Ireland.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 214, 11 September 1886, Page 3

Ireland.

BY REV, JOHN HALL, D.D., L.L.11,

The attention now given to Ireland may justify the occupation of this column w 11 some information regarding the land and the people The writer would not willingly colour or misplace tho facts, nor write in the spirit of a partisan; and anything that legislation en do for his native land—doar to him, and ohorished aa i-ne is—ho would most heartily welcome. On tho merits of tho controversies now pending he does not enter. Only thete general statements may be made : England has undoubtedly m,ado mistakes in her nanagoinent of tho nation, and sho is now —according to the law of retribution all the world over—paying the penalty. These mistakes were largely those of the time. There are doctrines of regulated liberty which no notion carried out to tho extent now recog.46 d as right, a century oge. And finally, there are ills in many communities which no amount of law-making by itself, can cure. Other agencies must co-operate with the legislatures to secure health and peace in tho Emerald Isle. Ireland lies within 60 miles of England, has our ocean on the other three sides, and1 has a surface of about twenty millions of acres, a fair proportion of mountains, nono above three thousand five hundred feet high, at d of " bog " mostly rolaimablo in time, is offset by fine harbours, very eood rivers, and a fair amount of land notsubjectto drought ;■ and, with reasonable care eood for crops and grazing. Tho population has been as high as 8,175,124 in 1841. From 1545 onward, owing to potato disease and consequent bad times, emigration went on till 18S1, when the census showed a reduction of, as nearly as possible, three millions, or 374 per cent. This emigration continues, with fluctuating rates, mainly to the United States. There are emigrants also to Canada and to Australia. The facilities for obtaining: high education are considerable ; and many of leland's young men go to the army, the navy and the civil service in India, in which they are doing well.We commonly read of " Great Britain and Ireland," a phraserestingprobnbly on the ex-

i-stence since the beginning of the century of the united "Imperial Parliament." To that body Ireland has sent 105 as against 60 from Scotland, and from England 4G3. If we made population the standard, the change would not be ac large aa twenty in either case. If revenues be the test Ireland would lose nearly forty. Irish peers can be elected to the Commons; English and Scotch cannot. The clergy of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, all government contractors, ani sheriffs and returning officers are shut out from Parliament. Every other man over twenty-one may go in if he can only get the voteß. Glancing at the revenues from local taxation of the " three kingdoms ' as men still cay in som« quarters, the proportions of England, Scotland, and Wales were In 1881 respectively (in round numbers) 53, 6, and 4 million sterling. It ia just possible that this element will be of consequence in any future changes in Irish administration. For in 1881 the outlay was for England 53, for Scotland 6, and for Ireland 3 million.

The executive government of Ireland is, in part, in the hands of a Lord-Lieutenant, appointed by the ministry in power, and have a ealary f 20,000 a year, the whole of it, and often a groat deal more, it is said, laid out in Ireland. Minor appointments, mostly held by Irishmen, cost about £10,0C0 a year. All the judges, with salaries from £8,000 a year downward, are Irishmen. So are the lieutenants of the countries, by whom grand jurors and high sheriffs—who all do duty for the "honour and glory" of the thing—are named. Local taxation for the poor and the roads is in the hands of these gontlemen, but the "guardian" are chosen by the people. Ireland had, in 1881, only three cities

with over ;50,000 of a population—Dublin, Belfast and Cork. It has loes than uno-ha!f the people to the square mile than England has It has good fisheries, of which the most is not made, and it has, it is believed, iron and coal mines, and much productive land, out of which more mighfc be gained th.in ia realised at present Until comparatively lately, educational facilities did not exist through government care. The same was true of England, the Established Church having education in a good degree, in her hands. Now there is a good system of elementary education -nanaged under a body of Commissioners, ono half Protestant, and one half Roman Catholic. No neighborhood need be without a school, and any child can get education withont his religion being interfered with, Ii is mixed secular, and separate religiouf, instruotirn. In 1882, seven thousand seven hundred and five echoole were in operation, with an attendance of nearly half a million. They would have accommodated two hundred thousand more. The parliamentary grant from this system in 1883 was £760,000 while Scotland had only £i 83,000 This outlay does not include the Queen's Collegep, combined in a university, and open to all, nor two other universities resting sn local foundations. One result is that the percentage of; the illiterates between fifteen and twenty years of age fell from 27-3 in 1861 to 124 in 1881. A result of this progress ia education is the higher place than in former years thut emigrants can now take in the United States. Of the

105,743 who quitted Ireland in 1883 the great majority could read and write. The people of Ireland, it is well known, are not one in religioD. Tbis is dua, historic cally, to the colonising from England and Scotland, the latter having sent many, people to Ulster. The Roman Catholics included 78" per cent of the people, the remainder being nearly equally divided between Episcopalians and Presbyterians. AH are now, since 1871, without endowments from the State, although Protestants retain some solid advantages from the faniebed establishment.

One of the great causes of trouble in Ireland has been the tenure of land. All of it was in the hands of landlords, the majority by early grants from the Crown, the rest by purchase in later timeß. To theß6 tenants paid t rent in this generation running from three to five dollars an acre, except in rich grazing districts or the neighbourheod of towns, where it was often higher. In Uleter, and all over the country, the tenants paid email rents at the beginning, but on the expiration of their thirtyone-year leases, when the landlord proposed to raise their rents, they said, with Scottish pluck: "Why, it is our toil that has made them more valuable, and you propose to make us pay for thai !" When the landlords held out, the farmers joined together, sent their representatives to tho ports, chartered ships—not quite equal to present ocean steamers—and tnado their way to the James River and other American ports, and from 1720 onward (tho leases beginning after 1G88) brought a certain proportion of mental musclo_ to Pennsylvania and neighbouring regions. In some degree owing to this ttand, there grew up a tacir.ly allowed "tenant right" in Ulster, so that a farmer emigrating or going to a town could sell his land, subject to, say, five dollars an acre of cnnual rent to the landlord, for 75 to 100 dollars an acre to another tenant. By pometent effort the Ul?ter people at length secured a Patfiamentary title to the:r improvinente. In the other provinces improvements were not iv tho samo degree. Th 6 people wero rather more dependent on the landlords, who often divided up fauna among the Eons af tenants to increase the number of votes they could control It is fair to add that after the bad times —beginning in 1545-largo tracts of "encumbered" land were cold in small quantitios undor a parliamentary commission, and many of these wore bought by successful business and professional men, who in fairness ought not to bo regarded In the samo light with the descendants of those who obtained, for more er lees cause, royal grants in patt generations. Wo only add, in concluding this statement - which iray give more dc-finito idois to students of tho passing etrugglo—that while paupershave increased in ton years from 70 050 to 115.C54 in ISS3, committals for trial have gone down from 4,454 in 1573 to 4,301 in ISS3.