and it is only when one works out the details of storage reservoirs, even on a small scale, that one realises the futility of the effort to carry out this dream so much be loved by certain revivalists.

Let us turn then to the other possible sources of power on a large scale. Immediately our attention is rivetted by the peat promoters who have for the last few years kept up a strident shriek, varied intermittently by a bean sidhe wail of the most heart-breaking kind. There is no use in running away from the facts with regard to the past history of peat development in this country. Everyone who has touched peat so far has burnt his fingers, if we except the London company promoters who seem to come out always on the right side. One of the attempts made to develop down towards the Bog of Allen was to dry the peat electrically and then sell it as a substitute for coal.

A large company was floated, "experimented," and then sank out of sight and the public mind in the usual way. There now appears to be a recrudescence of peat mania, but this time in a far more practical form. It is now suggested that a large power station could be erected in some bog district within, say, 30 miles of Dublin, that the peat would be gasified in large producer plants, electrical energy being produced on a large scale and then transmitted to the city and the various factories which we are told would spring up in consequence of the provision of cheap power and the freedom from high rates that prevails in the rural districts of Leinster. The valuable by-products would be saved, and, as most of them have a considerable manurial value, they should command a ready sale at a reasonable price. Mr. Tomlinson, C.E., the leading spirit in the latest scheme, opines that the sale of the by-products would more than pay for the cost of getting out the fuel, and, at the same time, they could be utilised for fertilizing the bog as same was cut away and drained in the course of time. The methods adopted to dry the peat sufficiently to allow of its being used in the producers would be that of allowing the exhaust gases from the engines to circulate through it, presumably in pipes. It is regarding this detail that information from the promoters would be most welcome, as it is in the drying of the peat that the losses have been incurred in previous schemes.

However, to come to the crux of the situation. It is now generally recognised that it is impossible to work a central generating station on commercial lines unless its output is in the region of thousands of horse power, the more especialty as in any such scheme as that now proposed the overhead lines to towns and factories in the vicinity would swallow up a very large proportion of the capital required. In order to get anything like successful commercial results out of electrical, or, indeed, any other machinery it must be kept loaded up as fully as possible all the time it is running. Where is the load to come from in Ireland?

The few small industries we have already are in possession of their own plant and certainly could not be prevailed upon to sell it at a heavy loss. The chances of establishing what are more specifically called "Home Industries" in the Bog of Allen region seem to me to be very slight. then is the demand to come from?

Where,

If Irishmen had a thorough technical training such as is given in Germany and the other Continental countries, there would undoubtedly be a large number of young chemical students in this country working out the problem of a successful wood substitute made from peat. The wood · supply of the world is running out, and, notwithstanding re-afforestation societies and government replanting enactments, the available sources of supply of every kind of timber ale narrowing down. If Ireland could manufacture a cheap and reliable substitute for wood out of her peat, even a substance that would take the place of the other in a few of its present applications there would no longer be a doubtful future before the Gaelic race.

There is no use whatever in speculating on what could be done in this direction yet, however, and it rather behoves u to consider what can be done under the existing circumstances. If the Sinn Féin Policy does all that is claimed for it we should be in the position at the end of ten, or, nayhap, twenty years to train up young Irish experimental chemists and mineralogists to develop the resources of the country. At the present moment our industrial progress rust obviously be along the sound, tried and safe lines of our existing industries. Almost all of these, however, leaving Ulster out of the question for the nonce, are of such a nature as to require very little power, and we must re

n ember that a large power scheme operating within thirty miles of Dublin would have an additional handicap from the fact that it is hardly likely, nor ought it be allowed, to compete with the municipality. However, this objection is more fancied than real, as it is almost inconceivable that any manufacturer would build a new works in the city with its high and ever-increasing rates and want of facilities for expansion. No matter from what point of view we look at the matter, we are irresistibly forced to the conclusion that the time is far from ripe for large power development here on the lines above referred to.

There is, however, another means of working out the power problem. In a district where several spinning or weaving mills already exist and could be persuaded to cooperate to work a joint power scheme, the results should be eminently satisfactory. The undertaking could be worked on purely co-operative lines, the profits being divided amongst the various firms taking part in the scheme on the basis of their current consumption. This, I believe, has teen mooted in Denmark, and I heard of such a scheme in the North of France, but unfortunately had not time to inquire into it on the spot. By the way, in the North of France and parts of Belgium where textile industries are carried on, one will often see a "tapping" off the overhead Fower mains carried into the small house of a weaver who evidently works his loom by means of an electric motor. This combination of the advantages of home work with the up-to-date facilities of the factory ought to interest some of our philanthropic employers here in Ireland.

When the industries are floated in Ireland we need not trouble very much about the power, I believe, as the supply always follows the demand in these directions. The great difficulty is to persuade Irish investors to put their money into Irish undertakings, although the London outside brokers and wild-cat promoters will tell you that there is no more lucrative field for their business in Europe than our own "green" little island. If the Irish capitalist cannot be brought to see that the ultimate benefits accruing to him from investment in Ireland far outweigh such temporary disadvantages as small or perhaps non-existent dividends for a short term of years there is little prospect for this country industrially. Such co-operative schemes as have

been worked out by working men in the thrifty northern countries of the Continent would not be likely to succeed here under the present conditions, as the lack of business education, the bitterness of political and religious differences and the absolutely dishonest conception of credit which prevails would all militate against them. We have had a small

but nevertheless pitiful example of this in the capital.

As for the foreign capitalist idea, I believe this ranks in the economic field with the foreign aid heresy, of the political. It is surely absurd to expect the foreign financier, whether British, Continental, or Irish-American, to come into a civilised country with his money when he sees the intelligent inhabitants of that country investing in every cther square mile of the land surface of the globe, besides the very important factor of the British Government-fostered ignorance of our natural resources which blinds our own Feople, not to mention outsiders.

If the re-afforestation people had their way, they tell us, Ireland would be another Schwartzwald, teeming with industry, having a happy contented population, industrious, sober, thrifty and free from the "factory blight," but the curse of this land of ours has ever been the endeavour to walk before we creep in matters industrial, and we may safely leave Utopia out of the question for another twenty years to come. One small shop turning out penknives or blacking or plaster-of-Paris or electrical materials or any other article we require from time to time is worth all the dreams of all such dreamers who have ever glided across Erin's stage.

S. Ó huadaiġ.

The Fauna of Ireland.

In a

We are so frequently brought into contact with the animal world surrounding us, many of our industries are so dependent upon the creatures of this earth and they affect our lives in such manifold ways, that we ought to possess some knowledge of the various kinds of animals inhabiting our own country, that is to say, of our own fauna. short article like the present it would, obviously, be impossible to give anything but the leading features of our fauna. Under the term "Animals" I include all living creatures, a deer as well as a crow, a fish, or a butterfly. I confine my remarks simply to the animals found in Ire land in a wild state. It is generally recognised that we can distinguish among animals, those which possess backbone, such as the fi.st three I have referred to, and which are therefore called Vertebrate animals, and those like the snail, beetle or butterfly, in whose body no such backbone is found and which are known as Invertebrates.

The faunas of most islands differ from that of their neighbouring continent in being poorer in the number of species. To this rule Ireland is no exception. There are fewer kinds of animals than there are in England, just as there are again in England fewer kinds than are to be found on the Continent of Europe. Our Irish fauna, however, exhibits some features of extreme interest, some species being present which do not occur elsewhere in these islands, but are found in the south west of Europe, while Ireland can claim some also in common with northern countries.

Commencing with the highest class of Vertebrates, the beasts or mammals, we still find near Killarney the descendants of the wild Irish red deer, which, a few centuries ago, roamed all over the country. The marten, now nearly extinct in England, yet lingers with us in several counties. The fox, the badger, and the otter are fairly common, and cur stoat, commonly called weasel, is distinct from both stcat and weasel found in England, being somewhat inter