Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 23, 24 June 1925, Page 47

Irish News

m OBJEOTIONABLE AMUSEMENTS—THE GAELIC LEAGUE—LABOR AND THE &, NORTHERN GOVERNMENT-IRISH CULTURE. >;• " ■

( - , \: Arising' out of. a case >at Dundalk Circuit t '/y'/'Court* Judge Doyle remarked that it was one . /'; in which there could be no more pointed . -/>; illustration of the soundness and wisdom of '•':•*■•-.. the priests of the parish of Kilsaran and, if ■' (Arising out of ully say;so/;of the soundness // Court, Judge Doyle remarked that it was one , in which there could be no more pointed illustration of the soundness and wisdom of the priests of the parish of Kilsaran and, if he might respectfully say so, of the soundness . '._ and wisdom of the bishops ..clergy of Ire- : •}}- j land, ( in the attitude they had taken up -in / respect of dance gatherings, which in recent years had taken the place of the traditional - amusements of the Irish countryside. Whe- ";(;. ther occurrences of " that kind were {/to/be;/ n . traced directly or indirectly to attendances^ ■>_- ,- at these dances, he had no doubt that the / circumstances which attended them were re- - sponsible for the relaxation of that moral \ tone which used to be ' universal and which [- still, thank God, was largely the pride of the girls and women of Ireland. ;;:/=.[, ('• • a -Dr. S. Mac Enri, an Irish scholar of recognised ability, has 1 (says a Home paper) been -, • made President of the Gaelic League for the > coming year/ His election, which. came as a ■ [r.: surprise to' those outside the Irish-Ireland -; ; movement, marks the triumph;" of the ele- - ments that favor the exclusion of politics from the deliberations of the League, and thus removes a formidable obstacle from the : path of the revivalists: Other difficulties ' may still render their idealan Irish-speak-,[ ing Ireland — impracticable. Were they able,, H/ : indeed, to .convince the Western peasants ? \ c that a serious Gaelic revival would not' inter- ■ , fere with inter-communication this [ ~, y: country and America they * might ' succeed, even in the present generation,/in making - .Irish a living language, through the greater .part of Connaught and Tirconnail. That y\ : would be a very/ notable : achievement, espe- ?[ > , daily in view of the commercial arguments : < . advanced by many Nationalists in favor of retaining English a's the language of this country. '■,/. _ - : ■■,_■■■, ■.• - ■■-, ■■ . ,-_. :fe^/ : /:--:-■, ■-/•-:..([, ■-■ ■■■'-■ '.--.'.:'. ■.; ..-. .•'■' Y. V:-. :H;-::'a: ; ?■■■•■ -■•■■•■■:■'' ..-■■•-.•.■•,-. : The Duke of Abercorh: (Governor of Nor- " / thern Ireland) opened the Belfast Parlia- - ■ " ment last/week (writes the London Catholic 1 . ■ Times'. Dublin correspondent, under date April 25). In the;debate on the speech, from the throne Mr. S. Kyle,' a newly-elected Labor member, - ; the Opposition. Criticising Sir James Craig's failure to deal effectively ' - ! .with the unemployment problem, he said that the real issue at the general ; election was s - - the boundary line which divided those who. : ( /-: :t■■■' had no bread from those who. had. a surplus.. 1 , Their welfare depended, essentially,: on thedevelopment of,trade, and .citizens were not : ,-' \.: convinced that the Government realised the c '( importance, of safeguarding the economic interests of their province.' Mr. Kyle's speech ;..' ; marde, I hear, a real impression in Belfast, | ' where the average working man, as the re- -, cent contests prove, has grown tired of offiIllMfcial Unionist efforts to obscure real life issues /' by inflammatory references .to the Boundary ;[."■[.Commission, and its work. As the -Nation- ;

alist M.P.'s, : in, conformity with their election pledges, which bind them not to enter ■■[ the Northern House of Commons until. Mr. ' ■ Justice Feltham and his colleagues,have isvsued ■ their''report,*. were absent from -the debate, Mr. Kyle spoke, :in a general way, for the anti-Partitionist minority. ~ "When Mr».„ Devlin enters Parliament, however, he will become,leader of the official Opposition,; Ulster Nationalists of every school, with the exception of ; the .Republicans; being prepared, to accept him' as their guide.' One attack on the Government ■is significant. A'-: Unionistt member (complained, r that the- cost'/of the Ad4ministration was extravagant.-•('."[He quoted % the /cost, of salaries-,-as £4,000,000 ; out of> a.• f total income of £13,000,000. [( • * » . [(Ah, exchange /of recent - date,« in an edit- ' orial, says:- 1 - ... . '. / Ireland is'; at present immersed in her annual review of the island's intellectual position from both a. practical *and artistic point (■of view. . An ; important factor in , this reaspect is the Father Mathew Feis,. which, un-., der the aegis of the .Capuchins, gives a focus. to many phases of national art. Public interest was greatly stirred at the opening ofrecent session when it became known' that ■ "there was. an' entry of more "than 1000 competitors in the contests, every part of Ireland' . being represented. ' ■ - • -■'•„.. ";. /.Oh- the artistic side the principal branches of the Feis are music and drama. <' The in*. ■')■ strumental section alone included 18 competitions. : In the native dancing section close / on 500 persons tried ■ for, the trophies. .a . The J practical domains include workmanship and * domestic .science.; '.',-/- ; -. V .■: *;.-"- g'| rf," The Irish library movement,: to which the ; ; ; Jesuits have " J given such a stimulus, '^ has : an- r nounced its statistics, r showing that despite the excitements f of the year there was a tre- . mendous increase in the number; of. books •: borrowed .t through» this : t Catholic. .. medium. ; 'Father Brown, S.J;, made it clear that Catholic.activities could be closely associated with ' the Carnegie scheme. Irish Catholics, he , said, were .quite, well able to adopt necessary- safeguards without excluding the books of any .-%.' other nation. They hold % that 'anything^wfticli; tended •to broaden ! and improve the. mind of the citizen v tended to make him a better ' citizen. The Spanish nobility, through the - Rector of, the College of Irish Nobles-at Salamanca, Spain,' has presented a collection Of valuable Spanish books to the Catholic Gen- > tral library at Dublin. \ .■•*." / •" •'•'-; Another province in the country's intellectual sphere has been examined; by -the Gaelic League, which puts forward the outline of.* a far-reaching plan. It proposes that the League shall in future work in five divisions. Division 1 would, -among- others things, ; inquire- into ; the s best means i- of . founding a comprehensive modern literature in the Irish ••'-language. " Division 2 would apply r itself 'to /;perfecting the machinery of education. Pro- ; paganda to maintain enthusiasm for the lanr

guage would be-..the[ work of Division- 3 m To ;^.: Division 4 would fall such . practical matters as industrial revival and home IV r 51 11'-.' Division »5. would v advance the language-, in the Church, the government departments, the . public boards, and the political and business' organisations. The League contemplates the pursuance of this scheme' without the introduction or. any contentious matter that could adversely affect it. " ■ The teachers of Ireland held their yearly '/' congress in t Belfast, and one- of the points. they considered was the degree of aid that they as a body could give to the efforts of the Catholic Vigilance Committee. It is noteworthy • that the pertinacity ;;of;the^comrs [mittee has caused a measure to be introduced)! iii the D ail to impose a censorship on cinema "posters, some of which 1 - caused very grave: complaint during the past twelvemonth. " -•-•" '■■" •' '■ ' ■'•'' ' ' *'" '" '"■ --'•'■'•• ,v ' : -,;U • '-■-. ' ' ■.,.....■. ... ■■.■■.-..■■ .. .... 7=E5sM