Here is another blow for Lord Salisbury, whose unscrupulous statement
the other day in Hertfordshire, that there was no sub- stantial change for the bettor in Ireland, we contrasted last week with the statements of the Judges in. Belfast, Wicklow, and Sligo. Still more final were the remarks of Mr. Justice Barry, in opening the Winter Assizes for the counties of Cork, Limerick, Clare, and Kerry, last week. He could address the Grand Jury, he said, " in a tone of unqualified cheerfulness and congratulation." "The improvement exceeded anything that even in his most sanguine moments he could have anticipated." In the county of Clare, the number of cases " specially reported by the Constabulary" had dropped from 147 last year to 79 this. In the county of Limerick, they had fallen from 171 last year to 98 this ; and in the city of Limerick, from 36 last year to 14 this. In Kerry, they had fallen less, from 222 last year to 180 this. In the East Riding of Cork, they had fallen from 233 last year to 83 this. In the West Riding of Cork they had fallen from 240 last year to 74 this, and in the City of Cork they had fallen from 28 last year to 14 this. On the whole Munster Assize there was a decrease from 1,134 to 643, and the camas properly agrarian had diminished "in duo pro- portion." After that, Lord Salisbury will hardly hug the fond belief any longer that there is no improvement in the state of Ireland, or if he does, will hardly venture to give it utterance,
Previous page
