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ITS EFFECTS. 



two cases in which the operations have been com- 

 pleted : — 



The benefits to the country generally of these great 

 drainage operations, are of the highest importance. 

 The area of flooded and injured lands, estimated to be 

 drained or improved, amounts to 300,000 acres, "that 

 for a large portion of the year were only the fit resort 

 of wild ducks," and are now expected to be converted 

 into rich and fertile plains, fresh and unexhausted. 

 The general amelioration of the climate by the drainage 

 of such an extensive evaporating surface may be ex- 

 pected to be very considerable. In the counties of 

 Mayo and Galway, I had an opportunity of riding over 

 many hundred acres of fine alluvial land, laid dry by 

 these works, and can therefore testify to their value. 

 In some of them the depth of the main drains had not 

 secured a sufficient outfall for the perfect drainage of 

 the adjoining lands ; and wherever this is the case, the 

 effect produced will fall short of what the owners were 

 entitled to expect when they pledged themselves for the 

 repayment of the sums advanced. But, on the whole, 

 the system is one peculiarly adapted for the manage- 

 ment of a Government board, involving as it does such 

 a multiplicity of interests, — mill-owners, county bridges, 



