HAPPY IRELAND.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18922, 10 February 1927, Page 3

HAPPY IRELAND.

GROWTH OF INDUSTRY. N.Z. PRIEST'S IMPRESSIONS. [THE PBEBB Special Service] AUCKLAND, February 0. The opinion that the Irish Free State was the country probably most satisfied with the results of the Imperial Conference was expressed by the lie v. Father Gallagher, who returned by the lonic. Father Gallagher, who was born in Ireland, and has been on an exteadcd visit to his native country, has worked for many years in the diocese of Christchurch, latterly as parish priest of Akaroa.

Father Gallagher remarked that the greatest problem in the Free Staff at the present time was the fiscal question, and the way this was handled bv Mr Kevin O'Higgins, the Freo State's'most ( active representative at the Conference, and received by the Imperial delegates, had won general acclamation. The <1» rcct result was that practically all the financial difficulties that existed between Britain and tho Free State had been settled amicably, which opened the way for full co-operation between both countries, and removed many shackles from the development of industry in Ireland. • "Ireland, both north nnd south, is n changed land," added Father Gallagher. "The poverty that has always been so noticeable, still exists, but is gradually disappearing. The people arc imbued with a new spirit. The system of government is progressive, and there is a strong. dc?ire among all sections for conciliation and advancement. It is patent' to the most pessimistic visitor that a bright and prosperous future is in store for a once sorelv troubled land."

The remarkable growth of industry was one of the most interesting impressions he had gathered. The south of Ireland was no longer exclusively agricultural. Secondary industries were springing up almost everywhere. It was pleasing to him, in view of speculation on the opportunities for the same enterprise in New Zealand, to notice the success of a beet sugar-refining factory that had been established iu Comity Carlow. Jt was turning out a spendid product under profitable conditions, and providing employment for 1700 workers. "The unemployment situation is. in fact, practically trifling," observed Father Gallagher. ' "This is largely the result of the new phase of indxistrhil activity. The greatest step has been the harnessing of the Shannon for hydro-electric power, which was a wonderful feat for a small country in such a parlous condition as the Free State was when the project was so courageously undertaken. The waters of the Shannon, which have inspired so much music and poetry, are now, it seeing to take the prosaic) but vital, role of being the chief factor in Ireland's materia! progress." . Asked if the Republican niovomeiw retained any hold on the country. Father Gallagher, 'who was a pupil of l^" !: " n " de Valera when the ltepublican leader was a Professor at Maynooth. replied that it was "as dead as the dodo. The movement had split into two sections, he said, one of which with l><-\ Valera at its' head, based its whole campaign on an alternative parhamentarv oath framed by Da Valera, winch contained onlV-a hairsplitting difference from the constitutional form, the other section consisted of the extreme type. wirl. whom no good citizen could associate.