AGRICULTURE.] IRELAND 229 One of the chief hindrances to agricultural progress in Ireland has been absenteeism. According to Sir William Petty, who wrote in 1672, one-fourth of the real and personal property of Ireland was possessed by absentees. Prior, in his List of Absentees, published in 1729, divides them into three classes those who are seldom or never seen in Ireland, those who visit Ireland for a month or two, and those who are occasionally absent. The money spent out of Ireland by the first class he estimated at 204,200, by the second at 91,800, and by the third at 54,000. According to another account, published in 1769, the income of the first class is placed at .371,900, of the second at 117,800, and of the third at 92,000. Arthur Young gives the rental of absentees in his time as 732,200, about one-seventh of the whole estimated rental, and Swift declared that one-third of the rental of Ireland was spent in England. Absenteeism continued to increase until the close of the great war in 1816, and although it diminished from that time, a substitute for many of its evils was supplied by the rapid impoverishment of a large number of idle and extravagant squireens. To help in freeing the country from this incubus, an Act was passed in 1848 to facilitate the sale of encumbered estates- in Ireland, which however proved wholly ineffectual, and was superseded by another in the following year appointing a commission of three persons to constitute a court for the purpose. This court commenced its sittings in October 1849, and, from that period until it closed its sittings in August 1859, 3547 sales were effected, the gross amount of which was 25,190,839. In 1859 the court was recon stituted on a permanent footing under the title of the " Landed Estates Court," power being conferred on it to deal with unencumbered as well as encumbered estates. Up to January 1880 the sales in this court amounted to 27,277,140, so that probably about one-sixth of the whole area has changed hands through the action of the two courts. The average price for the five years ending 1867 was 17| years purchase; in 1870, the year of the passing of the Land Act, it fell to 16|- years purchase, but in 1873 it had risen to 20 years purchase, and for the six years ending 1877 it was 19 4, while for 1878 it was 18 9, TABLE XXL Purchase Loans to Tenants up to March 31, 1880. No. of Loans. Amount of Purchase Money. Amount Ad vanced. Numbjr of | Annual Acres. I Rent. Value of Tenement. Leinster Munster Connaught.. Ulster 125 169 27 528 s. d. 223,095 16 5 202,0(14 8 5 47,327 2 350,635 1 9
129,487 113,604 30,173 219,106 ac. ro. po. s. d. 10,122 3 19 : 9,645 7 5 13,769 3 9,261 6 5 3,652 6 ! 2,369 5 9 23,151 3 2 13,913 11 10 .. </. 8,531 2 9,640 9 fi 1,791 16 8 13,708 4 8 Ireland 849 823,122 6 9 492,370 50,695 2 30 35,189 11 5 30,971 11 and for 1879 only 177. The action of the Encumbered Estates Court was of a somewhat arbitrary kind, and in the beginning of its operations it forced the sale of estates at a time when their market value was much below the average. In addition to this it introduced a large number of proprietors who looked at their purchase entirely from a business point of view, and who, though quite alive to the importance of agricultural progress, had little regard for the feelings of their tenants ; having bought the improve ments which the tenant had effected, they naturally had no scruples in raising the rents so as to make them represent the value of these. It is not probable that the land sales hare increased very much the number of proprietors ; for, although they caused a subdivision of many large estates, a number of small estates have been consolidated, and in many cases more than one estate has been purchased by the same person. On the whole, however, the result has been to increase the estates of a medium size, and also probably to lessen the number of absentees. From a return presented to the House of Commons in 1872, it would appear that the number of proprietors resident on their estates in 1870 was 5589, possessing 8,880,549 acres, with an annual value of 4,718,497, while there were 4842 proprietors resident either usually or constantly elsewhere in Ireland, who possessed 5,215,264 acres, with an annual value of 2,499,343 ; 2973 rarely or not usually or never resident in Ireland, who possessed 5,129,169 acres, with an annual valus of 2,470,816; and 5982 unclassed, who possessed each less than 100 acres, and together 236,872 acres, with an annual value of 257,100. 25 5 per cent, of the soil is thus owned by absentee proprietors, and 26 per cent, by proprietors who though resident in Ireland are not resident on their properties. According to the classified summary return of owners of land in Ireland laid before the House of Commons in 1876, the land in 1873 was divided among 68,716 pro prietors, who together possessed 20,157,557 acres, with a rateable annual value of 13,418,357, or, according to the corrected statement of 1878, 68,755 proprietors, possess ing 20,162,050 acres, with a rateable value of 13,420,022. Table XXII. gives a classification of proprietors according to the area of their estates, and their numbers in the several provinces and in all Ireland, with the acreage possessed by each class collectively, and its rateable valuation, the result of the corrected statement of 1878 being also added. According to the returns presented to the House of Com mons in 1872, which have the advantage of omitting cities and towns, the total number of rural proprietors in 1870 was only 19,547, possessing a total area of 20,046,182 acres, with a rateable value of 10,180,434. A return obtained TABLE XXII.- Classification of Landowners, with Extent and Valuation of their Estates. Pr vincc of Leinster. Province of Munster. Province of Ulster. Province of Connaught. Total of Ireland. No. of Owners Extent. Valua tion. No. of Owners Extent. Valua tion. No. of Owners Extent. Valua tion. No. of Owners Extent. Valua tion. No. of Owners Extent. Valua tion. ac.
ac.
ac.
ac.
ac.
Of less than 1 acre 15,684 3.119 607,816 8,101 2,511 266.212 10,036 3,010 468.516 2,323 425 29,904 36.144 9,065 1,366.448 Of 1 acre and under 10 2,604 10,362 213,661 1,250 4,697 46,763 2,706 12,504 220,671 332 1,405 17,821 6,892 28,968 498.916 10 50 1,893 47,248 200,785 1,118 29,357 i 8,278 4,426 110,962 207. 251 309 7,958 18,868 7,746 195,525 480.182f 50 ,, 100 982 71,356 116.810 819 59,907 61,467 1,487 104,563 123.960 ]91 14,321 11,137 3,479 250,147 313,374] 100 500 2,665 666.844 740,571 2,394 601.603 453,007 2,003 447,955 453,5-20 927 239,135 125,473 7,989 1,955.537 1,: 72,57 11 500 , 1,000 876 616,580 517,030 901 638,950 404.628 520 361,568 281.275 419 299,480 129,502 2,716 1.915.528 1,332, 435. 1 ,000 . 2,000 559 777.594 540,887 578 807,874 432,282 327 454,218 294.821 339 475,057 184,994 1.803 2.514.743 1,452,984) 2,000 , 5,000 316 973,403 663,097 375 1,132,578 596,713 253 783,715 484,. , 17 254 785,573 252,883 1,198 3,675,269 1,997,210 5,000 , 10.000 89 623,927 403,851 131 911,161 405,062 129 894,931 565,805 103 724,609 208,756 452 3,154,628 1,583,474? 10,000 , 20,000 36 484,316 278,402 51 688,433 273,133 56 742,185 390,260 42 563,559 171,878 185 2,478,493 1.113,673 20,000 50,000 14 379,288 184.351 23 670,728 253,283 33 931,629 428,127 20 577,205 205,845 90 2,558,850 1,071,616 L 50,009 100,000 2 157.118 93,016 4 349,194 66,435 5 292,056 191,582 3 225,309 46,797 14 1,023.677 397,82* 100.000 and upwards 1 122,300 15.167 2 274,780 22,478 3 397,080 37,645 No valuation 4 42 1 5 5 47 Total 25,724 4,810,147 4,560,277 15,746 5,896,9983,311,272 21,982 5,261,596 4,125,472 5,264 4,188,816 1,421,336 68,716 20,I57,557il3,418,357 Corrected statement, 1878 ... 25,727 4,812,412 4.560,342 15,780 5,R98,370 3.311,085 21.982 5,260,2694,125,946 5,266 4.190,9991,422,650 68,755 !20,162,05o l3,420,022
