6, by that Company, for a loan of L500,000 to go on with their works,
they undertaking to employ 50,000 men over those works, provided their
request was complied with. The money was not given. No one, said Lord
George, can come to any other opinion but that this offer of the Great
Southern and Western Railway ought to have been accepted. If the money
now asked for be lent, he said, there need be no crowding of labourers
on any point, for they can be distributed over the whole country; as,
according to the railway bills passed for Ireland, lines will run
through every county but four. "Now, Sir," he continued, "in introducing
this measure to the House, it has not been my wish to bring forward any
proposition either of hostility or rivalry to the Government of my noble
friend. I have assured the House publicly and privately, I have pledged
my honour to my noble friend the First Minister, that I seek no
advantage from the carrying of this measure, and that it is my anxious
hope that we may come to the consideration of it as if it were a great
private Bill, and we were all selected members of the committee to
inquire into its worth."

3. In view of the amount of the loan sought for, and the mileage of the
railways to be constructed, how many men, said Lord George, can we
employ? Quoting Mr. Stephenson's authority, he answers that on the
London and Birmingham line there were employed one hundred men a mile
for four consecutive years; but Mr. Stephenson's opinion was that the
Irish lines would require no more than sixty men a mile for four
consecutive years. Fifteen hundred miles of railway would thus give
constant employment for four consecutive years to 90,000 men on the
earth works and line alone; but quarrymen, artificers, etc., would give
six men more a mile--9,000 men; making fences for securing fields, etc.,
9,000 more--in all, 108,000; a number representing 550,000 persons.

4. The labourers were specially cared for in the bill. They were to be
paid weekly in cash, and decent, suitable dwellings were to be
constructed for them along each line.

5. As to the manner in which the money was to be raised, Lord George did
not call for a single penny out of the Imperial Exchequer; all he asked
was, that the Government of England would pledge its credit to borrow
for Ireland the required sum, for which Ireland had full and abundant
security to give. The L16,000,000 was not to be raised at once; the loan
was to be spread ove