isin
banks, which aim at the promotion of farming by means of co-operative
credit. The loans which they make, at an interest of five per cent. or
six per cent., are dealing a death-blow at that curse of Irish life--the
gombeen man, whose usury used to mount up to thirty per cent. The
extremely rare cases of default in the repayment of these loans for
agricultural purposes will not be surprising to those who recall the
tribute paid by Mr. Wyndham, in connection with land purchase annuities,
to the Irish peasant as a debtor whose reliability is unimpeachable.
More than twenty years ago the Baroness Burdett Coutts made a loan of
L10,000 to the fishermen of Baltimore, with a view to the development of
their industry, and the unfailing punctuality with which payments were
made afforded another instance of the reliability which is a
characteristic of the Irish peasant. This brings one to note in passing
that of all others the fishing industry has probably suffered most from
the lack of proper means of transit. The 2,500 miles of coast line offer
great scope, but the catch of fish off the Irish coast is only
one-eighth of that off Scotland, and one-sixteenth of that off England
and Wales, and Irish waters are to a very large extent fished by boats
from the coasts of Scotland, the Isle of Man, France, and Norway. Oyster
fisheries used to abound--the celebrated beds at Arcachon in the Landes
were stocked from Ireland--but they have fallen into disuse, and with
their disappearance a very remunerative business has been lost. The need
for extensive and scientific forestry one may also note is obvious, from
the fact that there are seven million acres of former woodland which are
now reduced to a waste. The results of planting a shelter bed of pines
on the north and west coasts, as a protection from the Atlantic winds,
would be very great, while the industrial effect of systematised
forestry would be immense. Bark for tanning, charcoal, moss, resin,
manure from fallen leaves, litter, fuel, and mushrooms are some of the
bye-products of this reproductive industry, while by planting willows,
which yield a rapid return, along bogs a basket weaving industry might
very rapidly be developed. The need, however, for planting on an
extensive scale and the inevitable delay before any returns for
expenditure accrue, make forestry essentially an object not for private
but for public enterprise.

It is not generally known that in 1831 Ireland grew