ᎪᎯ 2 8797 1.7 Opening AddreBAKER U RAR{December, the Society up to the passing of the Act of 1870, nearly forty papers were read more or less directly bearing on the land question. Among the first of these were six valuable papers by Dr. Hancock, "On the Economic Causes of the State of Agriculture in Ireland," in which, among other causes injuriously affecting agriculture, he referred particularly to the legal impediments to the transfer of land, and pointed out the means by which those impediments might be lessened. He suggested: Firstly, the establishment of a general register of all land, with the names of all those having estates in, or incumbrances affecting it; secondly, the appointing public sales of land by auction, which should be deemed markets overt; thirdly, the enactment that the encumbrances affecting any land should, on its being sold, be transferred to the funds arising from the sale. Now these last two suggestions, though they were then so novel as to be deemed revolutionary, were practically adopted in the Act of 1849, which established the Incumbered, now the Landed Estates' Court, and the provisions embodying them are probably the most important in that Act, as contributing to the efficiency of a court which has been of such value to Ireland. The general register of land has not yet been established; but the principle is recognised by the "Record of Title Act," passed in 1865, which Act was mainly based on the plan laid before the Society by Sir Robert Torrens, in December, 1863. Neither this Act, nor Lord Westbury's Act, passed in 1862, for "facilitating the proof of title to and the conveyance of real estate," have as yet been much availed of, but the "Land Transfer Act"-passed last year by Lord Cairns for England is a further development of the same principle, and I entertain no doubt that, before long, this plan of recording the ownership of land in a public register, which has proved itself so useful in other countries, will be carried into complete and effective operation throughout the United Kingdom. The defective state of the laws relating to the Public Health was brought before us on several occasions, and in particular by Dr. Mapother in three papers read in 1864 and 1865, entitled, "The Sanitary State of Dublin," "The Differences between the Statutes bearing on Public Health for England and for Ireland," and "The Unhealthiness of Irish Towns and the want of Sanitary Legislation." It is certainly not too much to assume that these remarkable papers and the discussions which took place after they were read, had an important effect as respects the "Sanitary Act" which was passed in 1866, in which Ireland was united with England in sanitary legislation. The working of the Poor-law formed the subject of several papers. The differences between the Irish and English law were pointed out; the question of union rating was discussed; the hardship of compulsory removal of poor persons who had lived for many years in England or Scotland was laid before us; the claims of the imbecile, and the blind, and the deaf and dumb, for relief and education, were advocated; the importance of reformatory establishments for juvenile delinquents was pressed upon our attention; and the great superiority of the family system of rearing orphan children, instead of the system pursued in the workhouse, was forcibly stated. 10 1999 all these subjects, public opinion has been enlightened, and public feeling has been roused, and much has been done to remedy the evils complained of, and to meet the wants pointed out. I may in particular refer to the establishment of reformatories for juvenile delinquents, and of industrial schools for the waifs and strays of society; and we may point with much satisfaction to the Act of last session, passed after years of agitation and remonstrance, which at last does away with the forcible return from England and Scotland of Irish poor, after they have spent the best part of their lives in those countries. To recapitulate all the subjects which have engaged our attention with useful results would occupy too much of your time; yet I may be permitted to refer to the valuable reports on the Patent Laws, and on the Law and Practice in Ireland with respect to Wills, presented in 1851 and 1852, by Mr. Lawson, now The Rt. Hon. Justice Lawson; also the report on the policy of Partnerships of Limited Liability, by Mr. Colles, in 1852, all of which pointed out evils-some of them peculiar to Ireland-which have since been remedied, and suggested legislation which has since been carried into effect. In 1858 a special committee was appointed by the Council to investigate the question of a General Registration of Marriages, Births, and Deaths in Ireland; the report of this committee was widely circulated; and there is good reason to believe that it had an important effect in promoting the legislation under which the present system of registration was established in 1863. In 1871, when Lord Emly, then Mr. Monsell, was PostmasterGeneral, the Council pressed on his notice the importance of extending the money order system to remittances between this country and the United States of America. Mr. Monsell at once saw the value of the proposal as respects emigrants and their friends, and was successful in carrying it into effective operation. These and other cases which I might adduce, prove that the Statistical Society has done good work in the past, and should act as an encouragement to its members to continue their exertions for the amendment of the laws, and for the social improvement of our country. I now turn to the consideration of the many changes which have taken place in the social and economic condition of Ireland since the Statistical Society held its first meeting in December, 1847. The great diminution in the population of Ireland is the most important of those changes. The numbers taken at the different 15 31 being a reduction in the thirty years, from 1841 to 1871, of have produced this depopulation appear to be still in operation; and the Registrar-General estimates the number on the 31st December, 1875, to have been only 5,313,980. There can be no doubt that the population increased between 1841 and 1846, and probably amounted at the commencement of the Famine in the latter year, to at least 8,375, ooo; so that it may be assumed that the diminution between 1846 and 1876 has been more than 3,000,000 of persons. Concurrently with this decrease of the population, there has been a great decrease in the number of small holdings of land, with a corresponding increase in the number of large farms. The statement given below shows the progressive changes up to 1875.* By this statement it appears that the small holdings between one and five acres, have been reduced from 310,436 to 69,098; and those between five and fifteen acres, from 252,799 to 166,959. The farms between fifteen and thirty acres increased between 1841 and 1851, from 79,342 to 141,311; but since that time they have regularly decreased, and are now fewer by 3,642 than they were in 1851. The most important increase has been in the class of farms over thirty acres, which were only 48,625 in 1841, and are now 160,298, or more than three times as many as they were in 1841. These changes took place most largely in the two or three years immediately succeeding the Famine; but the tendency to the consolidation of holdings has continued to work during the whole period since 1847, and is evidently still in operation. But while the number of small holdings has been so greatly reduced, that those between one and five acres are not now one-fourth of what they were in 1841, it will be seen that the number of holdings exceeding five acres has increased from 380,766 to 464,926; and these farms of five acres and upwards bear now a much larger proportion to the population than they did in 1841-being now 87 holdings for every 1,000 inhabitants; while in 1841 there were only 46. The Commissioners for taking the census of 1841, took all holdings over thirty acres together as one class; but this has since been divided into five classes. The statement given opposite shows the changes By which have taken place in each of these classes since 1851.* this statement it appears that, while the number of farms between 30 and 200 acres has continued regularly to increase, the farms above 200 acres in extent have, on the contrary, decreased in number since 1861-thus giving reason to believe that the economic conditions are more favourable for farms of moderate size than for those of greater extent. We may therefore anticipate the further increase of farms of medium size, and with them the increase of that middle class of which the agricultural districts of Ireland are so much in need. But there are many cases in which two or more holdings are held by the same person; and returns have been obtained since 1861, for the purpose of ascertaining by how many persons these holdings are actually occupied. The result of this enquiry is given below.† This statement shows that many of the large farms consist of two or more holdings; but in other respects it strengthens the inferences already drawn from the statistics of the separate holdings, as it shows that since 1861 the number of persons occupying land has decreased by 30,951, and that this decrease has been greatest as respects those who hold less than 30 acres; while the farmers holding farms of 50 acres to 200 acres, have increased in number. This consolidation of holdings and formation of large farms has been accompanied by a large decrease of tillage, and by a large increase in the number of cattle and other live stock fed principally on the large grazing farms. The abstracts given herewith, which are taken from the tables published annually by the Registrar-General, will show the course of decrease of the one, and of increase of the other.* These figures show that the growth of cereal crops has regularly decreased, from 3,313,579 acres in 1847, to 1,916,808 acres in 1875; while the extent of land under green crops continues without much change since 1851, and that under meadow and clover has increased from 1,138,946 acres in 1847, to 1,944,676 acres in 1875. On the other hand, the number of sheep has increased from 2, 106, 189 in 1841, to 4,254,c27; and that of cattle, from 1,863,116 in 1841, to 4,115,288 in 1875. In both sheep and cattle the numbers, therefore, are more than doubled during the last thirty-four years, while horses and pigs, though varying in number from time to time, remain on the average nearly the same. It is satisfactory to notice the large increase in the number of poultry, amounting to nearly 50 per cent., inasmuch as this is peculiarly the stock of the small farmers and cottiers, and the sale of eggs and poultry forms a most important part of their means of support. It is worthy of remark that the number of asses has been nearly doubled since 1841, and is now about one-third of the number of horses and mules, and this may be taken as another proof of the improved condition of the cottiers and the holders of very small farms in Ireland. The nominal values given in the following table of live stock must not be mistaken for the real value at each of the periods stated. It is merely a rough means of showing the total increase; as notwithstanding the great increase of value, the different kinds of stock have been always priced at the rate fixed on by the Census Commissioners in 1841 as being their fair value at that time. Mr. Thom, * NUMBERS OF EACH KIND OF LIVE STOCK, AND TOTAL VALUE, ACCORDING TO THE RATES ADOPTED BY THE CENSUS COMMISSIONERS IN 1841. Sheep 2,106,189 2,122,128 3,556,050 4,233,435 4,254,027 Pigs 1,412,813 no return 1,084,557 Poultry 1,102,042 1,621,423 1,252,056| 235.313 189,842 231,373 270,691 8,458,517 7,470,694 10,371,175 11,717,182 12,139,138 Value £ £ £ £ 21,105,808 27,737,393 33,434,385 37,553,337 37,964,166| £ |