"So large an increase in bank deposits and cash
balances," says the Report, "is highly satisfactory." It may be
added that the investments in Government and India Stock, on
which dividends were paid at the Bank of Ireland, at the end of
1882, amounted to not less than 31,804,000L.
It is proper that Ireland should be bountiful with her increasing
means. It has been stated that during the last eighteen years
her people have contributed not less than six millions sterling
for the purpose of building places of worship, convents, schools,
and colleges, in connection with the Roman Catholic Church, not
to speak of their contributions for other patriotic objects.
It would be equally proper if some of the saved surplus capital
of Ireland, as suggested by Mr. Parnell, were invested in the
establishment of Irish manufactures. This would not only give
profitable occupation to the unemployed, but enable Ireland to
become an increasingly exporting nation. We are informed by an
Irish banker, that there is abundance of money to be got in
Ireland for any industry which has a reasonable chance of
success. One thing, however, is certain: there must be perfect
safety. An old writer has said that "Government is a badge of
lost innocence: the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of
the bowers of paradise." The main use of government is
protection against the weaknesses and selfishness of human
nature.
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