small and privileged class of persons in Ireland. *" The alternative to Home Rule which the Tory Party offered to-day was coercion. STORMY WEATHER IN WEST AND SOUTH. Terribly severe weather (says the Dublin Freeman of February 21) is reported from various parts of the country, especially in the West, during the past few days, and similar news is to hand from the Lower Shannon district. On Saturday night Galway was visited by a violent south-westerly gale, which wrought considerable damage to property. In the early hours of Sunday morning Castlerea and the adjoining district experienced the effects of a big thunderstorm, accompanied by a heavy rainfall. Somewhat similar weather was experienced in Glin, Co. Limerick, the same day, the rainfall being replaced by fierce showers of hail, • Galway, says a later report, was swept by a violent south-westerly gale on Saturday night. The storm was accompanied by heavy showers of hail and rain. In the neighborhood of the docks evidences of the fury of the storm are to be found. Large quantities of flour which were lying on the quays over night became soaked by the heavy seas, which leaped the quays during the night. A boat which was moored outside the docks was whirled away from its anchor in a violent gust, and the little craft was carried over the waters like a cork to the other side of the bay. At Salthill the violence of the gale was so great that the promenade, which is over half a mile long, was strewn with stones, many of them weighing over 181 b, which were washed up from the strand by the storm. Portion of the promenade is also under water. No damage to house property' is reported, though many of the older residents remember only another occasion . when the city was swept by such a storm. In the early hours of Sunday morning the Roscommon district was visited by a violent thunderstorm, accompanied by a terrible downpour of rain. • Vivid flashes of lightning followed. In consequence of the heavy Tains on the latter days of the past , week, many hundred acres of land in low-lying districts are under water. All the rivulets are swollen by the exceptional rains, while the river Suck has overflowed its banks in several places, with the result that large areas of lowlying lands in the vicinity of the river are completely submerged. The same unfortunate state of affairs prevails in all , the surrounding districts,, with the result that agricultural work, ploughing, etc., is at a complete standstill. • fz '- A violent thunderstorm broke over the Lower Shannon district at 3 o’clock on Sunday morning. The deafening thunder peals were accompanied with vivid flashes of lightning and fierce showers of hail, while strong gusts of wind blew during the time. Incoming vessels report fearful weather outside. Intense cold prevailed for the past couple of days, when snow and strong gales y were much in evidence. Numbers are sick owing to the severity of the weather. ■£ -