Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/252

 236 IRELAND [NATIONAL WEALTH. income tax from the income of officials. According to these returns the net produce of the revenue was in 1870 7,287,127, in 1871 (not including that of the post-office) 7/291,393, 15s. 4d., in 1875 7,970,050, 13s. 7d., and in 1879 6,616,455. The revenue of England in 1879 amounted to 54,456,718, and of Scotland to 7, 719, 500. No separate post-office returns have been published since 1870. In 1860 the gross produce of the sale of crown lands amounted to 15,537, and the annual income of land revenue to 48,358 ; in 1870 they were respectively 1283 and 45,000, and in 1880 3506 and 41,589. The items of the expenditure of the ex chequer of Ireland for 1868 (the last year for which returns are given) are interest of public funded debt payable in Ireland, 1,188,654; other payments in connexion with the consolidated fund services, 278,015; army, 3,560,000; miscellaneous civil services, 1,594,525. Since 1817 the public debt of Ireland on account of the consolidation of the British and Irish exchequer has ceased to form a separate item in the national account. Table XXXVII. shows its progress from 1716 till that period. Banking. A notice of the banks of Ireland will be found in the article BANKING, vol. iii. p. 336. The deposits in joint-stock banks amounted in 1840 to 5,567,851, in 1850 to 8,268,838, in 1860 to 15,609,237, in 1870 to 24,366,478, and in 1880 to 29,350,000. The deposits in trustees savings banks in 1846 amounted to 2,855,827, but in 1850 had declined to 1,291,798 ; in 1860 the amount was 2,143,282, in 1870 2,054,907, and in 1880 2,100,165. The deposits in post-office savings banks in 1862, the year in which they were founded, were 78,696, in 1870 583,165, and in 1880 1,229,000. The amount of Govern ment and India stock held in Ireland amounted in 1870 to 36,549,000, and in 1880 to 33,113,000. National Wealth. From a variety of circumstances it is difficult to arrive at an approximate estimate of the wealth of Ireland ; and there is no proper basis for a comparison with the other portions of the United Kingdom among other reasons from the fact that by far the largest part of the wealth of Ireland is derived from agriculture. The Tenement Valuation Act, passed in 1846 and amended in 1852, TABLE XXXIII. Accraye Annual Produce of Revenue, 1730-1801. Gross Net Gross Net Produce. Produce. Produce. Produce.

1730-39 551,751 472,303 1770-79 971,041 749.507 17-10-4!) 569,920 487,389 1780-89 1,335,097 900,511 1750-5!) 729,482 632,757 1790 1,695,398 1,147,967 1760-69 892,071 747,194 1792-1801 2,161,939 1,801,901 according to which the property of Ireland is rated for purposes of local and imperial taxation, has the disadvantage of having been applied in different parts of the country at different periods, and in the southern and western counties at a time when the value of property on account of the famine had very much deteriorated. No provision except of an optional kind has been made for a revaluation of property other than buildings and similar external additions to the value of the soil. It is probable therefore that the present valuation, which is a little short of 14,000,000, is deficient by about 5,000,000. The case of Ireland is also excep tional from the large amount of wealth that immediately after it is produced is removed to be spent elsewhere, and of capital invested in Irish undertakings which is held by persons who do not reside in Ireland. The value of the agricultural produce and stock, the chief item of the wealth, is of course variable, and the rise in value is due solely to increase of price and to increase in the number of live stock, which of course represents the produce of more than one year. It is also a fallacious method of calculating its value to add that of produce and live stock together, as a great part of the produce is employed in feeding the live stock. In Ireland a con siderable amount of money is probably hoarded privately, and the increase of deposits in banks can scarcely be regarded as altogether a symptom of prosperity, as the money thus deposited might in most cases be more advantageously employed by the farmer in improving his land. On the other hand, since the passing of the Land Act of 1870, indebtedness has largely increased among the farmers. A method of estimating the capital of Ireland has been employed by Dr Hancock from the amount of capital passing annually under probate of wills and letters of administration, calcu lating this capital as 2 66 per cent, of the whole. Table XXXVIII., formed according to this method, shows the annual average amount of capital from 1 826 at various periods of five years, and the amount of capital possessed by each head of the population, this being reckoned according to the year most nearly corresponding with those for which the average is given. Railways. The railway from Dublin to Kingston, which was opened in the end of 1834, was the first and for several years the only railway in Ireland. The progress of the railway system from that period is shown in Table XXXIX. For a comparison with England and Scotland see ENGLAND, vol. viii. p. 237 ; it will be observed that the proportion of traffic in relation to popula tion is very much smaller in Ireland. Vital Statistics. In the Transactions of the Roy ul Irish Academy for 1865, part iii., will be found an account by W. H. Hardinge of a copy which he accidentally discovered of a manuscript census survey of Ireland arranged in counties, baronies, parishes, and townlands, and in cities, parishes, and streets, and belonging in TABLE XXXIV. Revenue from Excise, Customs, &amp;lt;L-c., 1720-1880. 1720. 1700. 1790. 1800. 1810. 1820. 1827. 1830. 1840. 1S50. 1860. 1870. 1880. Excise

440 536

646 &amp;lt;&amp;gt;24 1 238 721

2 422 746

1 650,104

1.907,335

1.754,215

1,956,445

1,385,258

1.494,747

2.790,970

3,597.519

4,068,335 1,788,380 1,730,837 1,976,498 1,555,600 2,132,731 2,064,998 2.268,962 2,049,374 54812 165,121 634,706 449,846 470,757 478,638 453,209 4T9.684 524,116 580,288 618,067 Post-office. . 44 156 76260 178,965 188,105 197,907 229,994 97,156 170,061 261,550 331,116 Income-tax 7-28,887 613,113 470,808 TABLE XXXV. Annual Income and Expenditure, 1689-1800. Net Income. Net Expenditure. Net Income. Net Expenditure. s. d s. d. s. d. s. d. 1689 152,809 17 11 190,715 11 3 1751 600,236 12 1 626,738 10 3 1701 411.819 3 9 415,033 5 1 1761 571.942 7 3 773,940 2 10 1711 298.194 16 11 300,182 19 1771 707.996 3 6 808,546 7 5 1721 408.066 16 4 422,917 16 8 1781 739,850 4 81 1,015.266 12 6 1731 405,178 1 7 407,758 18 1 1791 1,313,476 12 3 1,384,087 13 2 1741 441.230 9 11 441.736 2 10 1800 3,017,757 18 10 6,615,959 2 5 TABLE XXXVI. Annual Income and Expenditure, 1801-68. Net Income. Net Expenditure. Net Income. Net Expenditure 1801 1817 1834 s. d. 2,645,736 4,561,353 3,814,401 3 82 s. d. 4,922,524 17,677,649 3,439,895 5 1^ 1850 I860 1868 .. d. 4,332,459 16 7,851,612 12 11 6,176,390 7 8 .. d. 4,120,841 11 6,331,223 12 7 0,021,193 17 11 TABLE XXXVII. -^Public Debt of Ireland, 1716-1817. 1716. 1720. 1730. 1740. 1750. 1762. 1770. 1780. 1790. 1800. 1810. 1817. Debt

16,106

87,511

220,730

296,988

205,117

223,438

628,883

1,067,565 1,586,067

22,345,190

75,240,790

134,602,769 TABLE XXXVIII. Estimated Capital of Ireland. Capital passing under Probates. Estimated Capital. Rate pel- Head. According to Population in

1826-30 3.448 443 129,641,000 17 1831 1836-40 3.755,758 141,194,000 17 1841 1816-50 2.534,611 95,286,000 15 1851 1856-60 4,220,395 158,061,000 20 1861 1871-75 6,815,866 256.236,000 48 1S71 1876-79 7,390,612 277,843,000 54 1881 TABLE XXXIX. llaihcay Statistics. Miles. Passengers. Receipts. Miles. Passengers. Receipts.

1836 6 1,237.800 35,421 1860 1364 9,991,118 1,368,447 1840 13^ 1,358,761 36,590 1865 1838 13.186,055 1,710,506 1845 65 3,4X1,797 119,398 1870 1975 14.339,444 2,072,995 1850 515 5.495,796 514,035 1875 2148 16.894,398 2.671,154 1855 987 7,212,286 999,832 1880 2378 17,185,338 2,658,136