one-fifth of the
tobacco consumed in the three kingdoms, but that in that year the first
Liberal Government which was in power for a generation put down a
profitable industry for which the turfy soil of the country was
particularly well adapted. With the help of a shilling rebate it is
being shown, on an experimental area, that tobacco can be grown
successfully in Ireland. At present the Treasury has refused to allow
any extension of the area under cultivation, and it remains to be seen
whether the united demands of Irish members--Unionist as well as
Nationalist--will secure the removal of the prohibition against its
growth, and so possibly lead to a re-establishment of its cultivation on
a similar scale to that of three-quarters of a century ago.

Perhaps the most important and, one may surmise, far-reaching step
which has been taken in respect of Irish industries in the last few
years is to be found in the registration, under the Merchandise Marks
Act of 1905, of a national trade-mark, the property in which is vested
in an association, which, on payment of a fee, grants the right to use
it to manufacturers of the nature of whose credentials it is satisfied.
The value of this is obvious as giving a guarantee of the country of
origin of goods at a time when the increased demand for Irish produce
has added to the number of unscrupulous traders who sell as "made in
Ireland" goods which are not of Irish manufacture. It is said that
twenty years ago most of the tweed which was placed upon the market
which had been made in Ireland was sold as Cheviot, and that to-day the
_roles_ are reversed, and it is certain that for many years the great
bulk of Irish butter masqueraded in English provision shops as Danish.
The income of the association is devoted to the taking of legal action
against traders who fraudulently sell as Irish, foreign including
English made goods. If an instance is needed of the results which the
protection of a national trade-mark gives in the encouragement of
industry, by the guarantee of origin which it entails, it is to be found
in the success of similar action in the cases of the butter industries
of Sweden and Austria. It is a great tribute to the Trade-Mark
Association that within two years of its incorporation the Congested
Districts Board has applied for the use of the trade-mark for the
products of its lace classes and for its homespuns.

The task proposed by Henry Grattan to the Irish Parliament