IRELAND AS A TOURIST RESORT.
[TO TIM EDITOR OP TER " SPRCTAIT011."]
SIR,—Once more I venture to draw the attention of your readers to the steady progress that is being made every year in throwing Ireland open to the British tourist.
The new service inaugurated last year between Heysham, in Lancashire, and Belfast can now boast of four steamers. Two of these, the `Antrim' and the `Donegal,' are twin-screws, whilst
the other two, the ` Londonderry' and the ` Manxman,' are worked by turbines, and attain a speed varying from twenty-two to
twenty-three knots an hour. The outward service leaves St.
Pancras at 5 and Heysham at 11 in the evening, and arrives at Belfast at 5.30, Portrush at 9.5, and Londonderry at 9.45 the following morning; whilst the return service leaves Londonderry at 5.35, Portrush at 6.5, and Belfast at 9 in the evening, arriving at Heysham at 4.25 and at St. Pancras at 10.40 the next day. A new service has also been opened between Heysham and the North Wall, Dublin.
When we reach Ireland itself we are able to record important improvements on the Great Northern Railway. The extension of the line from Banbridge to Ballyroney on to Castlewellan and its connexion with Newcastle throws open one of the loveliest districts in Ireland to the tourist. Trains are run now from Belfast direct to Newcastle, whilst the railway journey from Dublin to Newcastle is shortened by sixty miles, or three and a half hours. The Mourne Mountains have also been rendered still more accessible by a motor-car service which runs along the coast
vid Kilkeel, and so unites Newcastle with Warrenpoint. A motor- rail service has been established between Belfast and Lisburn;
and this taken in conjunction with the ordinary trains makes the service a half-hourly one. If we go still further afield, we find Lord Leitrim has enlarged his golfing hotel at Rosapenna, on the shores of Sheephaven, in the neighbourhood of some of the beet links and finest coast scenery in North-West Donegal. It now accommodates a hundred visitors, and will be further enlarged this winter.
The new Great Western service to Ireland by Fishguard and Rosslare will shortly be opened, and it will be then possible to • leave Paddington at 8.45, arriving at Waterford at 6.30 and at
Cork at 9.15 by the day or night services. Admirable arrange- ments are also being made for dealing with the coal and cattle
traffic at Fishguard, where the Great Western Railway have furthermore opened the Wyncliffe Hotel. As Fishguard is only fifty-four nautical miles from Rosslare, the twenty-two-and-a-half- knot turbine steamers will be able to cover the distance in much less than three hours. I need hardly add that the London and North-Western Railway, and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, continue to maintain their admirable services between Holyhead, Dublin, and Kingstown.
—I am, Sir, &c., V. HUSSEY WALSH.
.Athenwurn Club, Pall Mall, S.W.
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