230 IRELAND [MANUFACTURES. by the Irish Government in 1870, and ordered by the House of Commons to be printed in 1876, gives the number of rural proprietors as 19,288. It also shows that only 2377 possessed less than 25 acres, so that nearly all the pro prietors of less than 1 acre must be in towns. The classified returns of 1876 show that nearly one -half of the whole acreage of the country is possessed by 749 proprietors holding each upwards of 5000 acres, and that more than four-fifths of the land is possessed by 3750 proprietors hold ing upwards of 1000 acres. Compared with Great Britain, the number of proprietors is strikingly small, Scotland having twice as many, and England nearly fourteen times as many. The proportion of landowners possessing less than 1 acre is very much smaller, and that of those possess ing less than 500 acres is also smaller. Further details of comparison with England and Scotland will be found in the article ENGLAND, vol. viii. p. 223-225. Woollen Manufacture. Though Ireland is without the stimulus to industry produced by an abundant supply of coal, yet with its great command of water power it might have widely developed its manufactures before the intro duction of steam, had not special causes been in operation to check their progress. The unsatisfactory political and social relations of the country, and the unhappy legislation which had blighted its agriculture, would necessarily in any case have indirectly stunted its manufactures also; but, in addition to this, they were specially discouraged by various restrictive and repressive Acts. For a considerable period after the Anglo-Norman invasion Ireland was, how ever, in this respect placed on an entire equality with England, and in Acts passed in the reigns of Edward I., Edward III., and Edward IV. is specially exempted from the duties or prohibitions imposed on foreign manufactures. At an early period the woollen manufactures of Ireland were exported in considerable quantities to foreign countries. In a posthumous poem. Dita Mundi (two copies of which are in the British Museum, of dates 1474 and 1501), by Bonifazio Uberti, who died about 1367, mention is made of " the noble serge " which Ireland sent to Italy; and Irish frieze is specially excepted by name in an English statute of 1376. Five mantles made of Irish frieze are mentioned in a list of goods exported duty free from England to Pope Urban VI. Considerable impulse was given to the manu facture in the reign of James I. by the establishment of a colony from the Palatinate, in Germany, at Carrick-on-Suir, but in the reign of Charles I. the clothing trade was dis couraged by tlia earl of Strafford, lord-deputy, who to prevent it interfering with that of England endeavoured to foster the linen manufacture instead. The Act of the 12th of Charles II., which prohibited the export of raw wool both from Ireland and England to foreign countries, was in the case of Ireland not only harmless but ineffectual ; but, in addition to this, Ireland was virtually debarred from the English market by the heavy duties imposed on her woollen manufactures, and, being left out in the Naviga tion Act of 1663, she was also debarred from the colonial market. The foreign market was, however, left open to her ; and after the prohibition of the export of Irish cattle to England the Irish farmer was led to turn his attention to the breeding of sheep, when not only did the woollen manufacture increase with great rapidity, but, owing to the superiority of the wool, the materials manufactured were of such a quality as to awaken the alarm of the English manufacturer, at whose instance both Houses of Parliament petitioned William III. to come to the rescue. In accord ance with his wishes, the Irish parliament in 1698 imposed additional heavy duties on all woollen clothing with the exception of friezes exported out of Ireland, and in the following year an Act was passed by the British Government prohibiting the export from Ireland of all woollen goods to any country save England, to any port in England save six, and from any town in Ireland save six. Sir William Petty in 1641 estimated the number of woollen workers and their wives at 30,000, but the result of these Acts was so disastrous as practically to annihilate the manufacture, to reduce large districts and towns to the last verge of poverty, and seriously to cripple the revenues of the king dom. Notwithstanding, however, that Ireland ceased to make even for her home supply any but the coarser articles, and was forced to import her finer goods from England, the Acts were almost as injurious to the English as to the Irish manufacturer ; for not only did many of the skilled Irish workmen settle in France, Spain, and the Netherlands, but by means of smuggled Irish wool, to the extent of four-fifths of the Irish fleeces annually, the foreign manufacturer was able at a much smaller cost to fabricate materials quite equal to those of England, and for a time almost to swallow up her Turkey wool trade. According to the tables given by Newenham, the annual average of new drapery exported from Ireland for three years ending 25th March 1702 was only twenty pieces, and that of old drapery 4 yards, while the export of woollen yarn, worsted yarn, aud wool, which to England was free, amounted to 349,410 stones. The annual average export for the three years ending 1722 had risen to 5494 yards for new drapery and 364 yards for old drapery, while that of yarn, worsted, and wool, owing doubtless to smuggling, had fallen to 188,450 stones, and for the three years ending in March 1732 fell as low as 96,953 stones, but for the three years ending in 1772 had risen to 129,191 stones, of which wool amounted only to 2247 stones. The returns as to the exports of new and old draperies from 1722 to 1777 are incomplete. Arthur Dobbs, in his Essay on the Trade of Ireland, published in 1729, estimated the medium exports of wool, worsted, and woollen yarn at 227,049 stones, which he valued at 117,554, 15s. 10d., the other exports of manufactures made from sheep, such as friezes, flannel, gloves, &c., being estimated at 2353, 5s. On the other hand, the annual average of new drapery imported for three years ending in 1702 was 29,329 yards, aud of old drapery 15,787 yards; and the averages gradually rose till they were 84,631 yards and 18,726 re spectively for the three years ending in 1722 ; 379,760 and 206,875 for the three years ending in 1772 ; and, according to Arthur Young, 485,609 and 259,466 for the seven years ending in 1777. Between 1779 and 1782 the various Acts which had hampered the woollen trade of Ireland were repealed or greatly modified; but, although a temporary impulse was thus given to the manufacture, the imprudent manner in which it was prosecuted and the influence of the remaining statutes led in the majority of cases to disappointment, and after a short period of deceptive prosperity, followed by failure and distress, the expansion of the trade was limited to the supply of the home market. Thus, while the annual average of new drapery exported for the three years ending in 1792 had risen to 352,309 yards and of old drapery to 10,688 yards, the averages fell for the three years ending in January 1802 to 18,028 and 2007 respectively; while the average imports of new drapery for three years rose from 379,989 in 1782 to 1,077,471 in 1802, and of old drapery from 251,251 to 1,474,000. In 1823 the imports of new draperies into Ireland had risen since 1801 from 967,225 yards, valued at 120,903 in Irish currency, to 1,437,652 yards, valued at 179,706 ; while the import of old draperies had risen from 911,082 yards, valued in Irish currency at 637,757, to 1,188,366 yards, valued at 831,856. Since 1825, owing to the cessation of duties, returns of the exports and imports of Ireland to and from Great Britain have ceased to be issued. According to the evidence laid before the House of Commons
