LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

IRELAND IN AMERICA.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."j Sin,—In your very interesting article on " The Charm of Ireland," you express some surprise that no attempt has been Made by

Irishmen to found an Irish colony for themselves, and add that "they might, if they would, fill up a Western State of the Union, or plant a new and. separate colony in the Valley of the Saskatchewan."

As some attempt has already been made, in part realisation of your ideal Ireland, I think it may not be without interest to

80/110 of your readers to have a few particulars respecting the

work of the Catholic Colonisation Association in Minnesota, which I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with during

a visit to the United States and Canada, from which I have just returned, As the great object of this visit was to satisfy myself upon the important subject of emigration, which I had ventured to advocate as one of the "Remedies for Irish Distress," I paid particular attention to the rising and important agricultural States of Iowa and Minnesota, and to our own most important "last found" territory of Manitoba. This, with the immense and fertile North-west Territory beyond, though now chiefly known to Englishmen as Captain Butler's "Great Lone Land," bids fair, as the Canadian Pacific Railway opens up their vast resources, to be better and more truly known as England's "Great Wheat Land." Of the wonderful fertility and capacity for agricultural occupation of large portions of this region there cannot be any doubt. With the liberal offers made by the Canadian G overnment of free homesteads of 160 acres each to all bond fide settlers, I trust this great territory may ere long become the contented home of tens of thousands of Irishmen, who, leaving their conacre and petty holdings at home, will find here even more than they at present dream of.

But it is with regard to the " Catholic Colonisation Asso- ciation," now at work in the States of Mianesota and Iowa, that I wished now to address you. This Association largely owes its origin to the unremitting energy and labours of Bishop Spalding, of Illinois, and. Bishop Ireland, of St. Paul's, Mim nesota. Impressed with the neglected. and deplorable condi- tion of thousands of Irishmen in and around the eastern sea- ports of the States, they commenced working on a small scale four years ago, and finding their efforts successful, they, in 1879, held a series of meetings in New York and other eastern cities, strongly advocating migration to the fertile western lands. These meetings, held both among the wealthy and poor, excited great attention, and the result of this crusade has been the formation of several colonies, chiefly under the guidance of Bishop Ireland, in Minnesota and Iowa. Tens of thousands of acres have for this purpose been acquired, either directly as free grants to the settlers from the States Govern- ment, or by purchases on the part of the Association at low rates from the great railway companies. In the latter case, the settlers purchase either for cash, or by annual instalments spread over a number of years.

Of the four settlements in Minnesota, one is in Swift County, 120 miles north-west of St. Paul's. Hero several hundreds of families are placed, three out of four of whom are Irishmen, and the remainder Germans, Poles, or French Canadians. The lands extend for thirty miles on each side of the St. Paul and Pacific Railway, and comprise 80,000. acres.

A second colony is that in Adrian County, on the Sioux City Railway, about 200 miles from St. Paul. Hero over 75,000 'acres have been purchased. "A little over a year ago," says the

Report " Adrian had in it three houses, now it is one of the most bustling, lively burgs in south-western Minnesota. There are 68 houses in the village, 3 hotels, 1 restaurant (no beer), 3 lumber yards, 1 steam mill, and over 20 shops or stores of various kinds and degrees, a public school (costing 1,800 dollars), a church and house (costing 1,800 dollars). By next spring it is estimated that there will be 160 families. Land here sells at 5 to 7i dollars per acre, 20 per cent. discount being allowed for cash, or purchasers can obtain their land as under :- At time of purchase, 1-10th of principal and interest; 2nd year,. interest at 7 per cent, on purchase only ; 3rd year, of remain- ing purchase-money and interest ; and rest in three annual payments, by which the full price of the land is paid. The settlers here are Germans and Irish, from the eastern cities.

A third is at Granville, formed in 1878. The colonists were chiefly from the Eastern States, and many have obtained lands, under the guidance of the Association, directly from the State, paying only the office-fees, about £3, for 80 or 160 acres. " Three months after the claims were registered, 150 comfortable cabins wore built, and on each claim of 80 or 160 acres, five to ten acres were broken up for a garden, and planted with potatoes, Indian corn, beans, turnips, and yielding a good supply of food for the winter. This district is very favourable for cattle, and ninny settlers have come hero on account of the vast natural meadows which abound." It was to this colony that the first instalment of Irish emigrants, direct from Ireland. (300 in number), came last summer, under the care of Father Nugent, of Liverpool, whoa° indefatigable labours on behalf of the poor Irish are well known. These people were, many of them, the poorest of the poor, from Mayo, Connemara, and Carare, some hardly able to speak English. Of those who went to the colony, it is too soon to speak ; but a number of the boys and girls were engaged at St. Paul's, under Dr. Ireland's super-. vision, the boys earning 75 cents to one dollar per day (Ps. to 4s.), and the girls eight to twelve dollars per month, "with all found," as household servants. The demand for the rougher material, even in the shape of servants, will at once be evident,. from giving £18 to £24 a year for young girls direct from the Irish cabin. Some of the men also obtained work at St. Paul's at 6s. a day At Granville, as in all these colonies, churches and schools are built, the priest being largely the superintendent and adviser of the whole.

A fourth colony is at Avoca, about 170 miles south-west from St. Paul's. Here 52,000 acres of excellent land were purchased,. the whole of which, it is expected, will be sold and settled. by July, 1881. The price of land here is five to seven dollars per acre,—either spread over a term of years, or for cash, in which case a liberal deduction is made. Avoca, not "the vale in whose bosom the wild waters meet," is the only one of the colonies which,. from the severity of the weather and great distances required to be travelled, I was able to visit. It is situated on the borders of a pretty little lake, and consists at present of a few scattered wooden houses, in front of which the single track of the rail- way passes which brought us from St. Paul's. All around, and as fur as the eye can reach, stretches the boundless prairie,. covered at this season (October) with tall, dry grass, except where the prairie fires haa burnt the surface to a black cinder. Two years ago, neither house nor railway existed. Fifteen years ago, as the " first settler "informed me, his nearest neigh- bour was 45 miles distant ; whilst the nearest shop and post-office were 70 miles away, and his wheat had to be taken nearly 100 miles to the nearest mill. In those early days his homestead had been burnt by the Indians, and he escaped with Moult'. Now there are two lines of railway within easy reach, and Avoca boasts of nearly thirty houses ; and the neighbouring village of Puldah, another part of the colony, of nearly as many, the growth of less than two years. In the former may now be found a Roman Catholic chapel, a school, seven shops of various kinds ; a good, small hotel, and two smaller houses of entertainment, all without beer or spirits ; and ten houses of various sizes.

There are many other little houses or " shanties " belonging' to the new settlers, which lie scattered at wide intervals over the prairie, usually a mile or a mile and a half distant one from the other. Some of these I visited, in company with Mr. O'Brien, the secretary of the Association, who kindly met me here, affording me every assistance in his power. Like Bishop Ireland, his heart is in the work, to which he has devoted his whole energies.

One or two of these visits can be noticed. Leaving the little village, our route led us partly over a rough road and partly over the long, dry grass of the prairie, until we reached the little farm of Joseph Hurst. He had. been a market gardener near Liverpool, and wishing to improve his circumstances, had left home in April last, applying for land to the Catholic Colonisation Society, of whom he had purchased 160 MCIT5 (or a quarter-

section),* paying six dollars per acre, to be repaid in a term of years. On this he bad erected a small wooden house, 16 ft. by 20 ft., costing 80 dollars. During the early summer he had ploughed out 30 acres with a yoke of oxen, sowing Indian corn and flax, and in May planting a few acres with potatoes and turnips,—" taties and tunips," as he said, in a northern dialect, which it was refreshing to hear. He had a cow and two pigs.

He had cut a quantity of prairie-grass for hay, as well as fuel, the dry, coarse prairie-grass being tightly twisted into wisps for burning, in the absence of wood or other fuel. This, his wife said, answered well, and soon heated the kettle or warmed the room. In two days, "a man could cut as much of the long, dry grass as would last for a year's fuel." During the harvest, Hurst had worked for his neighbours at $2i to $3 per day, and was "almost torn to pieces" in their anxiety to obtain his services. He had dug a well 18 feet deep, and had excellent water. "With good. crops, no man need look behind him; but a man must work hard, and ought to have £100 to make a start with." Hurst was happy and contented, the model of a little emigrant farmer. Another man, an Irish Canadian, had taken

320 acres (k-section), and been a year and a half on the land. 4 The land could not be better." With three horses and two

ploughs, he had broken up 140 acres of the prairie, employing a man for three months to assist him at $30 per month, and board. He had sown 80 acres with flax "on the sod" (the first breaking of the virgin land), which yielded 20 bushels to the acre, worth $1 a bushel, or $20 per acre, for land costing $6 and seed and breaking another four dollars, cent. per cent. on his investment. Of wheat he had about twenty bushels to the acre, worth there .eighty cents per bushel. This land is well suited both for cattle and sheep.

As we returned home in the evening, the sun was setting with great splendour. Clouds of light smoke, ascending from the prairie fires in the distance, were made luminous by its brilliance adding a Turner-like effect to the whole landscape ; and as the darkness fell on us, the young moon shone over the wide plain, in which, as far as the eye could penetrate, bright specks of fire .showed how numerous were the fires around ns.

I. must already have trespassed much too long on your patience, and I will not, therefore, trouble you with any reflec- tions or conclusions which must obviously arise in reference to these very interesting colonies, That they very largely meet

that which both statesmen and philanthropists are in search of, —carefully selected homes for a large number of small tenants and farmers,—cannot be doubted ; nor less, I think, can it be doubted that, as compared with any plan for a large expenditure of money upon waste or badly-cultivated lands in the West of Ireland, for the purpose of giving tenancies of a larger size to the small holders of land there, that the benefit to the holder is as ten to one in his favour on the prairie farms of Minnesota or Manitoba.—I am, Sir, &c.,