At a meeting convened by the National Trust and kg
Grbst,enoi Hobse on Thursday, the Duke of Westminster in the chair, a movement was started for the purchase of the Lakes of Killarney as a national park. We most sincerely hope that the appeal to the public for funds will be successful, for no better subject for the activity of the National Trust could possibly be found. We should prefer to see the bulk of the money raised by public subscription in England, but we think that the Government have a reasonable excuse for giving their aid in this case. There is little or no public land in Ireland, such as the New Forest, Windsor Park, or the other Royal forests, and the Irish Crown property in the shape of quit rents and other dues is rapidly being com- muted and reinvested, not in Irish, but in English land. As a correspondent of the Dublin Daily Express points out, this is not equitable. We do not see why some of the money obtained for Crown quit rents should not be laid out at Killarney, in purchasing any part of the Muckross demesne which may be capable of making a return. In any case, Ireland ought to have a tract of public land answering to the New Forest.
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