Enormous sums have been spent on harbours and
steamers by English companies for the purpose of developing traffic with
Ireland, and the increased interchange of goods has been of great
advantage to both countries. The ideal put forward by advocates of
railway nationalisation and Irish independence, that in respect of trade
and traffic Ireland should be a sort of watertight compartment,
self-supporting and self-contained, is, I submit, a mischievous delusion
which, if put into practice, would undo much of the good progress
Ireland has recently made. Such an ideal would also be the exact
contrary of the line of national development as based on transit and
transport followed in almost every other civilized country. In Germany,
Canada, the United States, and Australia, we see the policy consistently
pursued of amalgamation, consolidation, and facilities for long-distance
traffic, so that between all parts of each State and Empire there shall
be the freest and most perfect interchange of traffic. Canada and the
United States have been so far inspired by this principle as to spend
countless millions first on East and West (and now on North and South)
lines, even before there was traffic to carry, and in order to create
traffic; and the principle has been justified in its results.
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