The Irish standard., 1908-10-24

been acquired by the congested dis
tricts board. There We're, / think.
something like 1000 acres. Tho first
thing done by my predecessor was to
set aside some 700 acres for the en-
largement Of the holdings of the ten
ants upon the estate. The balance of
the land was reserved for the purpose
of great stock farm, where the breed
ing of stock for the province of Con-
raught could be carried on, and it was
proposed to erect an agricultural COL
lege, where the sons of Connaught
farmers could learn at once the science
and the practice of agriculture. l am
sorry to say that things went very bad
" for time. 1t was one of the first
problems 1 had to study and to deal
with after l succeeded Sir Horace
Plunkctt. Disorder Of serious kind
prevailed. a demand was made upon
the department for more land to be
given to the tenants. 10 enforce this
demand hay meadows were spiked,
houses were fired into, laborers were
intimidated, boycotting prevailed. a
house was fired and burned, and "A large
force OF extra police were quartercd
upon the district. Here was Il situa-
ton answering exactly to the lurid de-
scription of Ireland given by the ene-
mics of the country in the press and
on the platform. The Daily Telegraph"
and the DAILY Mall greedily pounced
upon it. resolved to face it. Ac-
companied by two of my colleagues
went down to my hotel, and was met
by a letter threatening that if l did not
do what the people wanted there would
be what Captain Craig once lucidly
described as bloody wars" Qaughter).
slept the sleep of the just, and woke
up in the morning quite fresh. / wish
tc state here that amid all this trouble,
there was no religious intolerance or
Of the people are Catholics. There is
Protestant place of, worship, and Il
small congregation of Presbyterians.
But I have never heard from anybody
that there was the slightest trouble on
religious grounds. and if such Il thing
prevailed ] think would have been
certain to hear of it. ] drove out to the
farm, and there met Father Dalton, a
most able man, a writer of great re-
peace. l asked him first what. was
wrong, and what could be done to put
it right? He advised me to sec the
people, and to hear from themselves.
1 told him J. would see a deputation of
them with pleasure, and it was accord
ingly arranged that some score Of the
people Of Athenry should wait upon me
at the hotel. l recall that meeting with
great satisfaction. It was q strange
gathering, in the centre of a district
cursed by crime and ruined by disorder,
where no man trusted his neighbor, and
where everything seemed to be at skies
and sevens. think my colleagues
thought it a risky business. I heard
these men, and their story was this.
So far as the town was concerned, it
was wholly surrounded by grass lands.
Hardly anybody had as much land as
would enable them to keep Il COW, milk
was at premium, children being fed
upon black coffee and condensed milk,
vegetables were a luxury that few
could aspire to, and cattle roamed on
these fields until the cattle drivers in
tervened. Their demand was simply
that share of those grass lands ad-
joining the town, which had just at
that time come, by happy chance,
into the possession of the estates COM
missioners, should be sold to the shop
keepers and householders of Athenry,
and thar they should have the facili-
ties for rearing their families in de-
told them that l had no power over
these lands, but that if the peace were
kept until Parliament rose should en-
deavor to persuade the estates commits
sioners to come to Athenry and see
what was possible. went again, and
arranged The sale. Mr.. Stewart, the
inspector Of the estates commissioners,
had placed in possession something like
20 men, who had purchased their
houses and shops, paying for these in
cash. and who had each got the free
hold of portions of the grass lands
contiguous to their dwellings. The re-
suit Of the conference that day
amounted to this, that the people Of
Athenry now have their shops and their
houses at something like half what
they used to pay, and they have their
portion of the land on small annuity
(applause). The war was sharp while
it lasted, but the end came, and now