Hope For Ireland.

Northern Advocate, 22 September 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

Hope For Ireland.

Of a declining birthrate and 6f ■ afc'-in-" ■ creasing lunacy in Ireland there, has'been J v >ample proof, but from the: gloom Wtxc / 'emerges a bright side to tfrish affa«&>in ; ; jthe good news froni! t^e'flri* Agriculr turaJ Organisation Society." v i v :; I Between; eighty and 'ninety- thousand' V. ifiarmers, generally .heads of familieS, ft anj4 feo representing probably" hoti far sMorjii ? pi ' > half a million of^ the; populdftibD; - hatf? , joined over 850 separate sbcietle^, and • are transacting a business |: >with : an 7 a§f gregate turnover of some oneand a ; haTf , million sterling. Of tbese, 340 are dairy . - societies or associations ofdairy farniets ; ,; fqf the purpose of jointly: manufacturing their butter in central creameiries,' with ; ,' all the best modern appliances. •■.••' • And 897 smaller, societies are in'exist--ence. The old wasteful and unbuslnes^ like methods are dying, and Sif Joseph' Plunßett, in "Progress," \welcdmiss' dgri- . J cultural organisation as the one thing • absolutely essential to Ireland 'fcre^vitali- ' sation. One hundred million pounds has ) been pledged by the Imperial- Fa^liauteht f for the expropriation of Irish laiidiords, ; and £12,0C0,000 as a free grant. He >■< says :~ ■ _ ■■■■.: ■>.?-■ v- ■'v ' [ I do not suppose that anyone is san- '■ guine enough to imagine that the Irish •; peasantry will immediately become pros- ;. perous as a result of being tratisf brined from tenants subject to aij annual rent \ ifi. perpetuity into owners payiiig" yearly '- some twenty or twenty-five per oenti less, in the shape of an annuity termin- "'■. able after two generations have passed' * away. j