HOME RULE CONVENTION

New Zealand Tablet, 30 August 1917, Page 37

HOME RULE CONVENTION

SOME LEADING MEMBERS. The President—Sir Horace Plunkett. The Right Hon. Sir Horace Curzon' Plunkett, who has been elected president of the Irish Convention, is a man* who has done gpod service for Ireland. With the exception of one chapter in his book, Ireland in the Twentieth Century , all his work has been constructive and valuable. He is now 63 years of age,, unmarried, and is the third son of the 16th Baron Dunsany. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and in his early manhood he went to America to find an opening for his superabundant energy. Mr. Plunkett, as he was then, spent ten years ranching in the United States, where he learned the experience which proved so useful to him in his native land. On his return in 1888 he devoted himself to the social and economic regeneration of Ireland, particularly agricultural Ireland. With Father Finlay, Lord Monteagle, and others, he started the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society to bring about the principle of co-operation. By 1904 he had 778 societies with 85,000 members, having a big turnover. Butter was improved in quality and production, and the movement had a bracing effect on the farmers. In some districts, as Father Finlay says, it almost stopped emigration. But it is his work under the Land Purchase Act and the Congested Districts Act of 1891 that Sir Horace Plunkett, with Dr. O’Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, and Father Denis O’Hara, P.P., that deser ves the highest credit. The members of the board were unpaid, and though they were nominated by Government they were not under the control of Dublin Castle. Provided with an annual income, they dealt with the congested districts of the West, to improve the breed of live stock, to teach the farmers better methods of tillage ; to help them to drain and fence ; to help struggling local industries, and to acquire unlenanted lands, to which the poorer might migrate, and thus relieve the congestion. There is no doubt that Bishop O’Donnell, with his deep love of the people, and Father O’Hara, able, kind, and zealous, did much to make this board popular, and Plunkett’s great economic ability guided it to success. On the eve of the Convention meeting, Sir Horace Plunkett was reported to have observed that Nationalists and Unionists were meeting for the first time on terms of courtesy to discuss Home Rule. As recently as December last, Sir Horace wrote as follows to the Times : “At this time, when we need to close our ranks, Ulster, and Ulster alone, can do a service which the British Empire would never forget. Let the people say that they will join with Nationalist Ireland and give Home Rule a trial —for five years—now. If they do so they need not fear the future ; they will quicken every generous feeling in Ireland, and they will send a pulse of life and hope through the whole Empire. We see sacrifices everywhere; will Ulster again lead?’’ Sir Horace Plunkett was in Dublin during the Sinn Fein revolt, and had a narrow escape. He organised the food supplies of the city during the disturbances. . f ■ Lord MacDonnell—The Story of His Career. 1 , Before taking part in the public life of his native land, Antony Patrick Mac Donnell spent nearly 46 years in the Indian Civil Service, serving as Chief Commissioner in Burma, Acting Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, Lieutenant-Governor of the N.W. Provinces and Chief Commissioner of Oudh. For these services he was knighted in 1893, and on his retirement early in this century he was made a member of the Indian Council . He was born at Sharagh, County Mayo, and educated at Queen’s College, Galway, where he took the degrees, of M.A. and D.Litt. ,His brother was the late Dr M. A. Mac Donnell. a member of the, Irish Parliamentary Party. , , . Just at the -time that Lord Dunraven’s land schemes were attracting attention, Antony Mac Donnell

etui lied from India. Mr. Wyndham, Conservative Secretary for Ireland, offered him the post of Undersecretary, and he confessed that he was “attracted by the chance of doing some good for Ireland.” But he had ruled millions of people in India, and •he might, if he wished, be Governor of Bombay therefore he was not willing to become merely the head of an Irish Department. He told Wyndham that he would accept the position as a colleague, but not as a subordinate. Moreover, he was a Catholic and a Liberal, and would not set aside t- religious or his political convictions. He laid down his terms. “In Ireland,” he said, “my aim would be the maintenance of order; the solution ot the land question on the basis of voluntary sale : the fixmg of rents; the settlement of the education question on Mr Balfour's lines ; and the general promotion of material improvement and administrative coneiliapVu- HIS terms were accepted, and the first fruits 1903 18 appomtment was the Land Purchase Act of But the Orange landlords were up in arms. They did not object to the Purchase Act, which 'filled their greedy purses with hard cash at inflated prices. But they wanted no cleaning up in Dublin Castle. They bitterly denounced the Papist Under-Secretary, who was about to betray Ireland to the Pope, and they denounced Dunrayen and his friends as Home Rulers in disguise. Wyndham quailed before them, and expressed his disapproval of Dunraven. Mac Donnell let the storm rage, and sat tight. Wyndham would have been pleased to accept his resignation, but he had kept to the terms of his conditions, and he had supreme contempt for Orange bluster. Thee was nothing else o do but for Wyndham to resign, and he was succeeded by Walter Long in 1905. Long knew nothing about Ireland, but it was known that he had no sympathy with any kind of reform, and the storm was somewhat allayed. In the following year the Conservatives were thrown out of office, and James Bryce, the well-known Home Ruler, became Chief Secretary. Mac Donnell was now in congenial company. Bryce lasted for a year, when he became Ambassador to the United States, and Mr. Birrell succeeded him. In 1907 Sir Antony led Mr. Birrell’s attack on Dublin Castle by the Irish Councils Bill. •. : J Sir Bertram Windle—a Famous Catholic Scientist. The eminent president of the University'College at Cork has not hitherto taken part in any political business. In the realm of medical science he holds one ot the highest reputations in the world.? He is an Englishman, the son of a Staffordshire parson, and is m his- 60th year. He studied medicine at Dublin University, and afterwards filled the post of Dean of the Medical Faculty at Birmingham University, teaching anatomy and anthropology. He also took- a deep interest in educational matters. , In 1883 he became a convert to Catholicism. In 1904 he was invited to take the presidency of Queen’s College, Cork; and under his able direction it has become one of the finest schools of the Empire. He became, a Senator in the National University, when it was established, and his college was affiliated as. one of the University colleges. Dr. Windle was created K.S.G. by Pope Pius X in 1909, and in 1912 he was knighted by the King. He is looked upon as an unrivalled authority on anatomy and certain branches of archaeology, and his writings are standard works on these' subjects. Sir Bertram, like Dr. J. J. Walsh, in America, is a merciless critic of those pseudo-archaeologists who build up fantastic theories on supposed prehistoric discoveries, and several of his articles in the reviews, particularly the Dublin, have been reprinted by the Catholic Truth Society. Besides his scientific literary work, which is considerable, owing to the number of associations in which he takes an active interest, Sir Bertram Windle takes a deep interest in literature, and has written a book on The Wessex of Thomas Hardy . There is no doubt that he will approach the Irish question- free .from party political bi£s, and his opinions ..will carry great weight with the Irish people, whose-confidence, he has gained by his devotion to the Church'and to . education.