Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-26
WILL IRELAND GET
ITS PARLIAMENT? F?
CRYPTIC UTTERANcES OF SIR
ANTHONY MACD0NNELL
Talk at Banquet Rouses High Hopes
of Home RuIe-Potato Famine
Threatens and Causes
Alarm Among Poor
nY r1MornY =. n,coNNon
Special Gable to The Herald.

| DUBLIN, Aug. Something of a
| flutter has been caused by the rather
cryptic utterances of Sir Antony Mac
Donnell permanent under secretary
for Ireland, at a recent banquet here.
What, It is being asked, did Sir An
| tony mean when he expressed his
| firm belief that the next session of par
| lament would see the fruition of many
of those hopes which the best Irish
men had for years entertainer? Many
there are who think that the answer
| is to be found i'm the announcement
made by minister's in the kings speech
at the opening of parliament that
| "they had under consideration plans
for improving and effecting economies
| in the government of Ireland, and in
Producing into it means for asso-
ciating the people with the conduct
of Irish affairs"
1t is known that since that time i'm
quiries have been on foot. and it is
now quite certain that an Irish gov
ernment bill will be the principal meas
ure before parliament in the session of
1907 Unionists profess to believe that
this may be the first of the "home rule
by installment" system. More than
once, however. the prime minister has
stated that no attempt will be made
to pass home rule without first appeal
ing to the country, and that what the
government has in view is ito give Ire
land large measure of management
in local affairs"-in other words, a de-
velopment of the policy which the
Unionists have themselves pursued.
Good Ground for II
There is good ground for supposing
that the bill is in an advanced state
of preparation by the responsible heads
of the Irish office. Nothing is known
bout the chara ctetr of the measure,
but the impression is that a bold as
sault will be made upon what is known
as castle government In Ireland. AT
Dublin castle there are, it is stated,
no fewer than forty-one government
departments. Some of these are com
paratively unimportant, but many of
them are important. What is believed
to be in contemplation is the co-ordi-
nation of most of these departments,
placing them under the control of some
kind of popularity elected central coun-
ell. The Nationalist leaders themselves
do not hesitate to say that sooner or
later they will be able to force large
sized home rule concessions out of the
government.
Freeman's Journal thus anticipates
the action of the government: THE
current of events points to the intro
duction next session of an Irish meas
ure at least in the direction of home
rule. The larger the measure the bet
ter, not merely for Ireland, but for the
government. The cabinet needs only
little courage to settle the question.
The precedent of South Africa may be
followed with advantage"
Commenting on Sir. Antony Mac
Donnelrs speech, the Irish Times says:
"a good many people are certain to
take Sir Antony as meaning that next
year is to give us home rule, or, at
least. something so very near it that
the Irish people can turn it into home
rule without difficulty-in fact a sort
of Transvaal constitution Sir Antony's
cryptic pronouncement will fill Irish
Unionists with uneasy suspicion, and
If that suspicion should prove to have
been groundless, then there is all the
less justification for the speech. If 1t
should also fill the Nationalists with
hopes which are doomed to be dis
appointed, then the speech will have to
be condemned as a really grave error
both Of taste and judgment"
Potato Famine
There is considerable alarm over the
possibilities of a potato famine and
some of the farmers fear that the situ-
alton will gradually become in another
season as bad as that of more than
half century ago. The potato blight
is bad, especially among the fields and
gardens of the counties Of Wexford
more especially has the blight shown
itself Enthusiastically in the withered
stalks and decaying leaves, and, in
some instances, the baneful smell that
is given out by the decaying tubers.
Heavy sea fogs have been very preva-
lent for the past three weeks, and,
more inland even, the dense vapors
have not lifted until late In the morn
| ing, and to this cause some of the mis-
chief is attributed. Where spraying
has been resorted to the blight has not
shown itself so markedly, and in many
| instances where a portion only of the
| field has been sprayed, and another
| part not, the former has escaped while
| the latter has not. Potatoes-the ordi-
nary groWth-are now selling freely in
| the market towns at from five pence
| to eight pence the stone weight. Other
crops, however, are doing we'll.
The new town hall in Belfast was
| formally opened by Lord Aberdeen, the
lord lieutenant of Ireland. The new
building, which is such a contrast
to the old red brick town hall near the
river, marks the emergence of the
northern capital from that of a more
| or less provincial town into the posi-
ton of one OF the greatest cities of the
world. When the plan and expense of
/ the building were first adumbrated,
there were loud cries from many quar-
| ters that the scheme was too large for
proceeded with 1t; and they have
worked it out to the permanent credit
of the town. The position of the new
building-the finest now In Belfast-is
on the site of the old Linen hall library,
the hest site in the city,