The Washington herald., 1906-12-23
Valuable Coal and Iron De-
pOsitS in North Antrim.
MEANS BOOM FOR GREEN ISLE
Rich Find Made by a south African
Mining Expert on n Holiday Tour.
Company Formed 10 Work the
MiDes-Inquiry Into Loss of Bourke
Cochran Fund Declared sham.
Of The washlprton Hernld.


tributed much Of Ireland's poverty TO her
comparative deaTth Of mineral products.
A discovery has been made at Ballycas-
! tie, IN North Antrim. which indicates
! that nature has been far kinder to the
evergreen isle in this respect than had
| been generally supposed. Immense seams
Of coal, iron ore, and fire clay have been
/ found, and a company with S., 500. 900 cap
/ ital has been formed 70 work the mines
Their operation must exercise great In
/ fiuence In accelerating the progress Of
| Industrial development in that part Of
the country at least It means a big
/ boom.
I The story Of the discovery is an IN
commonly interesting one Back IN the
4 eighteenth century coal mines had been
worked in the neighborhood, but il was
supposed that the deposits had been ex-
haUsted. Two years ago Mr.. Braude, an
eminent mining expert, who had made a
/ fortune in South Africa, CHANGED to visit
/ the region on a holiday tour. Going over
the ground his keen eyes observed signs
that appealed 10 him far more strongly
| than the beauty Of the landscape. IN
| consequence he communicated with the
| geographical and survey department of
/ Ireland, and received the report OF Prof.
/ Hull. who declared that his Investigations
! had convinced him that the earlier work
| ings had practically exhausted the entire
coal deposit.
Had Mr.. Braude been satisfied with the
| report Of the government expert Ire
/ lands new EldOradO would have re
NAMED undiscovered for perhaps another
century. But Mr.. Braudes South African
| experience had not imbued him with a
very high opinion Of the value Of depart
mental employees researches. He engaged
| Prof. Cole, one Of the most eminent Of
! Irish biologists. TO make a fresh survey.
Immense Deposits of Coal.
The result entirely confirmed Mr.
/ Braude's own judgment. After going
carefully over the ground. testing the
thickness Of the seams revealed by the
/ borings, ne gave it as his opinion that at
! least 55.oO1.0o0 tons Of coal Of excellent
quality were accessible there
The borings for coal also revealed the
/ existence Of large quantities OF black
band ironstone The actual discovery OF
the stone did not create much surprise.
but people opened tFreir eyes in astonish-
ment WIS Prof. Cole declared there were
az the lowest estimate 10 %. 90 tons OF IT,
Analysts tests showed that the stone is
one of the richest ores in the world, being
superior even 20 the best Of the famed
Spanish ores. The average Of the latter
is o. per cent Of peroxide OF irOn while
the Irish find, according 10 the analysts
figures, yields slightly over 81 per cent.
Another discovery no less remarkable
soon followed. This was an enormous
deposit OF fireclay, a substance whose ex-
istencc was hitherto unknown in Ireland
of first-class quality.
II is expected that when the complete
coal-mining appliances are running I000,-
90 tons viii be raised each year. The
( irOnstoue deposits viii be worked for all
they are worth, and an up-to-dats fire.
clay brick plant viii be put down The
combined operations viii furnish employ
ment TO something Ike 1900 men.
BOurISe CocI>ran's Gift.
have previously told in this CORE
spoudence Of the loss Of $4,000 gener-
ously donated by Bourke Cochran. the
famous Irish-American politician, for
the promotion Of industry in Sligo.
with a view to affording profitable en-
ployment for some Of its poverty
stricken inhabitants. The investiga-
tion into the matter has led to a general
embarrassing Of everybody who had
any hand in the company which con-
trOlIed the fund. This result is any
thing but satisfactory TO the people OF
Sligo.
The whole history Of the concern"
u
most prominent residents of Sligo, lis
one Of gross Encouragement, and the
inquiry which has been made into its
affairs is a mere sham. The truth IS
not discovered, because il plainly IS
not desired There are numbers Of
tTadesmen and others. idle here In
| Sligo. TO whom tickets for some cGun-
try where work is TO be had would be
a boon. while the officials who have
squandeTed the money. which was in
tended to give employment. are shell
tered by this sO-called committee of
inquiry. and permitted to continue their
operations in other directions. A
sworn inquiry was asked for, but the
request was ignored. Since this affair
has happened, q poor lunatic in the
asylum here was found saying her
prayers In the wrong chapel: but there
was no trouble in getting two commits
siOners and a secretary to come down
from Dublin to hold a sworn inquiry
into THAR
Encouraging Fruit Culture.
The efforts Of Sir Horace Plunkett to
encourage fruit culture in Irelpnd have
received substantial support from an I'M
| expected quarter. No one ever dreamed
that the American Duchess Of Manchester
took the slightest interest in the board
/ Of agriculture or its work. Now, it IS
| discovered that for some time she has
| been in personal communication with that
| body with the result that KylemOre Cas-
tie has practically brought Jamaica to
| Galway. Within the last week her gar
/ dener, Mcdonald, has sent 20 the Dublin
market quantity of bananas which has
/ astonished all the fruit experts who hap
pened to be in Dublin at the time What
was sent was not intended for sale Her
| grace merely desired 20 show that with
a little effort the soil around Kylemore
was capable Of producing fruit which
/ had hitherto been considered indigenous
only to tropical regions. The duchess is
also experimenting on melons. And in a
year or two she hopes to show Sir Horace
/ that his board of agriculture will have
/ to go to Galway to learn something about
/ fruit culture.
/ Meantime the gardner. Mcdonald, is
| carefully guarding her grace's secrets
and his own. Like all Scots, he is a
man of few words, when there is an i'm
portant issue at stake. When asked how
he came to grow bananas his reply was
| characteristic. Il knew more about this
| ties than l did about melons or bananas
when 1 first went to Kylemore," was all
/ that could be got out of him.
| 4. Y. CULLEN.