LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE SCILLY ISLANDS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1
SIR,--1 have read with interest your article on the Island of Achill, in the Spectator of June 30th. You no doubt know that many years ago the late Mr..Augustus Smith, wishing to own a domain in which no one could interfere with him, bought the Scilly isles from the Duke of Leeds, the property being a leasehold under the Duchy of Cornwall. He was a benevolent despot, and his first act was to reduce, as soon as, possible, the population, which—as in Achill—was redundant, by one half. He emigrated his subjects, and then set to work to improve the condition of the remainder. From being a nearly starving population, subsisting upon a little fishing and a good deal of wrecking, he converted them into com- fortable agriculturalists. When I was there twenty years ago there was an agricultural society, and now many of the in- habitants are market-gardeners, and export large quantities of narcissus to Covent Garden. This is the result of the emigration system ; but Mr. Smith spent a large sum of money in the operation. Who will do that for Achill P Moreover, the Celts of Cornwall do not seem to have the same passion for their home as those of Connaught. But Achill, as the late disaster has shown, is in the habit of temporarily migrating to England. Why should not this custom be encouraged, as it will be, by the construction of the railway ? Some three years ago when a railway was spoken of, and Mr. Balfour was in that neighbourhood, he asked a man whom he met on the shore whether many fish came in. "Sure, why would they resort here whin there's no railway to take them away ? " was the answer. No doubt the fishing and fish-curing industry should be encouraged by just sufficient pecuniary assistance to put heart into the people. As for the tourists, no better advertisement could be framed than a cheap re. publication of Dean Hole's account of his tour in Ireland, written many years ago, which I read again with great pleasure and appreciation (for I know Ireland well) only the
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