IRISH PEAT.—IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. House of Commons, July 27.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 380, 5 December 1849, Page 3

IRISH PEAT.—IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. House of Commons, July 27.

The O'Gouman Maiion wished, lie said, to call attention fi r n few momenta to a subject which would be found to be of great importance as regarded the development of the resources of Ireland. What he had to state he was perfectly certain would be heard with gladness both in liuland and in England. It was, he asserted, one of (he moat important discoveries t vat had ever been made, and one thut waB certain to be ol immense advantage. The factß to which he wihhed to call thefr attention were stated in a letter to him from an eminent chemißt, and who averred that peal was, with a very trifling expense in manual labour, capable of producing carbonate of ammonia, soda, vinegur, naptha, candles, camphine oil, pitch, tar, common oil, and gas. This, he maintained, was one of the greatest discovetics of the age. It appeaitd from the testimonies of several persons that the Irish peal was capable of producing oil of a superior quality —quite equal to spermaceti. That which nt preßent cost from .£9O to XDS a ton, the manufacturers of this country could now have for £40 a ton; the iodine, which now costs £17, could be procured for X's; und an equal reduction in other articles. And now, as a proof of the accuracy of these assertions, he produced a fperroaceti candle made from an Irish sod of turf. (Ihe honorable member here called attention to a candle which was on the table, and which was taken up and examined by Mr. Fox Maule, and then handed round to Lord John llueeell and other mcmbcia of the Mi.

nistry.) He had the guarantee of Mr. Oweu fit to the fact, and Mr. Owen was nn Englishman of unimpeachable veracity ; and so certain was he of the truth of that gentleman's word, that he had no liesitation^in saying that he had staked his word and honour on the (tuth of Mr. Owen's assertion, that in the candle then before them there was no foreign material. When there were several million acres of peat in lieland, he thought this discovery of the very greatest impottance. lie now appealed to the noble Lord (Ashley) near him, as to the character of Mi. Owen, and the tiust that ought to be placed in any uisettion made by him. Lord Ashley, being so appealed to by the honorable member, said, that as to the gentleman, Mr. Owen, he gave his full testimony that a more high-minded or a more religious man he never had the good fortune to k now — (hear.) He was one who-iC friendship he had enjoyed for many years, and a man more incapable of n aking an exaggerated Btntemetit he did not know— (hoar.) The lion, gentleman hail told him it was H, intention to appeal to him with respect to his knowledge of Mr. Owen, and he (Lord Ashley), in ouler that lie might be quite sure of the facts, requested Mr. Owen to call upon him that mornint?,and he then took down in writinu; what that gentleman had to stale on this subject. The statement he admitted, was one which must appear most incredible— (hear,he.»i). But what he said, they must bear in mind, was noi a theory, but was the result of experiments actually made— (hear). The things or which Mr. Owen spoke liad been now in opcintion more than twelve months, riiis gentleman had invested a large capital in them, and had obtained considerable returns from them. He here sought to obtain nothing from the country; all his desire was that profitable investment of money might be made in Ireland, and employment thereby promoted (hear, hear). Out of every ton of peat the cost of which was £?>, and £8 more in labour, weio altogether expended ; but taking the cost at i,'2O, the results he was now about to state were obtained ; and they were to remember that what he was now Roing to slate was not tiue upon one hundred tons but upon thousands of tons of peatinsf, and on which there had been n large expenditure of capital, and on these results Mr. Owen staked hia character. The results «eie these : — Every 100 tons of peat, on which the coil of labour was £8, were found to contain— of caihonate of ammonia, 2C02 lbs , the value of which was £°,2 10s. ; soda, 2118 lbs., value £8 16s. Gd. ; vinegar, GOO lbs., value JE7 103. ; naphtha, 30 gallons, value, £1 10s ; candles, 000 lbs., value .Cl 7 10s. ; c mphine oil, GOO lbs., value X's ; common oil, 800ibs., value £3 fa. Bd. ; gas. £% in value ; and ashes, £l 13s. 4d.— making n total of £91 His. Id. (Cheers.) These Mr. Owen held forth as the results of his operations ; and he added that when (he peat was e'eared away, the soil below was found to be co suturated with ammonia as to be invaluable for the purposes of agriculture. Now theie could be no doubt lhat such results had been attained ; but taking that only the half of what was stated to be true, it was manih-st that the greatest benefit must be confeircd upon Irelnud (Hear.) This was not theory ; but the results of experiments lhat had been made. Sluuld all — or even a considerable part — of what is here promised be attained — (and Lord Asiilky is too judicious and conscientious a philanthropist to excite such hopes, unless he was fully convinced in Ins own judgment that they were likely, if not certain, to be ieali/cd,) — a new day may be hailed as dawing on impovetished Ireland ; — there will be a developement of natural lcsources for her benefit sin passing in magnitude anything for which our own New Zealand Phormium Tcnax has hitherto been rendered available, and perhaps, in some respects, more conducive to her permanent elevation and real advancement, than if her attractive but delusive Wicklow Gold Mines were to prove as productive as those of California. The results of fiuthei trial avill be awaited with deep interest.

The pressure on our space compels the further postponement of several Summaries of Intelligence, and Extracts from the papers lately received. We shall, however, pull up all arrears as speedily as we can. The news of most immediate inteiest has already been laid before our readeis.