IRISH EMIGRATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 14, 24 July 1885, Page 9

IRISH EMIGRATION.

In the decennial period ending in 1851 the population of Ireland was found to have diminished, by 20 per cent. In the next sncceedT?*^? 0 ?^!* f n * ther decrease took place of close upon 12 per cent. A. still further diminution of nearly 7 per cent, occurred in the ten years immediately preceding 1871 ; so that in thirty years the population fell 33 per cent., or from being 8,175,124 to 5,412,877 ; whilst during the same time in Unp]«nd and Wales the population Iro?o3!ffiI ro ?o3!ffi' 000 to 22 .000,000. and in Scotland from KSES *° 3,360,000. In 1881 the population was fouud to be Tooa T' 8 T 6 ' *?„ WM « BtlDaa te«i to be 4,982,376 on the 31st 6f December, 1883. In 42 years, therefore, the Irish people have suffered a diminution of numbers amounting to 3,192,748, each *ucce«Hng period as it went by showing a gradual lessening of the population, until at the present moment we have touched a lower level than at any time since the Onion. Although these figures are being constantly quoted, and are familiar to everyone, they deserve none ihe less to be again repeated, and as a perpetual reminder c.f the fact that, what with emigration, diminishing ratios of marriages and births and .increase of death rates, the Irish race in Ireland are continuing » rl W eted * fc . a pace that must, if not speedily controlled, lead to their extinction as a practical factor in the government of the empire. Population is now, more than it ever has been, the basis of political influence, and the fact cannot be too much insisted upon that m every emigrant that leaves our shores there is a diminution of strength and a sinking in vitality for those who remain at home. Jiow rapidly that strength is ebbing may be judged from the fact that in the year 1883, no less than 108.724, far the larger number of these being persons of between 15 to 35 years of age. emigrated from Ireland. If it were certain, or even probable, that these persons were bettering their condition by a change of country, there might be something to console us in the reflection that they were obeying what is almost a law of nature in searching abroad for the prosperity and happiness that they are unable to find at home. But it is only too certain, on the contrary, that at present the^rospects are very bad for intending emigrants, and it becomes consequently the duty of those upon whom the people rely for advice and information to use all their power and authority, if nec^ssarv, to counteract what under present circumstances we must characterise as the almost insane desire of thousands of young Irishmen and women to get away anywhere out of Ireland. That there should exist a desire of this kind— resembling in its intensity nothing so much as the instinct of certain fißhes, only in this latter case instinct leads back to the place of birth and not from it— is hardly to be wondeied at, considering the wretched conditions under which the majority of the Irish peasants are obliged.! o lead their miserable lives. Perhaps no other race in the world except the Jews have held op so long against adverse circumstances, and the thing to be suprised at is not so much that they have managed to maintain themselves bo wdl through a never ceasing struggle as that th y have managed to maintain themselves at all. Every new census comes to supply them with *n account of diminished trade, decaying industries, cities declining into the rank of towns, towns reduced to the position of villages, and villages disappearing whqlesale off the face of the land. In 1879, of the total acreage of 20,328,753 which Ireland possesses, the extent under crops— wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, turnips, etc. — was 5,121,788 ; and in 1884 this anionnt was reduced to 4,872,969 acres, showing a decrease of 248,819 in six years, or an average annual diminution of more than 41,000 acres. Only 806,467 acres were devoted to potatoes in 1883, whilst the same c;op occupied 1,039,724 acres in 1864. Between 1863 and 1883 the land under cereal crops decreased by 731,207 acres, and that under green corps by 247,669, the net decrease during these 20 years being no lc-s than 607,630 acres of land that had once been cultivated and was still capable of bearing crops, but that for want of hands to till it, and a variety of other circumstances closely conuected with this fact, was falling back into a state of nature at a rate of 30,000 acres a year. The oat crop, which iv 1864 had covered 1,814,886 acres, bad decreased in 1883 to 1,381,904 ; and again, whilst there were 16,295 acres of fallow or uncropped arable land in 1879, this quantity went on increasing until in 1883 it had reached the t.»tal of 25,000 acres. So that whenever w« look for increase we are met by evidence of diminished cultivation, lands being taken away from the purposes of agriculture, and allowed to return by regular and constant progress to a state of sterile wildness. A, similar story may be told of the chief cities and towns throughout the country, although this fact is by no means as significant as the falling iff in the geneial population, to which reference h>s been already made. Belfast has considerably increased in numbers, and so, to some exten', have a few other Northern towns; but Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Tralee, Drogheda, all show signs of a decay which is not functional, but organic, and which, unless under the influences of heroic treatment, is certain to go on until the inevitable end. This is not a pleasant statement to make, nor are these agreeable topics to dw«ll upon at any time, but no good end can be served by bhutting our eyes to facts, which will remain in evidence even if we decline to see them ; nor, if we ignore them ever so much, will they fail to present themselves again and again until they are recognised as symptoms of a general disease that is not indeed unaccompanied with danger, but it is yet not without a means of cure if t\e competent men were allowed to take the case in hands.— Dublin Freeman.