Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/589

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The figures for 1919 have been further analyzed as follows:

Imports

Exports

Farm Produce, Food and Drink Stuffs. Raw Materials. Manufactured Goods

55,244,605

24,433,511 79,037,828

L

93,709,173 6,776,687 75,545,621

Crime. In non-political crime the latest year for which statistics are available is 1918, when 1,181 persons were committed for trial and 737 convicted, as against 1,414 and 918 respectively in the pre- vious year. Of the 737 convicted, 169 were for offences against the person, 95 for offences against property with violence, 355 for offences against property without violence, 25 for malicious injury to property, 31 for forgery and offences against the currency, and 62 for other offences.

In the courts of summary jurisdiction there has been a notable decline in the number of cases of assault and drunkenness. These numbered 14,624 and 76,860 respectively in 1907, 13,085 and 64,322 in 1910, 12,869 and 59,519 in 1913, 9,397 and 40,488 in 1916, while in 1917 they sank to 7,161 and 24,788, and in 1918 to 6,899 ar >d 13,235.

Amongst political outrages up to May 7 1921 there were 75 courthouses destroyed, 541 police barracks destroyed, 285 police barracks damaged, 3,138 raids for arms, 309 policemen killed, 491 policemen wounded, 102 soldiers killed, and 238 soldiers wounded.

Poor Law. The number of persons in receipt of indoor and out- door relief fell steadily from 1906 to 1914, the last year for which total figures have been published. In 1906 562,269 persons were relieved at a total annual cost of 1,070,181, in 1907 557,138 at 1,048,465, in 1909 588,222 at 1,105,328, in 1911 553,796 at 1,022,125, in 1 9 1 3 499,588 at 1,033,863, and in 1914, 471,563 at 1,032,979.

Education. In the 1911 census the age of nine years was taken as the datum line for those who could read and write, instead of the age of five years and upwards which had been previously adopted ; 88 % could read and write, 3 % could read only, and 9 % could neither read nor write. Approximately 582,446 persons, or 12.2 % of the pop., were returned as being able to speak Irish; of these, 16,873 could speak " Irish only " and 565,573 could speak English and Irish. /

In the year 1919, 7,316 boys and 4,803 girls presented themselves for the Intermediate Examination; of these, 3,819 and 2,340 re- spectively passed. About 42,000 was paid to secondary schools in grants and 6,413 to students in prizes. At the end of 1920, there were about 7,900 national schools in Ireland, the average number of pupils on the rolls being about 700,000. The Government grant for the year ending March 31 1921 was 4,469,811.

During the session 1919-20, 1,403 students attended Trinity College, Dublin; 1,095 attended Queen's University, Belfast; 1,332 attended University College, Dublin; 660 attended University College, Cork, and 270 attended University College, Galway. TABLE 7. Revenue

Estate

Prop.

Cus-

Duties

and

Post

Mis-

T'rii-n 1

Year

toms

Excise

Stamps etc.

Inc'me Tax

Office

cella- neous

i otai

i,ooo

i ,ooo

i,ooo

i,ooo

i ,ooo

i ,ooo

i,ooo

1907

2,610

5,607

967

999

,060

156

",399

1908

2,679

5,579

986

996

,094

J44

11,4/8

1909

2,611

5,420

1,001

1,019

,088

H7

11,285

1910

2,742

4,487

977

388

,IIO

142

9,846

1911

3,103

5,826

,470

1,825

,155

139

13,519

1912

3.013

5,668

,262

1,206

,207

132

12,489

1913

2,951

5,599

,324

1,167

,317

146

12,505

1914

3,006

5,842

,415

1,162

,368

140

12,945

1915

3,179

6,360

,374

1,570

,379

131

13,995

1916

3,920

8,231

,399

2,912

,474

144

18,083

1917

4,340

6,822

,286

7,048

,462

137

21,098

1918

4,251

4,291

,592

9,833

,545

129

21,646

1919

6,08 1

7.838

,818

I3,4io

,869

128

31.148

TABLE 8. Expenditure

Year

Civil

Charges

Collection of Taxes

Post Office

Total

1907

6,226,500

243,000

1,209,000

7,678,500

1908

6,312,000

242,000

1,256,000

7,810,000

1909

7,105,500

250,000

1,312,000

8,667,000

1910

9,077,500

270,000

1,365,000

10,712,000

1911

9,642,000

298,000

1,404,500

11,344,500

1912

9,799,500

269,000

1,465,500

11,533,500

1913

10,279,000

299,000

i,559,ooo

12,137,000

1914

10,417,000

318,000

1,622,000

12,357,000

1915

10,692,000

319,000

1,645,000

12,656^000

1916

10,603,000

315,000

1,679,000

12,597,000

1917

10,700,000

308,000

1,678,000

12,686,000

1918

11,002,000

317,000

1,683,000

13,002,000'

1919

11,312,000

329,000

1,896,000

13,537,000

1 Exclusive of 8,624,500 on supplementary civil votes.

and

Labour

Problems*

Finance. For the last four years for which figures were available in 1921, there was a surplus of income over expenditure to the Im- perial Treasury from Ireland of 5,332,000, i 1,080,000, 13,863,000, and 15,113,500 respectively. Tables 7 and 8 give details.

The total amount of loans, exclusive of closed services, made by the Commissioners of Public Works up to March 31 1919 was 29,- 367,575, of which 20,027,511 had been repaid as principal, 12,645,- 401 as interest, and 472,061 remitted.

On June 30 1920, the amount of the deposits in Irish joint-stock banks was 163,509,000, in Post Office Savings Bank 13,600,000, and in trustee savings banks 3,353,000. By Dec. 31 1920 the amount in joint-stock banks had increased to 182,682,000 and in trustee savings banks to 3,414,000.

The following figures for 1919-20 provide an estimate of the national wealth: valuation of lands, houses, etc., 16,144,000; value of principal crops, 93,609,000; value of cattle, etc., 85,617,- ooo; paid-up capital and reserve funds of joint-stock banks, 11,- 547,000; bank deposits 179,868,000; investments in Government stock, 95,063,000; paid-up capital, etc., of railway companies, 44,240,055; paid-up capital of tramway companies, 4,195,000.

The net produce of the income-tax in Ireland in 1919-20 was 5,926,643. (F. C. Mo.)

POLITICAL HISTORY

The year 1910 marked the opening of a new phase in the history of Ireland. Irish political agitation in the past had lost its strength in proportion to the removal of economic griev- ances. The truth of this was illustrated by the effects of the Fair Rent Act of 1881, and once again by those of the Wyndham Purchase Act of 1903. In the six years between 1903 and 1909 some 217,000 tenants agreed to become purchasers of their holdings on terms advantageous to them and satisfactory to the owners, and during this period Ireland was apparently prosper- ous and contented. Had land purchase continued without interruption it is possible that the contentment would have continued also. Unfortunately in 1909 it became insistently apparent that the financial basis of the Act had broken down. The Act provided that the cash payable to the owner was to be provided by the issue of a sufficient amount of 2j% stock, and that, if owing to the stock being at a discount, it became necessary to issue stock in excess of the nominal purchase money, the dividends on the excess stock should be met by the Guarantee Fund, meaning, in the result, the ratepayers in the Irish counties. In 1909 it became clear that the charge for necessary excess stock would bankrupt the county ratepayers, and the Govern- ment was compelled to take further action. Accordingly, Mr. Birrell by the Act of 1909 provided that the general taxpayer of the United Kingdom should take over, in relief of the Irish ratepayer, the liability already incurred for excess stock, and that as regards future purchase agreements vendors should be paid in 3% stock of the face value of the purchase money. Unfortunately, this 3% stock immediately fell below par and continued to fall in later years. Owners would not accept their purchase money in depreciated stock, and land purchase practi- cally came to a standstill, while at least one-third of the country remained unsold.

It is possible, of course, to exaggerate the social effects of the complete carrying through of the land-purchase policy. It is true that under the Land Acts, and as a result- of the Govern- ment's housing schemes, the lot of the Irish peasant improved immeasurably; that seemly cottages to a large extent replaced the thatched hovels of an earlier day; and that the occupiers who purchased, paying small annual instalments of purchase money fixed before the outbreak of the World War in 1914, earned subsequently disproportionate profits. But though the old Irish agrarian problem arising out of the landlord system had, since the passing of the Wyndham Act, been largely solved, there grew up in later years another problem due to the rapid increase of the class of " landless men," the sons of the prolific race of small farmers, a problem greatly accentuated by the stoppage of emigration during the war. The lot of the Irish labourers had become worse; for they had now to deal with a generation of close-fisted peasant proprietors in place of the easy-going squires of the old order.

Alongside of these agricultural labourers were the labourers of the towns. Outside Belfast and a few smaller northern