Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 3 December 1914, Page 45

Irish News

GENERAL. The King has sent his congratulations to Mr. P. O’Sullivan, Rathmore road, Cork, on the fact that he has five sons in the army and navy, , .Mr. Martin Burke, solicitor, Belfast, has been appointed to the Clerkship of the Peace for Belfast City. He is a member of the Belfast Corporation, and has acted as Nationalist agent in the local Revision Courts. The appointment is clearly made by Government and not by the Corporation of Belfast,

Rev. Brother Timothy Fabian Kenneally, Provincial Superior of the Irish Christian Brothers in India, broken- in health, after twenty-four years’ arduous and devoted service in England’s Eastern possession, passed away recently at sea when but one day’s voyage from Bombay on his way to Ireland. Sir Mathew Nathan, who has been appointed Secretary for Ireland, in succession to Sir James B. Dougherty, is a Jew in race, and although originally a soldier, has seen much administrative service in many countries. He is a man of exceptional financial ability, and has much capacity and decision of character. He is said to be Mr. Asquith’s own choice for the position he has taken up, and his work in Ireland during the transition period of the next two years will give him singular opportunity; At a meeting of the U.I.L. in London a few weeks ago, presided over by Mr. T. P. O’Connor, the number of Irishmen who had - joined the army in Scotland since the war began was ’variously computed at from five to ten thousand. Mr. Currie said that in Coatbridge alone there were 3000 enlistments, the proportion of Irish to Scotch enlistments in that district being three to one. Many of the recruits had gone into Highland regiments. It was suggested that an Irish recruiting meeting should be held shortly in Glasgow. Altogether it was reckoned that at least 50,000 Irishmen had joined the army in Great Britain since the war began. On the occasion of his visit to Wexford the other day, Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., was presented with a scarf pin worn by Daniel O’Connell. The presentation was made by Mr. Edmund Doyle, Broadway, who said that the Liberator on his last visit to Wexford gave the pin to Mr. Ravanagh, a Wexford merchant, with, whom he stayed. Mr. Kavanagh prior to his death gave it to Mr. Doyle. The Irish Leader, in accepting the memento of O’Connell, said he prized it very much, and it enhanced the pleasure of his visit to Wexford.

A LONG AND STEADY STRUGGLE. ‘ It has often been charged against the Irish/ says the Catholic Sentinel , ‘ that they are a mecurial people, flighty and incapable of sustained effort. Their successful contest for self-government is a triumphant refutation of the charge. It is difficult to find a parallel in the annals of any other nation, ancient or modern, for the patient and unremitting labor which the Irish people for a hundred years have devoted to the acquisition of self-government. They have developed political leadership of a-high quality, and they have accepted the rigorous discipline required for a campaign measured not by months or years but by generations.’

DEATH OF A CRIMEAN VETERAN. The death took place on October 2, at his residence, Nelson street, Dublin, of a well-known figure, in the person of James Browne, late 13th Foot Somerset Light Infantry. Deceased, who was born in Limerick in 1828, joined the 56th in 1847, from which he transferred to the 13th Foot, with which regiment he served through the Crimean War, taking part in the battles ,of Alma, Inkerman, Sebastopol, and the storming of Redan. He also served through the Indian Mutiny, receiving the Crimean, Turkish, and Mutiny medals of which he was justly proud. He retired

from the Army in 1872. Being of a roving disposition, lie went to . New Zealand and the colonies, where he spent 27 years, at the end of which he returned to his native land to spend the remainder of his eventful career.. ,

MR. JOHN DILLON ON SINN. FEIN FOLLY ... Mr. Dillon, in, a notable speech at Ballaghaderin, Co. Mayo (his native heath), the other day protested against the doctrine that a soldier in the British Army was not a good Irishman. Lord Edward'Fitzgerald was a British officer, and Wolfe Tone at one stage of his career offered his services to. the British Government. Was it to be said that the Irish Guards, who cheered Mr. Redmond in London, and who went into battle on the Continent singing ‘ God Save Ireland,’ were to be repudiated as unworthy to bear the name of Irishmen or to bear company with the illustrious body of Sinn Feiners? Ireland could not, even if she would, remain neutral in the present struggle. The British people had placed Home Rule on the Statute Book, and would keep faith with Ireland. He would do all he could to induce the Irish people to keep faith with England, and to prove to the world that the bond of Ireland was something more than a ‘ scrap of paper.’