to both gentlemen for the most interesting and valuable 

 Papers they had read. No man in Ireland was more entitled 

 to speak on industrial subjects than Mr. Bloomfield, because 

 no one had made greater efforts in that direction than he 

 had. It was more than a quarter of a century since he had 

 been associated with him in an effort for the extension of 

 railway accommodation in Ireland, and for the State to 

 purchase the railways ; it was a great misfortune for Ireland 

 that this was not done, and also for the State, because they 

 would have paid very well. He was very glad indeed for the 

 sake of the fisheries to find that Mr. Bloomfield had taken up 

 this question, and everyone who had heard the Paper would 

 agree with him that he had dealt with it in a very 

 exhaustive manner. He was sorry to be obliged to say, 

 that there were very few men occupying a high social 

 position in Ireland who took any practical interest in this 

 question, and, therefore, Mr. Bloomfield's Paper was all 

 the more welcome. The Paper read by Mr. Walsh was also 

 of a most important character. He was practically engaged 

 in the fishery enterprise in the south of Ireland, and had 

 shown how it could be made to pay. The interest in this 

 subject was not confined to Ireland, it was of national 

 importance when one considered the vast amount of fish 

 consumed in the United States. He had taken great 

 trouble to prepare a statement, which he would put before 

 the House of Commons, showing the aggregate amount of 

 fish consumed in the United States, and it amounted to the 

 enormous quantity of 1 2 millions a year : that was chiefly 

 sea fish, and was entirely independent of importations from 

 Norway, Newfoundland, or elsewhere, in the preserved 

 condition. Out of that total the amount captured by. 

 Englishmen was 8 millions sterling, Scotland 3 millions, 

 and not more than half a million for Ireland, and of that 



