IRELAND SEEN AS COUNTRY OF MUCH PROMISE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6918, 25 May 1929, Page 5 (Supplement)

IRELAND SEEN AS COUNTRY OF MUCH PROMISE

T. A. SMIDDY PAINTS GLOWING PICTURE OF AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

LONDON, April 27.

Mr T. A. Smiddy, High Commissionct of the Irish Free State to Great Britain and ex-Minister to tho United States, was the guest of honour at a luncheon by the American Chamber of Commerce in London on April 23. Hi drew a glowing picture of the prosperity of one of the youngest countries in tUe sisterhood of nations. Ireland, ho said, was no longer a poor country, the value of her people’s holdings exceeding £200,000.000. Mr Smiddy, who spent seven years in the United States, spoke appreciatively of her generous help to tho Irish Free State, and told of the many opportunities in Ireland open to American capital and industry. ‘‘The Cork factory of Henry Ford,” ho said, “is manufacturing and exporting tractors all over the world, including even tho United States. Already the last vestiges of landlordism are disappearing, the Free State having divided since 1922 nearly 1,000,000 acres into economic'holdings, and another 1,000,000 acres of arable land remains to be given to productive farmers. ‘‘As a result of the improved agricultural conditions, the establishment of a credit association and other helpful bureaux, tho dream of Sir Horace Plunkett is being realised. Irish bacon is bringing 14-1/- per cwt. in tho British market, compared with 132/- for tho best Danish. Our dairy cows, as a result of selective breeding, have increased tho average milk yield per cow from 400 to 700 gallons annually.” Mr Smiddy, illustrating the openings for outside capital, said that the Irish Free State now imported 14 pairs of shoes for every 15 pair worn, although Ireland exported a vast quantity of hides for leather. A protective tariff ot 15$ tto 33 1-3 per cent, ad valorem, which is being cautiously applied to certain manufactured articles, be said, justified itself by helping to establish 100 new factories, giving employment to 14,000 workers. The river Shannon electrification scheme, the first, part of which would be completed in October next, the speaker declared would furnish the Irish Free State with cheap heat, light and power. At present there were 330 villages and towns of over 500 population in which the inhabitants were stil. using candles and kerosene lamps. Tho government’s effort to restore Ireland to the status it held in ancient times, when “it was the centre of culture and learning in Europe,” said Mr Smiddy, was represented in tho expenditure of 20 per cent, of the rational income on education.