(878) "Can you state from the general feeling of the country, what evil consequence will be the result of the failure?--Taking the failure," says the witness, "in connexion with the years of famine, I think the consequence will be to drive the classes which have been hitherto industrious and economical in their habits, to vice and wickedness, because the dissipated characters who have saved nothing, or did not take the trouble of saving, now look upon the poor industrious creature who has been cheated, laugh at him, and tell him that they have spent their own money, while the industrious man has had somebody else to spend his for him." The agitation was at its height in Tralee when news came that the neighbouring Savings Bank at Killarney had stopped payment. Mr. Pratt had not even finished his awards in the one case before he was required to investigate this fresh iniquity. It would seem that the exposure of the one actuary had led to closer investigation on the part of the trustees of the Killarney bank, and the earlier development of the fraudulent proceedings of the other official. Here again the frauds were found to be of an ingenious character, and might have been continued over an indefinite period, but that the trustees were compelled by the force of public opinion in the neighbourhood to do the work they had taken upon themselves. As it was, the deficiency was found to amount to 20,000_l._: the entire liabilities of the Killarney bank were 36,000_l._, but the money in hand and the property of the actuary, who decamped, which was calculated to realize about 5000_l._, reduced the loss to the former sum. As the average amount due to each person was 45_l._ we may well conclude that the majority of the depositors were of the poorer classes. Though the real loss was less than in the case of the Tralee Bank, the bank at Killarney was found to have been managed with greater carelessness; the trustees and managers professed to make a yearly audit of accounts, but this to all intents and purposes meant nothing more than taking the actuary's word for everything. The details of this fraud have never, so far as we can find, been made the subject of a searching public investigation, so that little more is known than that the frauds in question were of the usual character. Mr. Pratt, in a short report which he presented to the Lords of the Treasury after he had visited the place, said that he found the one case to be very similar to the other (Tralee), both as regards the actuary and the managers. In both cases the accounts of the treasurer were correct, and in both had the trustees grossly neglected their duties. Here again he made awards against the bank to a large amount, and in one respect these awards were much called in question. This public officer received much blame, both in and out of Parliament, for the character of his decision, whereas it seems quite