1908-1909.]
COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC WORKS IN IRELAND.
7 Your Lordships were pleased to allow us to carry out this work in the winter of 1908 out of savings available.
The work was practically all unskilled and very suitable for men of the " unemployed " class.
The relief Committee of the Corporation of Dublin sent a large number of men for several weeks, who were paid out of relief funds, we supplying supervision and plant and tools The preparation of the ground marked out for shrubberies and plantations has been carried out, and the planting will be taken up at the right season.
Advantage has been taken of the change of position of the statue to give it a pedestal of County Dublin granite, thus increasing its former height by about three feet and making it much more conspicuous and easy to see at all times.
This change has the approval of the survivor of the two artists who were respon¬ sible for the design of the statue.
Strong lights have been placed in suitable positions, and the illumination is now quite adequate.
Screen Plantations .—
Two small plantations of laurel have been formed near the boundary wall on the back road.
Football Grounds, &c.—The
number of applications received during the season for the use of grounds for Association football, Gaelic football, and Gaelic hurling, were respectively as follows:—
Association Football, ...
...
...
2,507 Gaelic Football, 103 Gaelic Hurling, ...
...
...
39 Motor Driving in the Park.—The
negligent and furious driving to which reference was made in our last Report has recently shewn signs of abatement, and the co-operation of the Press, especially of the motoring papers, and of the Irish Automobile Club has had a salutary influence, but the necessity for exercising vigilance still continues.
Old Map of the Park.—The
Office of Woods and Forests recently transmitted to us a copy, made in 1828, of a Map of the Park made in 1772; and as it seems to us to be of general interest, we publish a reduced reproduction of it (in the frontispiece).
The map shews how the lodges in the Park were then occupied by the Ranger, the Bailiff, and the Keepers.
The Ranger of the Park in 1772, who occupied what is now the Viceregal Lodge, was the Right Hon.
Nathaniel Clements, M.P.
for County Leitrim, Deputy Vice-Treasurer of Ireland.
He died in 1777, and was succeeded as Ranger by his son Robert Clements, who was created succes¬ sively Baron Leitrim, Viscount Leitrim, and Earl of Leitrim.
General Cunningham, then M.P.
for Monaghan, was Deputy Keeper of the Park for Lord George Sackville, son of the Duke of Dorset; the Duke was Lord Lieutenant 1731-1737.
General Cunningham was afterwards granted a pension of £300 a year in consideration of the sums expended by him when Deputy Keeper in draining, planting, and enclosing the grounds, and building additions to the house and offices of Ashtown Lodge.
In 1796 he was created Baron Rossmore.
The Mr.
Gardiner named in the map, Luke Gardiner, succeeded his father, the Right Hon.
Charles Gardiner, in 1769 as one of the Keepers of the Park and of Castleknock Lodge and walk.
He was created Baron Mountjoy in 1789 and Viscount Mountjoy in 1795, and was killed in defending New Ross against the rebels in 1798.
Sir John Blacquiere was Chief Secretary in 1772, was appointed Bailiff of the Park in 1775, and granted the Walk and Lodge called the Bailiff's Lodge.
The Deputy Ranger's Lodge is now included in the buildings of The Zoological Gardens.
The historic " Fifteen Acres " behind the Chief Secre¬ tary's Lodge is separately shown as a part of the much larger area now known by that name; it was then the favourite resort for duelling.
The Hibernian Military School was in existence.
The large space east of the principal road through the Park and close to the position now occupied by the Gough Statue, was known as Lord Wharton's Fortification.
It comprised 19 acres of ground afterwards levelled and now used by the Cricket Clubs.
The Magazine was then in existence, but the " Camp Ground " and Batteries beside it have been converted into Football and Hurling grounds.
The total area within the Park wall was then 1,759a.
Or.
22p.
statute.
