IRISH EMIGRATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 279, 6 September 1878, Page 7

IRISH EMIGRATION.

The Registrar- General of Ireland (Mr. W. M. Burke) has prepared detailed tables, showing by ages and occupations, the number of emigrants from Ireland during the year 1877, with the ports at which they embarked and their intended destinations. The number of emigrants who left Irish ports in 1877 was 41.225, an increase of 2,910 as compared with 1876. The number of males who emigrated in 1877 was 22,829, being 2,303 more than in the previous year ; and of females 18,396, an increase of 607 as compared with 1876. Of the 41,225 emigrants in 1877, 38,503 were natives of Ireland, and 2,722 were persons belonging to other countries. Of the 38,503 persons — natives of Ireland — who left in 1877, 5,142, or 3.8. per 1,000 of the population in the province in 1871, were from Leinster ; 13,602, or 9-8 per 1,000, from Munster ; 16,723, or 9-1 per 1,000, from Ulster ; and 3,036, or 36 per 1,000, from Connaught — the total number being equal to 7*l per 1,000 of the population in Ireland in 1871. The total number of emigrants, natives of Ireland, who left Irish ports from the Ist of May, 1851 (the date at which the collection of these returns commenced), to the 31&t December, 1877, is 2,453,481 — 1,309,817 males, and 1,143,665 females. The emigrants from Ireland were much fewer in number in 1877 than in any of the other years under review except 1876. In 1877, as before stated, they numbered 38,503, or 7 - l per 1,000 of the population in 1871, while in the preceding 25 years they amounted to an annual average of 90,517 persons, or 16 per 1,000 of the population, fluctuating from 190,322 in 1852 to 37,587 in 1876. This calculation is based on the population according to the census of 1861, which is about the mean population or the period named. The following is the number of emigrants, natives of Ireland, in each year, from the Ist of May, 1851, to the 31st December, 1877 :—: — 1851, 152,060 ; 1852, 190,322 ; 1853, 173,148 ; 1854, 140,155 ; 1855, 91.914 ; 1856, 90,781 ; 1857, 95,081 ; 1858, 64,337 ; 1859, 80,599 ; 1860, 84,621 ; 1861, 64,292 ; 1862, 70,117 ; 1863, 117,229 ; 1864, 114,169; 1865,101.497; 1866,99,467; 1867, 80,624; 1868. 61,018; 1869, 66,568 ; 1870, 74,855 ; 1871, 71,240 ; 1872, 77,102 ; 1873, 90,149 ; 1874, 73,184 ; 1875, 51,462 ; 1876, 37,587 ; 1877, 38,503— t0ta1, 2,453,481. This total of 2,453.481 represents a proportion of 42-3 per cent, of the population, Munster having contributed 856,598 persons, or 56-6 per cent, of the population of the province ; Ulster, 716,567, or 37*4 per cent.; Connaught, 305,105, or 33*4 per cent.; and Leinster, 464,506, or 3TB per cent, of its population. In 110,615 instances the county from which the persons came was not specified in the returns. The ages of the emigrants in 1877 are given in one table, from which it appears that 672 per cent, of the persons who left Ireland were between the ages of 15 and 35 years, the percentage over that age being 16*9, and of children under 15 years, 15*9. The corresponding percenages in 1876 were 66 - 2, 18*2, and 15 - 6 respectively. Tables showing the destinations of the emigrants are given, and from these it appears that of the 38,503 natives of Ireland who emigrated in 1877, 18,232 went to foreign countries or the colonies, 20,271 to Great Britain. In 1876, 20,800 persons went to foreign countries or the colonies, and 16,787 to Great Britain. A comparison with former years cannot be made, as no similar tables were constructed for those periods. Of the 18,232 persons who, in 1877, emigrated to foreign countries or the colonies, 12,018 went to the United States of America, 3.527 to Australia, and 2,070 to New Zealand ; to these numbars Munster contributed 4,997, 1,961, and 974 respectively. Of the 490 persons who went to Canada, 405 were natives of Ulster. During the year 1877, 20,271 persons left Ireland to settle in Great Britain, of whom 11,573 went to England or Wales, and 8,698 to Scotland.