REVENUE. I K E L A N D 235 Details as to the several articles of foreign trade will be found in the Board of Trade returns of the principal ports ; but without information as to the trade with Great Britain it is impossible to estimate their significance. The returns of the foreign trade are unsatisfactory, inasmuch as they shov/ a great excess of imports over exports. The principal export trade to foreign countries is in linen, spirits, and malt liquors ; while the imports embrace large quantities of wheat, wheaten flour, Indian corn, and oat meal. On the other hand the country is dependent chiefly on Great Britain and foreign countries for its manufac tured goods. Much of its trade is, however, an indication rather of poverty than prosperity, for it is the absence of manufactures that causes such large imports of textile fabrics, and the large exports of cattle, dead meat, and butter, which would otherwise be consumed by her town population, while at the same time the large imports of corn and wheat into a country chiefly rural are un doubtedly duo to wrong or insufficiently advanced methods of agriculture. Shipbuilding. About nine-tenths of the total shipping of Irish construction is built in Belfast, and the whole amount is very small. Next to Belfast come Dundallc, Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, and Galway, much in the order named. The number of vessels built in Ireland in 1850 was 25 of 1929 tons burthen ; in 1860, 42 of 11,582 tons ; in 1875, 16 sailing vessels of 18,655 tons, and 5 steam vessels of 3613 tons. In 1880 they numbered respect ively 3 of 1873 tons, and 10 with 7131 tons burthen. Rci-enuc and Expenditure. Until the time of Henry VIII. the English rule in Ireland was only nominal, except within a very small district ; and, while statistics as to the revenue would thus TABLK XXIX. -Vessels Roistered in the Ports of Ireland, 1840-80. Sailing Vessels. Steam Vessels. Under 50 Tims. 50 Tons and upwards. Under 50 Tons. 50 Tons and upwards. No. Ton. No. Ton. No. Ton. No. Ton. 1840 97G 27,711 9G1 148,591 3 127 76 17,378 18.30 1,037 29,070 1 ,098 204,183 12 398 102 27,281 18(10 1.017 30,150 1,086 181,435 35 9.55 133 40,79(5 1870 70-3 21,833 845 148,907 55 1.3S9 138 45,192 1880 015 10,173 788 153,266 81 1,953 174 58,245 be of little advantage for comparison with later times, they are not obtainable except in a very fragmentary manner. Henry VIII. levied a subsidy of 13s. 4d. on every ploughland ; and, besides reviving the tax upon absentees first enacted by Richard II., he also obtained a considerable stun from the suppression of several of the monasteries. During the first fifteen years of the reign of Elizabeth the expenses of Ireland, on account chiefly of the wars, amounted, according to Sir James "Ware, to 490,779, Is. 6d., while the revenue is estimated by some writers at 8000 per annum and by others at only 6000. In the reign of James I. the customs gradually increased from 50 to 9700 ; but, although he obtained from wardships and other feudal rights about 10,000 per annum, and a considerable sum also accrued from the planta tion of Ulster, the revenue is supposed to have fallen short of the expenditure by about 10,000 per annum, the cost of maintaining the troops in Ireland amounting alone to about 50,000. During the reign of Charles I. the proceeds of the customs were nearly quadrupled, but it was found necessary to raise 120,000 by yearly subsidies of 40,000. According to the report of the committee appointed by Cromwell to inquire into the financial condition of Ireland, the revenue in 1654 was 197,304 and the expenditure 630,814, 9s. 8d. At the Restoration the Irish parliament granted an hereditary revenue to the king, an excise for the main tenance of the army, a subsidy of tonnage and poundage for the i navy, and a tax on hearths in lieu of feudal burdens. Additional duties" were granted shortly after the Revolution. " Appropriate duties " were imposed at different periods ; stamp duties were first granted in 1773, and the post-office first became a source of revenue i in 1783. In 1706 the hereditary revenue with additional duties produced 394,324, 11s. 3d., and for the two years ending in 1729 the amount was 889,351, 4s. llfd. Returns of the ordinary revenue were first presented to the Irish parliament in 1730. Table XXXIII., compiled from the statistics of M. Moreau, gives the annual average amount in Irish currency of net and gross pro duce of the revenue during every ten years up to 1789, the amount for 1790, and the annual average for the ten years 1792-1801. Table XXXIV., compiled from special and other returns presented to the House of Commons, gives the net produce of the excise and customs at intervals from 1720, and of the other branches of ordi nary revenue at intervals from the time when they were first imposed. A special return in Accounts and Papers, 1868-69, gives in British currency the annual net public income and expenditure of Ireland from the Revolution to the Union, and Table XXXV., compiled from this return, gives its amount at various intervals between these periods. Table XXXVI., compiled from certain special returns presented to the House of Commons at different periods, gives the net annual income and expenditure at certain intervals from the Union up to 1868. Returns of the produce of the revenue were annually presented to parliament up to 1870, and, although they have been discontinued since that period, a special return from 1871 to 1875 was presented in 1876, and special returns were also presented in 1878 and 1879, the latter returns, however, not including the produce of the TABLE XXX. Vessels in the Foreign and Colonial Trade Entering and Clearing at the Ports of Ireland, 1802-80. Entered. Cleared. British and Iiish. Foreign. Total. British and Irish. Foreign. Total. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnagf. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnage. Number. Tonnage. 1802 648 87,869 363 57,964 1,011 145,833 503 71,420 328 58,423 831 129,843 1816 565 70,106 318 67,538 883 137,644 522 74,255 321 69,703 843 143,958 1826 860 154,380 290 50,194 1,150 204,574 569 117,032 281 57,334 850 174,366 1841 881 176,977 197 26,441 1,078 203,418 604 146,859 153 20,953 757 167,812 1850 1,334 245,012 886 166,417 2,220 411,429 681 165,123 761 146,670 1,442 311,793 1860 1,089 289,603 1,233 277,240 2,322 566,843 349 139,625 255 70,152 604 209,777 1870 1,112 389,526 927 323,095 2,039 712,621 394 147,822 209 67,687 603 215,509 1880 958 572,647 779 388,173 1,737 960,820 547 313,190 539 271,862 1,086 585,052 TABLE XXXI. Vessels Entering and Clearing Coasticays. Entered. Cleared. Sailing Vessels. Steam Vessels. Sailing Vessels. Steam Vessels. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. 1802 6,589 546,647 6.032 521,151 1817 10,142 845,260 9.200 773,783 1S2(3 11.514 1,037,299 6.388 632,972 1840 :ii;,i;.-;4 1,211,942 1 263 657,801 2,427 571,064 2,900 655,928 1850 16.403 1.191.243 7,360 438,532 4.340 1,303,489 4,534 1.338.732 1860 19.214 1,488.635 7,036 1,983.165 7,476 454.482 7,039 1,993,738 1870 18,972 1,660.942 5,688 425,632 8,132 2,527.845 7,851 2.571,656 1880 15,835 1,411,132 15.408 4,768,322 14,611 1,499,314 15,416 4,850,858 TABLE XXXII. Vessels engaged in Trade Idicccn Great Britain and Ireland. Entered. Cleared. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. 1835 10,026 1,100,389 14,560 4,440,617 1846 9,133 1,411,130 19,124 2,211,496 1850 8,569 1,585,057 18,268 2,355,166 1860 34,693 5,578,436 34,387 5,512,116 1870 36,167 6,868,545 35.523 6,684,547 1880 54,742 12,145,116 52,803 11,588,074
