Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/847

* IRELAND. rsi IBELAND. has been greatly encouraged by the Government as one of the means of bettering the conditions of the poverty-stricken population. Piers and liarbors have been built for the benefit of fisher- men, money loaned them, and their interest pro- tected by close inspection. Agriclltlke. As a result of natural and historical conditions, the industrial activity of Ireland is largely confined to agriculture. Few countries have so large a percentage of area adaptable for cultivation. Jlost of the waste lands are in the mountains of Western and Southern Ireland, though there is still much unreclaimed boggj' area in the lowlands. The low- land region is naturally of a high degree of fer- tilitj-. The climate is warm and humid, and consequently favorable to the growth of most plants, though the humidity is too great in some regions to allow wheat to ripen properly. While the country is favored by nature, the Irish sys- tem of agriculture does not result in the general welfare of the people, as may be understood in a study of Irish history. One of the features of the English subjugation of Ireland was the confiscation of the greater portion of the land, and the granting of it in large dimensions to English citizens. These in manj' instances were non-residents, and even when residents they did not always succeed in establishing cordial rela- tions with the tenantry-, who were not forget- ful of the manner in which the landlord (as a class) came to his possession. During the eigh- teenth centurj' Ireland was placed under the ban of the English commercial and colonial pol- icy, and Irish agricultural products were ex- cluded from the English markets. Later these restrictions were removed, and the high prices of the Napoleonic war period gave a decided im- petus to agriculture. During the first part of the nineteenth centurj- there was a general move- ment toward the division of the farms into small holdings — the result largely of the landlords' desire to secure greater political strength through the increase in the number of ballots, and of the extensive practice of subletting in- dulged in by the middlemen. The potato blight of 184.5 precipitated a crisis, and important changes date from this event. In great measure it marked the beginning of the end of the small holding, and the change from tillage to pasturage. The repeal of the Com Laws aided in the relief of the Irish, but later so diminished the value of Irish cereals in the English markets that the landholders in the low- land regions evicted their tenants and turned the lands into pasture-fields. The evicted tenants had to seek a location in the less desirable re- the privileges of the landlord. The great dimi- nution of the population through emigration had the etTect of providing more labor for those who remained, though too often the location of the laborer was remote from the labor. On the whole the condition of the peasantry improved. But the fact that tenant and landlord were of different race and religion still prevented the aevelopment of syn-.pathetic and harmonious re- lations between the two, and the prevalence of tenantry at will resulted in an aggravating un- certainty of tenure, and prevented the discour- aged tenant from making such effort to improve his holding as his interests demanded. Accord- ingly the land question persisted and became more serious. Relief was sought through the legislative act of 1870, granting compensation for improvements and for the disturbance occa- sioned by removal, and through the act of 1881, which provided for a fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale. The period for which rent might be fixed ac- cording to the law of 1881 was fifteen years, at the conclusion of which time it might be fi-xed again for another fifteen years. From 1881 to 1900 the number of holdings for which the rent was fixed for the first fifteen years was 328,720, embracing 9,859,970 acres, the per cent, of the reduction in rent being 20.8. Those upon which rent was fixed for the second fifteen-year period during that time was 52,396, embracing 1,432.- 015 acres, upon which there was an additional rent reduction of 22 per cent. A still more radical move was represented by the policy of enabling the peasant to purchase land. The Government advances money for the purchase of the lands, and the peasant pays the (rovemment in annual installments for a term of years. In accordance with the act of 1885 and its amendment of 1888, there had been, prior to .pril, 1900, 25.3G8 loans, or a total of £9,992,640,' issued to tenants to assist them in |)urchasing their holdings. Laws passed in 1891 and 189C provided for the further purchase of land, and under these acts 19.227 loans of £6,084,217 were issued. The total number of loans issued in Ulster was more than twice as great as in any other. province, although the amount did not very greatly exceed that of !Munster. Less than one-fourteenth of the total amount went to the Province of Connaught. Under the land-improvement acts loans were issued between 1847 and 1900 amounting to £5.239,220. The following table gives the number of hold- ings bv provinces, grouped into nine different classes' (1900) : H0LDIXG8 (in .CRF.8'! PROVINCES Not ex- ceed- ing 1 acre From lto5 acres From From From From 5 to 15 15 to 30 30 to 50|50 to 100 acres acres acres acres
 * 1

t From 100 to 200 acres From 200 to 500 acres .bove 500 acres Total Leinster 24.301 21.949 17,426 11,493 20,672 12,563 2.1.2.55! 21,952 19..'^49! 24288 63.5531 .53,622 46.,592| 33.688 15,222i 14,039 22,271 22.602 6.890 9,325 3.725 3.111 2,829 2,680 1,031 1,679 411 1 128.325 ,383 134.340 TJlster Connaught 18,962 6,636 24.989 11.567 14.461 6,474 263 482 201,280 122.792 Totals for Ireland 71,848 62,154 154,751 j 133,550 74.049 57,576 23.051 8,219 1,539 586,737 gions. In Ulster the tenant fared somewhat Compared with 1881, there has been a decided better; for there custom had long recognized a increa.sc in the holdings of less than one acre sort of tenant right, which operated to restrict (20,852), and an increase in all groups of 50