‘works worse than idleness;’ by the yeomanry of Ulster as ‘public follies;’ and by the Inspector of the Government himself, Colonel Douglas, as ’works which will answer no other purpose than that of obstructing the public conveyances.’” The calamity was great, but he did not, he said, despond.  “We, who at one period of the war were expending, upon an average, for three years, L103,000,000 sterling a-year, will not be downhearted at having to provide for a deficiency and for a disaster that may be estimated at L10,000,000.”  He quoted the two Commissions above referred to, and said that railway Acts had been passed for 1,523 miles of railway, whilst at the moment he was speaking only 123 miles were completed, 164 miles being in course of construction.  There must, he thought, be some weakness in Ireland up to this, as 2,600 miles of railway had been constructed in England and Scotland, and Acts passed for 5,400 miles more—­8,000 miles in all.  The denseness of population, said his lordship, is in favour of Ireland as against England and Scotland.  “But, Sir,” he continued, “perhaps you will tell me this may be a very good argument as far as population is concerned, but what is the use of population if they have no means of paying for their conveyance by railways?  Sir, my friend, who sits beside me (Mr. Hudson) will tell you that in all railway speculation population is held to be the first element of success—­property second,”

He then went on to show that the traffic upon the Irish railways already opened, was greater than upon the English and Scotch lines.  This argument met the assertions of some persons, who said that if money were advanced to make Irish railways they would never pay; and it would be asked, if they are paying, why not have them done by private enterprise?  Lord George confessed that he could not answer this question satisfactorily, but English capitalists would not come forward, partly, he thought, through distrust, and partly through ignorance, whilst the calamity of the Famine had, of course, a great effect in preventing the small amount of Irish capital which did exist from coming forward.  The prejudice which English capitalists had against investing in Irish undertakings, is strikingly illustrated by a fact stated by Lord George in the course of his speech.  It was this:  the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland was one of the many the completion of which was arrested by want of funds, yet a portion of it was open for traffic.  He compared it with a well known English railway.  The Irish one, he said, had cost in its construction L15,000 per mile; the English, upwards of L26,000 per mile; the weekly traffic on the two railways, allowing for some difference in their extent, was about the same on both, varying in amount from L1,000 to L1,300 per week; yet the unfinished British railway was at L40 premium in the market,—­the unfinished Irish one at L2 discount.