IRELAND AS A TOURIST RESORT.
[Td TEE EDITOB OF THE 4. ens c TAToa.-1 Sin,—The King's visit to Ireland is bound, as did the Gordon-Bennett Cup motor race, to draw universal attention this year to the great improvement that has of late taken place in Ireland as a tourist resort. There was a time when the loveliest features of the country were an abso- lutely sealed book to the British and foreign tourist. The hotels were bad, and railway accommodation decidedly defective. Little or nothing was done to remedy these evils, nor was any attempt made to bring home either to Englishmen or to foreigners the marvellous wealth of scenic beauty to be found in many parts of Ireland. Few visited the country in those days unless they were drawn thither by the hope of cheap sport or free fishing. Good hotel accommodation was therefore confined. to the large towns, and to a few popular fishing centres. A striking revolution has taken place within the last ten years. The local movement was started by the Irish Tourist Development Association, and the London and North-Western Railway Company came manfully to their assistance. The service between Euston and Holyhead was accelerated and improved to such an extent that London may be left at half -past eight or eleven in the morning and Dublin reached by the Kingstown route at half-past five, or by the North Wall at half-past eight, the same evening. Both the London and North-Western Railway and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company have so enlarged their steamers that the two services between Holyhead and Kingstown and Holyhead and Dublin run the finest cross-channel vessels afloat. Those that ply between Holyhead and Kingstown are the most rapid, being able to per- form the sea-passage of sixty-four miles in two hours and three- quarters. Kingstown is now brought into direct communica- tion with all parts of Ireland. Wexford and New Ross have long been the two termini of the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wex- ford Railway. The latter will in the course of the next few weeks be connected by rail with Waterford, which will enable through trains to be run to Cork, and give an alternative route to the South of Ireland through the exquisite scenery of the Wicklow Mountains. Through trains, which include break- fast and dining carriages, now run from Kingstown to Cork, Galway, Belfast, and Londonderry. These lines have of late years been extended to Valencia Harbour, the nearest point of the mainland to the American Continent, and Kenmare, on Bantry Bay; to Clifden, in County Galway, and to Achill, in County Mayo; to Burton Port and to Carndonagh, in County Donegal, the one situated on the West Coast, and the other in the wild mountains of Innishowen. No part of Ireland is therefore out of reach of the railway. Lord Iveagh and Mr. Pirrie propose to supplement these services by a well-organised system of motor-ear communication, radiating from different centres, and thus bring each nook and corner of Ireland into direct touch with the markets of England and of the civilised world. Steamers ply upon Ireland's rivers and Ireland's lakes. Enniskillen may be approached from Castle Cauldwell, on Lough Erne; the Shannon may be viewed from Carrick-on-Shannon, in County Leitrim, to Athlone, on the borders of Westmeath, in one day; whilst on the following the river trip may be extended by Clonmacnoise, with its seven churches, through Lough Derg, the widest expanse of water in the United Kingdom, to Killaloe, in County Clare, one of the loveliest trips Ireland can afford. Other steamers connect Kilrush with Tarbert, with Foynes, and with Limerick, on the Lower Shannon. The Blackwater, often described as "the Irish Rhine," is navigable up to Cappoquin, in County Waterford, and
this town is connected by steamer with Youghal, in County Cork, a short but lovely excursion of twelve miles. A Com- pany has also been formed for the purpose of placing and maintaining a steam-launch on the river Boyne for the accommodation of tourists and antiquarians who wish to explore this historic country. The trip will be from Oldbridge, where the battle was fought, to the village of Slane and back. Furthermore, a regular and daily steamer service is in opera- tion on Carlingford Lough, between County Down and County Louth, which enables visitors at Greenore to see the unrivalled scenery of the County Down mountains, of Warrenpoint, and of Rostrevor. The service from Greenore itself to Euston or to Belfast has been furthermore so accelerated that it is now possible for those who choose this, the most rapid route to the North and North-West of Ireland, to leave London at half- past six in the evening and to arrive at Belfast at ten minutes to eight the following morning.
No reference to the development of Ireland as a tourist resort would be complete which did not pay some tribute to the vast improvement which has taken place in Irish hotel accommodation, especially within the last few years. The London and North-Western Railway have done their part both at the North Wall in Dublin and at Greenore. The Great Southern and Western have now undertaken the management of the new hotels at Caragh Lake, Waterville, Parknasilla, and Kenmare, in County Kerry. Ca.stletown Berehaven, on the shores of Bantry Bay, is now thrown open to the tourist by a service of coaches from Glengarriff, and by the opening of the "Fleet Hotel." Nearly every popular centre in Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, -Galway, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, and Wicklow may be visited with comfort. New hotels in touch with modern needs are also springing up throughout the country, which must become in time as accessible to the tourist as the most popular resorts of the Continent of Europe.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Aileen:Turn Club, S.W.
V. HUSSEY WALSH.
[We are delighted to hear of such a record of progress; but we trust that the keepers of the new type of hotel will not be disheartened if for the first two or three years their hotels do not fill up.as rapidly as they would like. It takes time to get people to realise that good hotel accommodation exists. When once, however, people know that they will be com- fortable at such-and-such a place, they will go there almost as much for the good hotel as for the scenery.—En. Spectator.]
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