IRELAND.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 98, 17 April 1847, Page 2

IRELAND.

[Fiom the Tunes, October 10.] The following gratifying; statement is embodied in the Cork Examiner's weekly icview of the corn trade, n document w'lirh appeal B to be drawn up by a peison conversant with the buhject upon whicli he treats :— "The injury done to the potato crop is an evil of the first magnitude, hut an evil which, we now believe, has been someuhal over-rated. That the plant lias not been totally destroyed, as many liavo imagined, is from recent investigation becoming manifest A portion of it, theic ■is no doubt, will be found fit for consumption. The quantity remaining sound will be about one-third of a crop, or may even exceed that amount. Still the loss is very groat, and, as this loss must be supplied by grain of some description, it follows that a huge amount of corn will be required to make up the deficiency. As respects this country, we believe, and our opinion is founded on an inspection of the export returns, that a sufficient quantity of grain to supply the wants of our people is grown in the island — that is, provided none wore sent out of it. This admitted, we shall have the necessities of the sister country only to provide for. Those necessities will be large, but not so large that they cannot be met. "Reviewing, again, the position of matters, taking into account the saving .of at least a portion of the potato crop in this country, regarding the excellence of quality of the wheat crop, and the little consequent waste, remembering the many sources from which wo are likely to receive supplies — small perhaps individually, but ex tensive in the aggregate, — remembering, above all, America, the cupidity of her people, and the high prices to tempt thorn to ship even to their own inconvenience, looking to the prospect of a pressure in the money market, and the economization of food, — ever the result ol scarcity,— wo cannot bring ourselves to believe that the prices will reach a famine iigure. That they .will continue high, we have little doubt. There may be, and there will he, changes and fluctuations in the market, but we shall be much disappointed if there be any considerable advance on present prices. As for ' famine,' it is a bugbear, which a few months, we trust, will remove ; for bo it remembered, the scarcity and distress at present existing in this country arise, not from want of food, but from want of means to purchase that food." The subjoined announcement also appears in the Examiner. The report to which it alludes has been current in Dublin for several days past:— • "We have heard it stated, by authority, that Government have sent down orders to have the stock of whiskey, malt, &c, taken at the various distillories of this city. We presume this is with a view to the stoppage of distillation from grain in this country, as a measure of precaution against impending famine. It may be in consequence of this step taken taken by Government, that whiskey had advanced to 7s. a gallon." LANDLORD AND TUNANT. Mr. Evelyn John Shirley, M. P., one of the largest proprietors in the county of Monaghan, has favored his tenants in that quarter with a " letter of advice," containing some extremely prudent and discreet suggestions. The following is a copy of the circular :— "To the Tenantry of the Shirley Estate. "September 15. "My Frlendi and Tcnants,---App]ication having been made to mo by nome of you on the subject of fl.e cxUtiiiK distress and alarm caused by the failuic of the potatoes, 1 take thib method of •toting my opinion and advice on tlio occasion. "It becomes the duty of all classes, under tho nflliction of Dlvine Providence, to exert themselves to alleviate the distress occasioned by the awful dispensation , the poor, to exert their patience, and to calm their fears; the rich, to aid in drvlsing the bout plan to secure tood for those whose means will soon be oxhaustcd. The Government is icady and willing to assist In the good work ; and grants of money are making, under certain regulations, to enable proprietors and landlords to employ those in yi ant of work; ami thus all will have means to provide for their families. The larger tenants take care of their cottiers, and supply them with money, or meal in lieu of their potatoes : thus, the burden will be divided, and all will bear n share of the general calamity. "Meanwhile, let the tenantry take advantage of the blesied ■weather, by Increased c*ei tion in hocui ing, threshing, anil selling their corn while the market is high, and paying their rent, aiding the landlord to help the distressed. Thanks to u merciful Cod, the corn is in a good condition, well saved, no wind to khskc it out, no wet to injure it; the hot huuwe aiu blessed with must 1)3 benelicial to the potatoes. "'Let us by cliccrlulnuss and firmness soothe the timid and encourage tho aotive and Industrious; roinembeilng that this aflliction is intended as a trial for our good, mid mu&t be home with resignation to the Divine will, llut übove all things avoid the counsel of these bad men, who, with their tents m theii pockets, delay in piping it, while they endeavour, lor their own selfish purposes, to increase the alarm in the mimU of the poor and weak. If such should bo louml in Farney, let them beware; lor, if detected, ncilhertheir wiulth nor their station shall secure them from the utmoit punishment an injured landlond cm Jlllict. "I remain, your faithful landlord, "JS. J. BHIRLEY."

Wastb of Wai i:a I'ownu in liwland. — The water power of the .Shannon, available tor manufacturing purposes, between Limerick and Lough Allen, amounts to 38,000 horse power, actually going for nothing, while tens of thousands of tons of coals arc burned in England and Scotland, producing a limiiar agency ; indeed, in cither of those countries such a power would be of incalculable value. At Greenock we recollect a water-wheel — the chief lion of the pjace, which the tourist; pay sixpence to see, turned by a small stream brought no less than six miles across the country — supplying a power equal to thirty steam engines of fifty horse power ! Vet even this, Mr. Scott Russell assures us, is obtained J'rom an artificial lake created in a place where formerly there were only slender mountain rivulet*. The internal economy of the mills differs in nothing from those of Glasgow where slcam is used. Yet, according to the best authorities, what is the difference ? Each liorsc power with the water-wheel tosts £5, 6s. 5d., each hone power with steam £'AG, annually, leaving the enormous proportion of .£'3o in favour uf water power. Then, in Lancashire, every available rivulet is also ca*ight hold of, and the little current which passes by Bolton ami Manchester, Dr. Kane somewhat quaintly styles "the hardest woiked stream probably in the world. 1 ' We have witnessed the giant wonders performed by these rival powers in tins particular locality aNo, and the economy ol water power is quite antiumg. In the little river before mentioned, for instant 1 ", in a fall of 900 feel, •»t les>s than 800 are appropriated to the use of mills, ny, tliK Shannon (uliose total basin amounts to

the prodigious area of '1544 square miles) tails 147 feet from Lough Allen to Limerick, the last fifteen miles from Killaloc, presenting a dinvrcuce of level of not less than 97 feet ! From returns of the most accurate kind made by the commissioners, the total coliuiious power above KHlaloe, calculated from the eachment basin, is 4717 horse power, that from Killaloc to Limerick, something above 350 horse power lor every foot of fall, making for 97 feet the immense Force of 33,950 horse power, these added together giving a force in uninterrupted action, day and night, at every moment of the year, of 38,667 horse power 1 Yet, with the exception of a few corn m.lls along the trajet of the river, this invaluable force continued day after day going to waste, presenting a singular contrast to the other rivers we have mentioned, or even to the unpretending little fiann, amongst the Mourne mountains in the county of Down — the most beautifully economised river in Ireland. — Dublin Universiti/'Magmine.