IRELAND

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1929, Page 2

IRELAND

TRANSFORMED BY GOOD ROADS (By Sir Percival Phillips). .?L • ~ " f - - GALWAY, July 1. Peasant life in Southern Ireland is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Remote farms and hamlets have suddenly been brought into closer contact with the ouside: world. This social and economic revolution —for it is nothing less—is, the result of good roads and a wide network of motor .ransport. It has come about within the last two years. Omnibuses now . tap disriets which were formerly miles from the nearest .railway. Cottagers can motor to the nearest market town as easily as they feed the pigs. The Free State lia.s spent upwards of £5,0 0,!00 sin e 1923 in reconstructing 1,800 miles of national highways and 6,000 miles of trunk and link roads. You can travel to-day at a steady 40 miles an hour between Dublin and Limerick, Galway or Belfast, piloted by a complete system of sign-psst-s, mileage indicators and safety signals. No other country in Europe lias a better system of communications or one more efficiently maintained. Naturally the omnibus has flourished and multiplied almost beyond belief. DUBLIN-GALWAY IN o HOURS To-day you can go from Dublin to Galway in loss tlian five hours, and to Limerick in little over four, Heavy coaches of ihe];PuTlman type maintain four to five set',vices a day in each direction. Nearer points are served' more frequently. . The‘railways are beginning to feel the effect of ibis-competition. They nave asked the Government for protecion, and the answer lias been a heavy tax on omnibuses. S.iH they flourish. The resuit of tin’s invasion lias been twofold. Few suburbs, made possible by the improved transportation facilities, have grown up around the larger towns, and the peasants in the more remote districts have been brought out of this little world. In fact, it might be said that the old peasant type is doomed to extinction because of this now contact with the 20th century. They have better shops at their disposal, better schools for their children and wider knowledge of people and events. Newspapers reach many areas on the day of publication, where formerly they wcre.not delivered until one or two days later' There are cottages facing the wild Atlantic that now receive before bed time that morning’s Daily Mail. The increasing sale of newspapers in districts whore the local weekly was hut little known is further proof of the deeper interest displayed by the inhabitants in happenings beyond ilieir lonely parish. s Their standard of living is. changing too. They want better things and more comforts, so far as they fire able, .ip) afford tiiem. The young'meh are no longer content to be married off, aftei much bargaining by their parents to a bride with a fortune of say £25 and a cow, and settle down docilely *to humdrum life on a little patch of land. ] am told that the “marriage market” is a declining institution. More match es are being made by the youngei people themselves.

• BETTER DRESSED WOMEN. The women want better clothes. The girls show a tendency to imitate tliei: sisters in the towns. While motoring ir County Clare tins week I passed : wooden cart filled with milx-cans am driven by a young girl. Her shawl ha< fallen away from the bobbed head', sin was wearing stockings of artificial sib and smoking a cigarette with evideiU enjoyment. She may not be a universal type hut undoubtedly she is a symptom. The economic effect of the change b no less significant. Local tradesmen nave been hard nit by the motor-omni-bus. N° longer do their customers have to depend upon a- meagre stock ol poor articles, in the general store—they wait for the omnibus and go into the nearest large town. £2,500,020 CREAMERIES. Another economic factor in the changing country districts-is the co-opera-tive creamery. There are now 102 of these 'Government-run dotted about at “strategic” centres for the systematic collection of milk, but-

ter, and eggs. Fifty were opened re- I cently in areas where hitherto the farmers have had to depend solely on the profits of barley and cattle food. They arc now able to go in for dairying and thereby raise their standard of living. Air Hogan, the youthful Minister of Agriculture (lie was formerly a solicitor) has done much to improve the status of the people on the land. The liish Association of Creameries, which was formed under his supervision to market Free State products in foreign co.intries showed a turnver during lilt* fi.isfc twelve months of two and a hall’ million sterl.rig. Its creameries handle from 120,030 to 130,0-0 gallons of milk daily. .... The Irish egg owes its rehabilitation to M.r Hogan,. It fell into disrepute after the war, owing to the get-rich quick-anyway tendency of certain overprosperous shippers. Now, all eggs, nutter, and livestock exported from tlie Free State must reach the standard fixed by law, and supervision is very strict. YOUTH SHOWS THE WAY. In other ways the development of tho country districts is very marked. Hotels have been repaired and refurnished in some cases oven rebuilt, in anticipation of tlie increased tourist trade. Villages formerly dependent upon oil or candles are now lit by electricity The telephone service is being extended to remote places. Village lads are going in for sport. There is a strong and popular effort to re-introduce the old Celtic games, yet football holds its own. Youth is showing tho way to a new life.