" Galway is the principal western terminus of
the Midland railway. It was once a famous city, but its glory has gone.
In 1831 its population was 33,000; to-day it is 13,000! Then, measured
by inhabitants, it was the fifth town in Ireland; now it is the eighth.
Then it had a large trade with Spain and France, and was a place of note
for general trade and commerce; now its harbour is almost idle, and its
warehouses and stores nearly empty. Many of its stately old houses have
disappeared, and those that remain are mostly now tenements of the poor.
Not so very long ago Galway had a trans-Atlantic steamship service, and
when the railway was opened in 1851, there was opened also a fine hotel
adjoining the station, which the company had built, chiefly for trans-
Atlantic business, at a cost of 30,000 pounds. It may be that better
times are in store. Some day great harbour works will adorn the bay of
Galway, from which fine steamers, forming part of an Imperial route to
our Dominions and beyond, shall sail, and shorten the Atlantic voyage. A
tunnel too, _uniting_ Great Britain and Ireland, may be made, which all
will agree, is "a consummation devoutly to be wished.
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