7 FEBRUARY 1925, Page 2

The Manchester Guardian correspondent calculates that at least another half-million

will be needed from private charity if disaster is to be averted between now and the, new potato crop in June. It seems that these famines will continue to be periodic while the present condition of the West of Ireland continues. It is described as "one vast agricultural slum " ; the small holdings being quite inadequate to maintain the population. The only solution is to spread the people from these congested areas on to other parts of the country. The Free State has already passed a Land Act to assist this emigration, but the peasant, it seems, is unwilling to move.