THE IRISH TOURIST TRAFFIC. (To THE EDITOR or THE "sracreloa."1
SIR,—A certain amount has been done this year to improve the tourist traffic in Ireland, although up to now the weather which prevailed during June has prevented the season from being as prosperous as it was last year under the influence of exceptional sunshine and the royal visit.
Passengers to the North of Ireland by Holyhead and Greenore will be able to leave Euston at 8.45, instead of at 7.30, which will bring such towns as Dundalk, Portadown, Belfast, and Londonderry into closer contact with Euston. The Great Western Railway have started a new service by Birkenhead, Liverpool, and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company steamers to Dublin and then on to Londonderry and Belfast, returning to Paddington by a direct service to Liverpool and Birkenhead. The tour to Dublin and Belfast alone costs £4 3s. 6d. first, £217x. 3d. second, and £2 4s. 3d. third class.
The best work, however, that is being done is to improve the Irish roads, which had deteriorated in several counties when the old Grand Juries gave way to County and Dis- trict Councils. Those who motored in Ireland last year also complained of the want of sign-posts on cross-country roads. The Automobile Association is now rendering very good service by marking roads and hills as well as by advising the county surveyors in their schemes for improving their surface. This year a very considerable advance is being made in County Donegal, where new hotels have been opened. The manager of the Rosapenna Hotel has undertaken to improve and enlarge the Gweedon Hotel, and has opened a new hotel at Londonderry, which is proving a marked success. The Road Board has given subventions to improve the condition of the roads in County Cork, and has promised the Kerry County Council £12,000, which will help them to put their part of the road from Killarney to Bantry, which had not proved strong enough for the heavy motor coaches, into proper condition. It is hoped that their help will enable the other County Councils to make Irish country roads equal to those of England and France. The absence of heavy traffic makes it all the easier to keep these roads up to the mark as soon as the initial work has been accomplished, and there are few countries where cross-country motoring does more to make the serious student understand the great revolution which land purchase is effecting in the comfort and well-being of the
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