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From the returns of occupation in 1901, it appears that the indefinite or non-productive class accounted for about 55% of the entire population. The next largest class was the agricultural, which numbered 876,062, a decrease of about 40,000 as compared with 1891. The industrial class fell from 656,410 to 639,413, but this represented a slight increase in the percentage of the population. The professional class was 131,035, the domestic 219,418, and the commercial had risen from 83,173 in 1891 to 97,889 in 1901. The following table shows the number of births and deaths registered in Ireland during the five years 1901-1905.

The number of illegitimate births is always very small in proportion to the legitimate. In 1905 illegitimate births numbered 2710 or 2.6 of the whole, a percentage which has been very constant for a number of years.

The following table shows the principal Irish railways, their mileage and the districts which they serve.

There is no lack of cross-channel services between Ireland and Great Britain. Belfast is connected by daily sailings with Glasgow, Ardrossan, Liverpool, Feetwood, Barrow and Heysham Harbour, Dublin with Holyhead and Liverpool, Greenore with Holyhead, Larne with Stranraer, Rosslare with Fishguard and Kingstown with Holyhead.

Irish political history has largely affected the condition of agriculture. Confiscations and settlements, prohibitive laws , penal enactments against the Roman Catholics, absenteeism, the creation for political purposes of 40s. freeholders, and other factors have combined to form a story which makes painful reading from whatever point of view, social or political, it be regarded. Happily, however, at the beginning of the 20th century Irish agriculture presented two new features which can be described without necessarily arousing any party question--the work of the Department of Agriculture and the spread of the principle of co-operation. Another outstanding feature has been the effect of the Land Purchase Acts in transferring the ownership of the land from the landlords to the tenants. Before dealing with these three features, some general statistics may be given bearing upon the condition of Irish agriculture.

Since 1851 these tendencies have not been so marked. Thus in 1905 the number of holdings between 1 and 5 acres was 62,126, the number between 5 and 15 acres 154,560, the number between 15 and 30 acres 134,370 and the number above 30 acres 164,747. Generally speaking, however, it will be seen from the figures that since the middle of the 19th century holdings between 1 and 30 acres have decreased and holdings over 30 acres have increased. Of the total holdings under 30 acres considerably more than one-third are in Ulster, and of the holdings over 30 acres more than one-third are in Munster. The number of holdings of over 500 acres is only 1526, of which 475 are in Connaught. A considerable proportion, however, of these larger holdings, especially in Connaught, consist of more or less waste land, which at the best can only be used for raising a few sheep.

One more table may be given showing the proportional areas under the various kinds of crops, grass, woods and plantations, fallow, bog, waste, &c., over a series of years.

Perhaps the chief success of the society was seen in the establishment of creameries, which at the end of 1905 numbered 275--123 in Ulster, 102 in Munster, 20 in Leinster and 30 in Connaught. The members numbered over 42,000 and the trade turnover for the year was ?1,245,000. Agricultural societies have been established for the purchase of seed, implements, &c., on co-operative lines and of these there are 150, with a membership of some 14,000. The society was also successful in establishing a large number of credit societies, from which farmers can borrow at a low rate of interest. There are also societies for poultry-rearing, rural industries, bee-keeping, bacon-curing, &c., in connexion with the central organization. The system is rounded off by a number of trade federations for the sale and purchase of various commodities. The Department of Agriculture encourages the work of the Organization Society by an annual grant.

The following tables give summarized particulars, for the period from the 1st of November 1903 to the 31st of March 1906, of estates for which purchase agreements were lodged in cases of sale direct from landlords to tenants; estates for the purchase of which the Land Commission entered into agreements under sects. 6 and 8 of the act; estates in which the offers of the Land Commission to purchase under sect. 7 were accepted by the land judge; and estates for the purchase of which, under sections 72 and 79, originating requests were transmitted by the Congested Districts Board to the Land Commission:--

It will be seen from these two tables that though the amount of advances applied for during the period dealt with amounted to over ?35,000,000 the actual advances made were less than ?10,000,000. It will be seen further that the act operated almost entirely by means of direct sales by landlords to tenants. Of the total amount advanced up to March 31, 1906, almost one-half was in respect of estates in the province of Leinster, the balance being divided pretty equally between estates in the other three provinces.

For administrative purposes Ireland is divided into 31 deep-sea and coast fisheries and during 1905, 6190 vessels were engaged in these districts, giving employment to a total of 24,288 hands. Excluding salmon, nearly one million hundredweights of fish were taken, and including shell-fish the total money received by the fishermen exceeded ?414,000. In the same year 13,436 hands were engaged in the 25 salmon fishing districts into which the country is divided. In addition to the organized industry which exists in these salmon districts, there is a good deal of ordinary rod and line fishing in the higher reaches of the larger rivers and good trout fishing is obtainable in many districts.

In 1850 the number of spindles was 396,338 and of power looms 58; in 1905 the corresponding figures were 826,528 and 34,498. In 1850 the number of persons employed in flax mills and factories was 21,121; in 1901 the number in flax, hemp and jute textile factories was 64,802.

The following table shows the net annual amount of excise duties received in Ireland in a series of years:--

In 1825 the shipping duties on the cross-Channel trade were abolished and since that date no official figures are available as to a large part of Irish trade with Great Britain. The export of cattle and other animals, however, is the most important part of this trade and details of this appear in the following table:--

The value of the animals exported in 1905 was estimated at about ?14,000,000.

Since 1870 the Board of Trade has ceased to give returns of the foreign and colonial trade for each of the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Returns are given, however, for the principal ports of each kingdom. Between 1886 and 1905 these imports at the Irish ports rose from ?6,802,000 in value to ?12,394,000 and the exports from ?825,000 to ?1,887,000.

The following table shows the value of the total imports and exports of merchandise in the foreign and colonial trade at the ports of Dublin, Belfast and Limerick in each of the years 1901-1905:--

The Department of Agriculture published in 1906 a report on the imports and exports at Irish ports for the year 1904. In this report, the compiling of which presented great difficulties in the absence of official returns, are included the direct trade between Ireland and all countries outside of Great Britain, the indirect trade of Ireland with those same countries via Great Britain, and the local trade between Ireland and Great Britain. The value of imports in 1904 is put at ?55,148,206, and of exports at ?46,606,432. But it is pointed out in the report that while the returns as regards farm produce, food stuffs, and raw materials may be considered approximately complete, the information as to manufactured goods--especially of the more valuable grades--is rough and inadequate. It was estimated that the aggregate value of the actual import and export trade in 1904 probably exceeded a total of ?105,000,000. The following table gives some details:--

From the figures given in the report it would appear that there was in 1904 an excess of imports amounting to over ?8,500,000. But owing to the imperfect state of existing information, it is impossible to say with any certainty what is the real state of the balance of visible trade between Ireland and other countries.

Shipping returns also throw some light upon the commercial condition of Ireland. Old figures are not of much value, but it may be stated that Arthur Dobbs gives the number of ships engaged in the Irish trade in 1721 as 3334 with a tonnage of 158,414. According to the statistics of C?sar Moreau the number of ships belonging to Irish ports in 1788 was 1016 with a tonnage of over 60,000, and in 1826 they had increased, according to the trade and navigation returns, to 1391 with a tonnage of over 90,000. In 1905 the vessels registered at Irish ports numbered 934 with a tonnage of over 259,000. In the same year the vessels entering and clearing in the colonial and foreign trade numbered 1199 with a tonnage of over 1,086,000, and the vessels entering and clearing in the trade between Great Britain and Ireland numbered 41,983 with a tonnage of over 9,776,000.

Of the 1367 convicted in 1905, 375 were charged with offences against the person, 205 with offences against property with violence, 545 with offences against property without violence, 52 with malicious injury to property, 44 with forgery and offences against the currency, and 146 with other offences. In 1904, 81,775 cases of drunkenness were brought before Irish magistrates as compared with 227,403 in England and 43,580 in Scotland.

The average daily number in receipt of relief of all kinds during the same years was as follows: 1902, 41,163; 1903, 43,600; 1904, 43,721; 1905, 43,911. The percentage of indoor paupers to the estimated population in 1905 was 1.00.

The Roman Catholic Church is governed in Ireland by 4 archbishops, whose sees are in Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam, and 23 bishops, all nominated by the pope. The episcopal emoluments arise from the mensal parishes, the incumbency of which is retained by the bishops, from licences and from an annual contribution, varying in amount, paid by the clergy of the diocese. The clergy are supported by fees and the voluntary contributions of their flocks. At the census of 1901 there were 1084 parishes, and the clergy numbered 3711. In addition to the secular clergy there are several communities of regular priests scattered over the country, ministering in their own churches but without parochial jurisdiction. There are also numerous monasteries and convents, a large number of which are devoted to educational purposes. The great majority of the secular clergy are educated at Maynooth College .

The Protestants of Ireland belong mainly to the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church. .

The Presbyterian Church, whose adherents are found principally in Ulster and are the descendants of Scotch settlers, was originally formed in the middle of the 17th century, and in 1840 a reunion took place of the two divisions into which the Church had formerly separated. The governing body is the General Assembly, consisting of ministers and laymen. In 1906 there were 569 congregations, arranged under 36 presbyteries, with 647 ministers. The ministers are supported by a sustentation fund formed of voluntary contributions, the rents of seats and pews, and the proceeds of the commutation of the Regium Donum made by the commissioners under the Irish Church Act 1869. Two colleges are connected with the denomination, the General Assembly's College, Belfast, and the Magee College, Londonderry. In 1881 the faculty of the Belfast College and the theological professors of the Magee College were incorporated and constituted as a faculty with the power of granting degrees in divinity.

The Methodist Church in Ireland was formed in 1878 by the Union of the Wesleyan with the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists. The number of ministers is over 250.

Further details on the same subject, according to provinces and religious denominations in 1901, are subjoined:--

Universities and colleges.

The university of Dublin , which is for practical purposes identical with Trinity College, Dublin, was incorporated in 1591. The government is in the hands of a board consisting of the provost and the senior fellows, assisted by a council in the election of professors and in the regulation of studies. The council is composed of the provost and elected members. There is also a senate, composed of the chancellor or vice-chancellor and all doctors and masters who have kept their names on the books of Trinity College. Religious tests were abolished in 1873, and the university is now open to all; but, as a matter of fact, the vast majority of the students, even since the abolition of tests, have always belonged to the Church of Ireland, and the divinity school is purely Protestant.

In pursuance of the University Education Act 1879, the Queen's University in Ireland was superseded in 1882 by the Royal University of Ireland, it being provided that the graduates and students of the former should have similar rank in the new university. The government of the Royal University was vested in a senate consisting of a chancellor and senators, with power to grant all such degrees as could be conferred by any university in the United Kingdom, except in theology. Female students had exactly the same rights as male students. The university was simply an examining body, no residence in any college nor attendance at lectures being obligatory. All appointments to the senate and to fellowships were made on the principle that one half of those appointed should be Roman Catholics and the other half Protestants; and in such subjects as history and philosophy there were two courses of study prescribed, one for Roman Catholics and the other for Protestants. In 1905 the number who matriculated was 947, of whom 218 were females, and the number of students who passed the academic examinations was 2190. The university buildings are in Dublin and the fellows were mostly professors in the various colleges whose students were undergraduates.

The three Queen's Colleges, at Belfast, Cork and Galway, were founded in 1849 and until 1882 formed the Queen's University. Their curriculum comprised all the usual courses of instruction, except theology. They were open to all denominations, but, as might be expected, the Belfast college was almost entirely Protestant. Its situation in a great industrial centre also made it the most important and flourishing of the three, its students numbering over 400. It possessed an excellent medical school, which was largely increased owing to private benefactions.

The Irish Universities Act 1908 provided for the foundation of two new universities, having their seats respectively at Dublin and at Belfast. The Royal University of Ireland at Dublin and the Queen's College, Belfast, were dissolved. Provision was made for a new college to be founded at Dublin. This college and the existing Queen's Colleges at Cork and Galway were made constituent colleges of the new university at Dublin. Letters patent dated December 2, 1908, granted charters to these foundations under the titles of the National University of Ireland , the Queen's University of Belfast and the University Colleges of Dublin, Cork and Galway. It was provided by the act that no test of religious belief should be imposed on any person as a condition of his holding any position in any foundation under the act. A body of commissioners was appointed for each of the new foundations to draw up statutes for its government; and for the purpose of dealing with any matter calling for joint action, a joint commission, half from each of the above commissions, was established. Regulations as to grants-in-aid were made by the act, with the stipulation that no sum from them should be devoted to the provision or maintenance of any building, or tutorial or other office, for religious purposes, though private benefaction for such purposes is not prohibited. Provisions were also made as to the transfer of graduates and students, so that they might occupy under the new r?gime positions equivalent to those which they occupied previously, in respect both of degrees and the keeping of terms. The commissioners were directed to work out schemes for the employment of officers already employed in the institutions affected by the new arrangements, and for the compensation of those whose employment could not be continued. A committee of the privy council in Ireland was appointed, to be styled the Irish Universities Committee.

The Roman Catholic University College in Dublin may be described as a survival of the Roman Catholic University, a voluntary institution founded in 1854. In 1882 the Roman Catholic bishops placed the buildings belonging to the university under the control and direction of the archbishop of Dublin, who undertook to maintain a college in which education would be given according to the regulations of the Royal University. In 1883 the direction of the college was entrusted to the Jesuits. Although the college receives no grant from public funds, it has proved very successful and attracts a considerable number of students, the great majority of whom belong to the Church of Rome.

The Royal College of Science was established in Dublin in 1867 under the authority of the Science and Art Department, London. Its object is to supply a complete course of instruction in science as applicable to the industrial arts. In 1900 the college was transferred from the Science and Art Department to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction.

There are two Presbyterian colleges, the General Assembly's College at Belfast, which is purely theological, and the Magee College, Londonderry, which has literary, scientific and theological courses. In 1881 the Assembly's College and the theological professors of Magee College were constituted a faculty with power to grant degrees in divinity.

In addition to the foregoing, seven Roman Catholic institutions were ranked as colleges in the census of 1901:--All Hallows , Holycross , University College , St Patrick's , St Kieran's , St Stanislaus's and St Patrick's . In 1901 the aggregate number of students was 715, of whom 209 were returned as under the faculty of divinity.

Schools.

As regards secondary schools a broad distinction can be drawn according to religion. The Roman Catholics have diocesan schools, schools under religious orders, monastic and convent schools, and Christian Brothers' schools, which were attended, according to the census returns in 1901, by nearly 22,000 pupils, male and female. On the other hand are the endowed schools, which are almost exclusively Protestant in their government. Under this heading may be included royal and diocesan schools and schools upon the foundation of Erasmus Smith, and others privately endowed. In 1901 these schools numbered 55 and had an attendance of 2653 pupils. To these must be added various private establishments, which in the same year had over 8000 pupils, mainly Protestants. Dealing with these secondary schools as a whole the census of 1901 gives figures as to the number of pupils engaged upon what the commissioners call the "higher studies," i.e. studies involving instruction in at least one foreign language. In 1881 the number of such pupils was 18,657; in 1891, 23,484; and in 1901, 28,484, of whom 17,103 were males and 11,381 females, divided as follows among the different religions--Roman Catholics 18,248, Protestant Episcopalians 5669, Presbyterians 3011, Methodists 760, and others 567. This increase in the number of pupils engaged in the higher studies is probably due to a large extent to the scheme for the encouragement of intermediate education which was established by act of parliament in 1879. A sum of ?1,000,000, part of the Irish Church surplus, was assigned by that act for the promotion of the intermediate secular education of boys and girls in Ireland. The administration of this fund was entrusted to a board of commissioners, who were to apply its revenue for the purposes of the act by carrying on a system of public examinations, by awarding exhibitions, prizes and certificates to students, and by the payment of results fees to the manager of schools. An amending act was passed in 1900 and the examinations are now held under rules made in virtue of that act. The number of students who presented themselves for examination in 1905 was 9677; the amount expended in exhibitions and prizes was ?8536; and the grants to schools amounted to over ?50,000. The examinations were held at 259 centres in 99 different localities.

Primary education in Ireland is under the general control of the commissioners of national education, who were first created in 1831 to take the place of the society for the education of the poor, and incorporated in 1845. In the year of their incorporation the schools under the control of the commissioners numbered 3426, with 432,844 pupils, and the amount of the parliamentary grants was ?75,000; while in 1905 there were 8659 schools, with 737,752 pupils, and the grant was almost ?1,400,000. Of the pupils attending in the latter year, 74% were Roman Catholics, 12% Protestant Episcopalians and 11% Presbyterians. The schools under the commissioners include national schools proper, model and workhouse schools and a number of monastic and convent schools. The Irish Education Act of 1892 provided that the parents of children of not less than 6 nor more than 14 years of age should cause them to attend school in the absence of reasonable excuse on at least 150 days in the year in municipal boroughs and in towns or townships under commissioners; and provisions were made for the partial or total abolition of fees in specified circumstances, for a parliamentary school grant in lieu of abolished school fees, and for the augmentation of the salaries of the national teachers.

There are 5 reformatory schools, 3 for boys and 2 for girls, and 68 industrial schools, 5 Protestant and 63 Roman Catholic.

Technical instruction.

Returns of the ordinary revenue were first presented to the Irish parliament in 1730. From special returns to parliament the following table shows net income and expenditure over a series of years up to 1868:--

The amount of imperial revenue collected and expended in Ireland under various heads for the five years 1902-1906 appears in the following tables:--

Subtracting in each year the total expenditure from the estimated true revenue it would appear from the foregoing table that Ireland contributed to imperial services in the years under consideration the following sums: ?2,570,000, ?2,852,000, ?2,200,500, ?2,186,500 and ?1,811,500.

The financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland have long been a subject of controversy, and in 1894 a royal commission was appointed to consider them, which presented its report in 1896. The commissioners, though differing on several points, were practically agreed on the following five conclusions: that Great Britain and Ireland must, for the purposes of a financial inquiry, be considered as separate entities; that the Act of Union imposed upon Ireland a burden which, as events showed, she was unable to bear; that the increase of taxation laid upon Ireland between 1853 and 1860 was not justified by the then existing circumstances; that identity of rates of taxation did not necessarily involve equality of burden; that, while the actual tax revenue of Ireland was about one-eleventh of that of Great Britain, the relative taxable capacity of Ireland was very much smaller, and was not estimated by any of the commissioners as exceeding one-twentieth. This report furnished the material for much controversy, but little practical outcome; it was avowedly based on the consideration of Ireland as a separate country, and was therefore inconsistent with the principles of Unionism.

The public debt of Ireland amounted to over ?134,000,000 in 1817, in which year it was consolidated with the British national debt.

In 1906 the net value of property assessed to estate duty, &c., in Ireland was ?16,016,000 as compared with ?306,673,000 in England and ?38,451,000 in Scotland; and in 1905 the net produce of the income tax in Ireland was ?983,000, as compared with ?27,423,000 in England and ?2,888,000 in Scotland.

EARLY HISTORY

Historical sources.

The old inhabitants of Ulster are usually termed Ulidians to distinguish them from the Milesian peoples who overran the province. With the advent of Niall N?igiallach son of Eochaid Muigmed?in we are treading safer ground. It was about this time that the Milesian kingdom of Tara was firmly established. Nor was Niall's activity confined to Ireland alone. Irish sources represent him as constantly engaged in marauding expeditions oversea, and it was doubtless on one of these that St Patrick was taken captive. These movements coincide with the inroads of the Picts and Scots recorded by Roman writers. It is probably from this period that the Irish colonies in south Wales, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall date. And the earliest migrations from Ulster to Argyll may also have taken place about this time. Literary evidence of the colonization of south Wales is preserved both in Welsh and Irish sources, and some idea of the extent of Irish oversea activity may be gathered from the distribution of the Ogam inscriptions in Wales, south-west England and the Isle of Man.

From the beginning the life of the converts must have been in some measure coenobitic. Indeed it could hardly have been otherwise in a pagan and half-savage land. St Patrick himself in his Confession makes mention of monks in Ireland in connexion with his mission, but the few glimpses we get of the monastic life of the decades immediately following his death prove that the earliest type of coenobium differed considerably from that known at a later period. The coenobium of the end of the 5th century consisted of an ordinary sept or family whose chief had become Christian. After making a gift of his lands the chief either retired, leaving it in the hands of a coarb, or remained as the religious head himself. The family went on with their usual avocations, but some of the men and women, and in some cases all, practised celibacy, and all joined in fasting and prayer. It may be inferred from native documents that grave disorders were prevalent under this system. A severer and more exclusive type of monasticism succeeded this primitive one, but apart from the separation of the sexes the general character never entirely changed.

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