Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-11-22
ASHTON NOW A PEER
Bitter Enemy of Ireland Gains Seat in
House of Lords.
FILLS SEAT OF LATE LORD RossE
Always Foe to His People and Victory
is by Chance.
WINS PLACE AFTER LONG EFFORT
'rA
C'eutcome is in Spite of and Not Be.
cause of Majority Will,
TO N IKE UP irish oUTRAGEs"
u
Pubiicatn'pn of sO-CaIIed shames by
HIS lbwn People Has Distin-
rCuished Him and Made Him
Decidedly Unpopular.
WINS PLACE AFTER LONG EFFORT
"eutcome is in Spite of and Not Be
cause of Majority Will.
TO N IKE UP irish oUTRAGEs
tFrom a staff correspondent.)

town has at least secured a seat in the
House OF Lords as a representative Irish
peer. but II is in keeping with his whole
history that he owes his seat. partly al
least, to chance and not to the opinion Of
a ma jority OF his fellow peers that he - a
suitable person to represent them.
1t may not be generally known that Irish
peers arc not entitled by right of their
pecrage to sit in the British House Of
Lords. The majority OF them, of course,
are the holders OF British peerages as
well as their Irish titles, and sit by virtue
OF the British titles, but the Irish peers
are entitled to elect certain number Of
their fellows to represent them in the
upper house.
Lord Ashtown has long been trying TO
get into the House OF Lords, but he has
been defeated at every vacancy. This time
tho vacancy was caused by the death OF
Lord Rossc, who, in addition to being II
popular nobleman. was a great scientist
Lord Ashtown was opposed by Lord Farm
ham, and they received an equal number
OF votes The proceedings which folio wed
were distinctly medieval. The clerk OF
the crown and hanaper for Ireland an Of
fetal whose precise duties no one seems
10 know, went to London, and when the
the bar and informed the lord chancellor
that tie had taken place. The clerk Of
Parliament then placed two slips Of paper
in a glass and drew out one which con-
tained Lord Ashtowns name. Lord Ash
town was then declared duly elected.
bitter Enemy TO Ireland.
Lord Ashtown, who thus by the chance
of the lottery becomes a representative
Of Do 80 kha hi
terest enemies Ireland ever had His
hobby Is collecting and publishing what he
calls ''outrages from Ireland" in which
every occurrence which can be twisted into
the appearance OF disorder is magnified
in order TO convince the English people
that the people OF ireland are not fit to
govern themselves
The famous explosion at his shooting
lodge at Glenahelry attracted considerable
attention. II was published far and wide
as an attempt to blow up the lodge white
he was sleeping in It. but the police dis.
covered that the pot in which the ''bomb
was made came from another of his ee-
tates, and that Lord Ashtown was sitting
up waiting when the explosion occurred
No one has ever been prosecuted for the
offense.
old Age Pension stiII.
The operation OF the old age pensions &C
continues to keep the local authorities busy
and a new difficulty has arisen I'm connec
tion with its administration in Ireland
This IL due to the necessity OF providing
proper proof of age. Applicants must b,
more than 20 years old and the compusorl
registration OF births does not go bacl
farther than the late 4Os in Ireland. Bap
tisma1 certificates are accepted. but ever
ir some Of the parish churches the records
DO not go back far enough. and In man!
cases the early records have been lost o
destroyed. The archbishop OF Dublin ha
issued a pastoral letter to his priests urg
ing them In all cases to undertake tn
necessary research and furnish the certifi
Gates without charge TO the poor old peopl
who are seeking pensions.
interesting cases of longevity continue [
he brought to light daily by the pension
applications. In one case IN the south o
Ireland man produced his birth oertf!
cate showing that he was 70 years old
but he was much troubled because he coul
not prove that his mother, who was ais
an applicant. was 20 years old and there
fore eligible. In another case 4 motne
who was 100 and a daughter who was
apHied for pensions together.
III wind AdaGe Applies.
It's an III wind that blows nobody goot
and the Irish cities are likely TO benef
materially by the unemployment of the
citizens this winter. In Dublin, Belfas
and Cork elaborate schemes have bee
worked out for relief work and in eae
case the schemes include the clearing ava
or Improvement OF large slum areas. tn
health of the great Irish cities is motor
ously bad. and this is due in lars
measure TO the terrible slums which woul
not be tolerated in an American or even
an English city. Dublin has undertake
the Improvement or extinction OF no les
than tnirty-eight miles Of streets and lane
which are now In condition that make
them a menace not only to the health {
their own Inhabitants. but to the poop
OF the whole city. Cork will spend $500
in similar work and Belfast is applying +,
grant Of $4,000. while the corporate
will compel many slum landlords to in
prove their property at their own expens
Tramp EVIL t. Growing.
The tramp eyil in the north OF Irelar
Is growing more acute with the growth
unemployme lnS few days ago a di
graceful Incident was reported from q
Clones County Monaghan) Workhous
Tramps were attracted 20 the town in be
tRlions by the annual horse fair and
the nisht OF the fair more than 300
them applied for admission 10 the wor
house Il was obviously impossible to Ike,
them separate and they were turned loo
In the great common room. which soon to,
on the appearance OF Donnybrook fair
its palmiest days Most OF the tram
were drunk and fighting soon began. nj
workhouse officials tried 10 restore orde
but failed and were driven from the rooI
Finally a giant labOrer. who was one
the few sober men in the place aud wi
was an ex-soldier and a genuine out
work. volunteered TO be responsible Z
order for the night. The wOrkhouse of
cisls accepted his offer and. srming hil
self with a club, he soon reduced 4
tramps 20 submission. In the morning 1
magistrates held a special court and Sc
4 fenced nearly half the dodgers 10 jail.
y Mr.. J. II. Relay. a prominent Irish-Am,
Z