PRESENCE OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT ENGINEER, 197 



cost of production and profits realized will be found fully 

 explained by the explanations which follow. 



After getting paid £750 for my right of patents for Italy, 

 and an order for £2,000 worth of machinery, I visited my 

 native city, Armagh, Ireland, on the 10th July, 1854, and 

 brought with me a large assortment of specimens of Flax, 

 hemp, and Indian fibres, and after they had been examined 

 by the trade and editor of the Armagh Guardian^ I agreed 

 to return the next month, and to give a lecture on the 

 subject, before the members of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of Ireland, at its annual meeting in Armagh ; but as business 

 prevented my attendance, I sent forward three cases of 

 specimens which, including cases, cost me above £12, 

 directed to the secretary of the Agricultural Society, for 

 exhibition, but through the stupid neglect of the railway 

 officials, my case was overlooked until the show was 

 over. In consequence I wrote the following letter for 

 publication. 



IRISH RAILWAY OFFICIALS AND THE MODE OF PERFORMING 



DUTY. 



To the Editor of the "Armagh Guardian" 



"Dear Sir,—- It is much to be regretted, that whatever 

 opportunity presents itself for opening up a way to improve- 

 ments of any kind, but more particularly in matters connected 

 with the agricultural and manufacturing interest of Ireland — 

 for instance, the Agricultural Show of the 9th, 10th, and 

 11th instant, which called forth all sorts of Irish production— 

 that men are selected for office whose incapacity or inatten- 

 tion to their duty retards the working out such resources. 

 Unfortunately for Ireland, employment or situations for the 

 middle classes are scarce, and it too frequently happens, as we 



