THE CENSUS OF IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 130, 29 October 1875, Page 13

THE CENSUS OF IRELAND.

The final results of the late census of Ireland have iusfclaeen published m a series of tables showing the "area, houses, and population ; the ages, civil condition, occupations, birth-places, religion and education of the people." A large amount of valuable and interesting information is, therefore, contained in these tables. Ail that _ relates to Ireland must be of deep interest to every UithoJic m those realms, and wo feel sure that our readers will be fflad to have laid before them some of the most striking- results of tne census of 1871. Tho area of Ireland is 20,819,947 acres. From tMs we have to deduct about 000,000 acres for lakes and rivers, and tideways, and something over 4,000,000 for bog, was bo, and mountain. This leaves nearly 10,000,000 acres available for cultivation. Of this two-thirds, or about 10,000,000 acres, are in pasture, while only one-third is under tillage. The population, in 1871, was 5,412,378. -bet us now compare those results with the censuses of previous years. We find that from 1821 to 1811 the population steadily increased, using from 6,500,000 (in round numbers) to 7,173,000, while in th s same period the number of inhabited houses increased from 1,100,000 to 1,300,000. But then came the terrible famine years, and since that time the population has suffered a fearful decrease. la 1831, it had fallen to six and a half millions ; in 1801, a uu-lner decrease had la-ought it down to 5,700,000; and in the ten years that followed there was a loss of !38(;,OOO inhabitants, so - nl'./w.T^i aV ? seon ' the Population at the last census was only j,J 00,000, shoving' a total decrease of nearly 3,000,000 in thirty o • lUnc pori ° a lho nmnl^' 1> oi houses had fallen from 1,3 0,000 to 000,000; in other words, nearly 100,000 Irish homes iiud been destroyed. 0 might enlarge upon these facts, but wo preier io let them speak for themselves. The lesson lhey teach is juani enoug-h. _ If we examine the rate of decrease we find one fact which gives us «mio consolation, as it holds out sood hope for the future. -In the period irmu IS-H to 18G1, it mus^be observed that while vie mcrciso in tne first ten yoaw was upwards of IJ, per cent., in Lhe seeoiul ten yairs it had fallen to .-,}. It might tlxus be suppouoaunu iijfencios were at work which, even had there been no i.uniuy, aao.M lulvo tended to produce adecivase of population. Counny. 110; .v to tm> period of decrease, %vo soo tl.al from the period f»i JoJ o ISol it was nearly 20 per cent. ; th.-.t from 1«51 to 1»G1 it amis il, per cent.; while from IS'Jlto the last census it amounted io only a J IU c more than G\. W« must conclude, then, that the diani i.prn tne population of the country is rapidly decreasing, andtnatm a few years hence wo shall ,see the pop illation again sUadily mereabmg. This is borne oat, too, by tho emigration ■static lies, * Inch show, upon the wholo, a decease in the exodus iiom tho oouuti-y during lho last twenty years, though the numbers m consecutive yoavj iiuctual c considerably. nf Vo "" 11lJ;/1 1lJ;/1 lJ ;/^ L2 ' 377 Persons in Ireland, -J,130,5G7 (or 77-G percent. Eb^-mvl ° tJ , r « t « med ils Catholics; 607,998 as Protestant rh, .^ V n 1S l 0 SJiy> moui]j ci's of the Disestablished State Mo Z /«. r d >] T'T ai>C ; a little over 30,000 are r,w ! Vi A lt f tllQ rcmamm S- 00,000 form a heterogeneous cateooi?, of about 150 separate denominations fivcmnS^-T of the religious statistics, we may remark one ciiuimslanco vuiicli attracted our notice when glancing over the i" t 3°^? pT" i°f vlOv 10 - 71 ' m ;'S' ist^ lcs oi ' I^^it appears •l d c^~lA llo^: i ™\^r>^o V dLin % :Vo belon-to minor sects, 1 V TGT G 1 C . atllol n XCSj an ' 1 tlih iv a Catholic coimtry. It unnbl^rM^H 1° J]CCt^ thai ™° IWt hl h^^ d * ™&**xA - coil r-^r - 1 i %f tle T n ol P^pcrty to .elect from, but this sop 11 u\\l\ pother staLemonls in tho very same table. We SS ,?!? ai T m Ireland 371 ° "Pereoas of rank and property" vX, v}, T° r , a » y occn P atioll - Oi these 1-73 we Catholics, lJuj i iot eslants, while oi those who are distinctly set down as i£teS?' °\\ Of -n a ,, to^ ° f 42 °^ I<32S M 0 Cathodes, and 2280 to l'rn StS t Tb ° SGCU that the P^Portion of Catholics lhafc uSI a T ng thG nia S'i & tratcs of Ireland is va-y different to t ou< 1 o, P Mvail f 4 a^ff tho_ landed propertied classes, and this, s o ,Siv A p Tv° V ° f d ° lail> 1S ° n ° which sllould he lookefl to S 1 A Catll °l\ c COXUItl T liko Inland should liavo a Catholic w> J ; ov ' ai S 10 yei 7 lcasl » the Catholics should not be in a minority upon the Bench.-Condensed from < London Ee^ister/