I LLINO I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2009. r 4 F , r 4 w-, 51 7 'A y 144 '1 4 Alkt; w ;ii V 'X, 5 1v -w 4 2 X 77 .01 2 0 OIL o Set- v -N A 771 me, 4t77 1. te 14 4. Az 4147,r,. 4 A 'K ., __4 tW- 7 ji, K-4 's . , 67V 3z _X1 iW61 . ,- _,& vig., -A . j[Z A V ;h-, K ,,- aQ 5_. Aw -F 4,4-, V 6 4, qWM 4c QX K & Y , Zx LA" - 4' "d 7 >V Ww Vj _. ?sz,4_-.,i_, Ji A' 'w ;0 5 R L 4- 'U"k. 4 -- ----A X' p ?ll VA R -g- V,;c q- j0i;- j Z;,!., z',.-,,:"r7 T", Y'. A _AAZ*. ..... . R" v Ix. Tt A A. -W J Z,U ;%4 'tv. i -A4 A, x s - 4*4 V. -i T, 1: 4 -,w W LM& q -N -j j, A A., IV' + Ij fV 4, T -4 A, A,!J J. T_ t 1 '.4 A-,in J 4"t wx 4, Tl j, I .. P. '4 4. + 4 L; :, M il i i . I 1. .. , t.. ',' % ,,", ', , - .. 41 . ", -- 1 - - I1. _:1 , '__ - z.,. , '. A -4 -A 1_. , ;04K 4 .b WW A' 41 AA, 6.. lit, e 7 4 A o it' Av n " I M. .4,: A, N n W 17 J A, Y i4 W yi. C'4. A Wc k 1 - 1'. -4., A "j" 01 m Z Aft F f C1:0, " 1 * I. ,t _Jg :;iii ;L, --^, 'v -4.,4- Y.j T': A n: X; x W r , 4h t", '111- V, j k 0 U, g T, N 00 NK4 4 4 4 g . + H 4 '415, X X oi 41 inn;. Al + + R, R, -4-j. W, % X N- 4, J', i; .,Nz 4 J*t , THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY From the ooliio4b J7ames rdo- Treln of ins Prhaed 1918. 736o WJ D n{nfo .0 WORKS BY J. BOWLES DALY, LL.D. "RADICAL PIONEERS OF THE 18th CENTURY." "It would be hard to conceive a volume of more compressed information and deeper interest. An admirable picture of an epoch more pregnant with political instruction than any other in the world's history."-Daily Telegraph. " It contains an account of certain events of great social and political importance. Dr. Daly has produced a book full of information as it is interesting."Newcastle Chronicle. "This book, full of interest in every page, may be cordially recommended. Dr. Daly has accomplished the work he has undertaken with admirable judginent."-Echo. "Let all Radical Associations through the country place this work within reach ,of their members as a deeply interesting and reliable text-book. The leaders of the movement are here sketched with a masterly hand."-Literary World. " The present volume gives a history at once accurate and graphic of the men who, as Dr. Daly puts it, bravely carried in their hands the torch of Liberty. The style is bright, full of life, colour and movement."-Manchester Examiner. "The book furnishes an instructive study of the character of leading Radicals of the period, and also of the effect produced on English politics by the American Revolutions."-Scotsman. .and French " The author is a graphic and entertaining writer. It is a pity we have not more of such sound political works."-Army and Navy Magazine. " The whole arrangement of the work is first-class, and the book will be found :a great help to those desirous of obtaining a clear insight into the improved condition of the people."-Public Opinion. " A most valuable work as regards information and instruction, but a most delightful book for the general reader. ' Radical Pioneers' unites the strength ,of history with the charm of romance."-Life. "IRELAND IN THE DAYS OF DEAN SWIFT." "The body of Dr. Daly's book could hardly be other than welcome, for it contains the cream of Swift's political writing on Ireland."-Saturday Review. "This book is most welcome. Dr. Daly writes sensibly. He is neither a fanatic nor a partisan, but states his case with calmness and without exaggeration. Dr. Daly possesses sound judgment and keen logical acumen. "-CorkExaminer. "It is curious that among the countless books that the state of Ireland has called forth, the Tracts of Dean Swift have never until now been republished apart from his collected works. A certain side of Irish life they portray with extraordinary vividness. It may be hoped that the event will prove to Dr. Daly the existence of a public for Swift's writings, and that he will print the tracts in .extenso."-Athenceum. "Dr. Daly has written a capital Introduction, and further explanatory notes, with extracts from the writings of the best master of prose that ever wielded a pen. The work is very interesting, and is an apt and welcome contribution to the literature of the Irish Question. The book is a useful adjunct to any Irish history of the troubled, yet memorable, time of Swift, and will give a capital insight into the politics of the day."-Literary World. WORKS BY J. BOWLES DALY, LL.D.-cotiued. "IRELAND IN '98." " A volume about 450 pages, based on Madden's ' Lives of United Irishmen,' containing the substance of those bulky volumes, besides additional matter from the author's unpublished MSS., with portraits and cartoons."-Nation. "Lively and pictorial representations of the leading patriots of '98. The style of the sketches forcible and flowing. They are trustworthy in matters of fact, and certainly interesting."-Scotsman. " Dr. Daly has made a favourable reputation by his works, 'Radical Pioneers,' and 'Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift,' which are well known. That reputation will be maintained by the present volume, as the sketches of notable Irish patriots of the era of '98. He does not profess to be impartial, but we have never found him uncandid. In historical writing candour and not a colourless impartiality is the one thing needful. The chapter on Secret Societies is rich in information, and as novel as it is fascinating. The substance of Dr. Daly's book is thoroughly honest, and is more interesting than many romances."-Mancheste JSssniner. " Dr. Daly traces forcibly the growth of the national spirit and succinctly puts before us a faithful picture of the time from the best authorities. He writes in good faith, with a deep love of Ireland and sincere admiration for what was heroic in the leaders of '98. This work, owing to its admirable method of representation, is likely to make its way among the English public, and sure to do good."-Academy. "An entertaining book, containing everything that is worth preserving of the history of that period. The introduction is a masterly exposition of the English policy towards Ireland during the 18th century."-W itand Wisdom. "STORM HEROES." "A stirring story of splendid service in our lifeboats, a general sketch of the gradual development of the National Institution being also given. The letterpress, which will well repay perusal by young and old, is well illustrated."Liteary World. "It is a story of lifeboats and the brave and gallant men who man them. It is well worth reading, being written in the author's pleasant, quaint, and pathetic manner. "-Truth. GLI MPSLS OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. BY J. BOWLES AUTHOR OF "RADICAL DALY, LL.D. PIONEERS,"IRELAND IN THE DAYS OF DEAN SWIFT," "IRELAND IN '98,' ETC. , onboit: WARD AND DOWNEY, t2, YORK. STREET, COVENT 1889. GARDEN, W.C. PRINTED) KELLY BY AND CO., MIDDLE MILL, KINCSTON-ON-TIIIAE AND GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. :s~ PREFACE. In presenting this volume to the public, a few words of explanation are necessary, as the works which I have already published form a scheme of which this is a part. In my first historical work I have endeavoured to give a popular account of the origin and growth of one of the great parties in the State. In the second, by a careful selection from the writings of Dean Swift, together with the history of his political career, I have shown the attitude of the English Government towards Ireland during the 17th century. In the "Introduction" of my "Ireland in '98," I have exhibited the spirit in which England made laws for Ireland during the i8th century, and the class of men sent to enforce them. In the present work I have confined myself to the industrial aspect of the country, dealing only with what I consider the most important of the languishing interests, and excluding others which from their prosperous condition require no support. To fit myself for this task, I have previously studied the condition of industry in France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and the United States of America. While pointing out the causes of the decline of Irish industries, I have fully condemned the defects of my countrymen, but never indulged in fault-finding without suggesting a potent remedy. The material of the present volume is drawn from the sifted information furnished by the heads of firms in Ireland, Government returns, and Blue Books. The latter 4'37314 PREFACE. portentous documents have been compiled without number, and, as the majority of people entertain the same affection for a Blue Book as they do for a blue pill, my task was the reverse of exhilarating. I have, in order to become readable, dispensed with technicalities; and not wishing to mystify my readers, eschewed, as much as possible, long tables, classification of rates, and endless array of figures. Thus, an intricate subject, full, of detail, has been lightened for the uninitiated, who have neither the time nor patience to wade through an undigested mass of valuable information. Many persons in Ireland have given me useful facts relating to their I regret to say also that several appealed concerns. to have not answered my inquiries. I take this opportunity of thanking the former. Having here dealt with the political and industrial aspects of Ireland, my next work will be a picture of the social character of the country at a critical period, and from a new point of view. J. BOWLES DALY. CONTENTS. CHAP. THE PROVISION I. TRADE II. & III. . RAILWAY AUTOCRACY IV. BANKING. POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES LACE POPLIN WOOLLENS . . .. . . . .. KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, EMBROIDERY AFFORESTING FISHERIES . . . . VII. VIII. Ix. .X. . .. V. VI. . .. . . . . . xi. & XII. INTRODUCTION. ONE is tired of listening to the oft-repeated statement that the Irishman will work hard in every country but his own. We are told that in America he will clear the forest, construct the railway, build the jail, and obligingly inhabit it. The imbecile retailer of such illogical verbiage is here invited to press his inquiries a step further by asking why is this the case. The answer is that the Irishman would be as diligent and active at home under the same conditions. Industry and art would be as zealously pursued in Ireland as in other countries if the same opportunities were provided; the following pages are intended as a refutation of this calumny recklessly flung at Ireland and the Irish. Italy, Switzerland, and even Japan would be in a worse conditionthan Ireland were it not for "1the leaven of art" which exists there. Hod-carrying, distilling, brewing, and political scheming are supposed to be the only arts successfully practised by the Irish people. No greater mistake could be made by an observer of even the meanest capacity. It is generally admitted that no member of the great Aryan family ever lost a single power which it possessed. The Irish were a clever race in pre-historic times, and there is no indication of inferiority where their gifts had fair play and culture. It is true that a dislike to manual labour is universal ; this is mainly owing to two reasons: first, the system of Irish national education, INTRODUCTION. which encourages a literary rather than an industrial development; secondly, the fact that there are really no lower classes in Ireland-successive famines have entirely swept them out. The peasant farmers and peasantry are the descendants of the old gentry, retaining many of the traditions and instincts of their class. In this respect no country in Europe offers a parallel. It is well known that industrial prosperity depends largely on industrial training and. the traditions connected with this department. Ireland is, entirely wanting in this respect; but experience has shown that the people are quick to appreciate and willing to imitate the best designs placed before them, when technical instruction is imparted. The remarkable success of the Christian Brothers and the Ladies of Religious Orders, in training youths for handicrafts in industrial schools, is strong evidence of how much may be done in this direction.. The young'people in Ireland of the labouring class possess great manual dexterity and aptitude, which only requires to be developed in order to be useful to themselves and to those among whom they live. Instruction of this kind, as we shall presently show, has been given on the Continent to the inhabitants of remote and mountainous districts who would otherwise be idle. This training in large industrial concerns was effected at a small expenditure of public money and has amply justified the cost. In the mediaeval epoch of Irish history, her gold and bronze weapons, implements, and ornaments indicate a state of culture which is not to be found in other countries. None of the relics of a distant past, INTRODUCTION. preserved in the museums of Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Berlin can compare with those in the-Dublin Museum for skill, design, and beauty of workmanship. The whole depositaries of Europe cannot present specimens superior to the Cross of Cong, the Tara Brooch, and the Ardagh Cup. The oldest MSS. in the Royal Library of Stockholm are Irish; and no early Scandinavian MSS. show such finished illumination as those wrought by the hands of Irish artists. During the Middle Ages, Ireland was considerably ahead of the Northern countries of Europe in all technical art. What must the connoisseur of the Renaissance and Greek statue life think when he is informed that the hod-carrying, whisky-drinking Irish possess relics of decorative art, not resembling the eccentric barbarism of Central Africa, or the industrious idleness of the Chinese, but illuminated MSS. chaste in design and more ingenious in representation than ever the world has seen. The soul of all fanciful tracery and wild ornament-delicate, mystic, and suggestive-was derived from those-illuminated designs. One of the rarest-and most beautiful monuments of pictorial and artistic skill is the Book of Kells. This MS. is a copy of the Gospels, which received its name from the Columbian monastery of Kenlis or Kells, in the county Meath. The cover of this relic was gold, studded with precious stones ; it was sacrilegiously stolen in the night out of the great church, but afterwards restored, bereft of its valuable cover and several leaves. Owing to the dismemberment of the volume, the record of the time and circumstances under Xii INTRODUCTION. which this remarkable book was produced is altogether effaced. It may, however, from internal evidence, be assigned to a period between the sixth and ninth centuries. It is one of the most elaborately executed MSS. now in existence, excelling in the minuteness of its ornamental details, the peculiarity of its decorations, the fineness of its writing, and the endless variety of its initial capital letters. It contains pictorial representations of different scenes in the life of our Saviour, together with pictures of animals, dogs, birds, and foliage. The intricate intertwining of branches is characteristic of the Celtic spirit, which compelled even the human figure to submit to the most impossible contortions. Specimens of interlaced spiral ornamentation are done in a variety of colours-blue, violet, yellow, and green. The illustrations of this volume form a complete store-house of artistic interest The Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Durrow Bible, the Bell Shrine of St. Patrick, and the Tara Brooch may be examined critically without a false line or an irregular interlacement being detected. Gerald Plunket, the last Abbot of Cong, left a marginal comment on the Book of Kells, declaring that,, work doth passe al men's conyng that now doth live in any place." The Tara Brooch is of white bronze ; in 1850 it was found on the sea shore near Drogheda. It presents, various patterns of filigree work; no less than twenty-six varieties of design appear on it, so minute that they can only be fully understood by examination with a magnifying glass. The best workers in filigree of to-day can- "This INTRODUCTION. xiii not account for the manufacture. Irish metal work is almost miraculous; at first sight it appears Gothic in design. Gothic art is, however, invariably given to repetition, while the Celtic possesses incredible variety, but never repeats itself. Intricacy with elegance is the feature which fills the mind with astonishment while surveying the old handiwork. The more closely it is examined the more difficult the solution; some of the designs seem to consist of only a few circles or spirals, with interlacing lines, but they blend and change so as to make the hardest pattern in the world to copy. It is evident that the men who made those designs had minds to master everything in the decorative art. Architecture also flourished at the same time in Ireland and existed long before the advent of the Norman school. There were better stone edifices in Ireland than were ever erected by the Saxons. True, the old Irish architecture was wild and barbarous and suited to warlike times, but it was vigorous and showed marked signs of originality and strength. Don JEngus, with its twentytwo feet thick wall, might have been standing when the first Jew visited Egypt with his wife. Irish architecture abounded in symbols: mysterious echoes of an early cult, representative of unknown decrees of Fate. The serpent plays a strong part in all this work, hinting at an Oriental origin. When the Norman style came in, it did not disdain to borrow from this mystic representation. The old stone crosses of Ireland, with their rich engravings, attest a high culture at some remote period. NeitherVallencey nor Petrie has done justice to those products of antiquity. More modern research suggests that xiv INTRODUCTION. the peculiar ornamental art of Northern Europe had its origin in Ireland and that it was based on an early culture still enveloped in mystery. This art can be traced back to the sculptured stories of prehistoric ages; the monuments of a savage era are found developing into beauty, in church doors, crosses, illuminated MSS., gold and bronze ornaments found in bogs and exhumed from tumuli. When the Roman art died out, there sprang up in an obscure part of Europe a system of aesthetic culture which largely coloured the decorative art of the Middle Ages. This art was Irish; its first representation was made in basket work, woven and coloured with many hues and forming such curiosities of construction that they were imported even to Rome. From those baskets we get the first notion of Irish and Runic knot work. This was common to Ireland and Scandinavia, but Ireland excelled, by manifesting with it the purest form of Bright sparks of this theology, poetry and legend. hidden treasure were scattered through Europe by Irish monks who visited the court of Charlemagne, where the In new style of illuminating MSS. was appreciated. this way fresh fires were kindled in Europe. The pure Celtic art received fresh combinations from the heavy Romanesque school which ultimately gave birth to the Gothic, but all that was original was pure Irish. Long before the introduction of letters in England, the Irish used a form of writing given them by Prince Ogma, who belonged to the most mythic of the earliest coloniststhe Teutha de Danaans. Hence, we have the Ogham characters used as a veil to conceal the details of their creed and mysteries and suggesting a remote civilization INTRODUCTION. xv running -back into prehistoric times. The English invasion, with its wars, plunder and intrigues checked the development of Irish genius. When Ireland lost her liberty she lost her best prerogatives; from that time.her.influence in Europe ceased; her advanced civilisation disappeared, stamped out by an atrocious warfare, which dyed her soil with blood. During later periods, thousands of her best people were driven from their country, manufactures were suppressed, and all kinds of culture abolished; but the Irish people have not lost their ability for technical art: their capacities are dormant, not dead.. The Irish of the present day cannot do what they did of old, but they are of the same blood as those men.who, a thousand years ago, taught decorative art to all Europe and gave its very life even to the court of Charlemagne. These great qualities do not die in a race. An. old legend states that the rudiments of decorative art were brought.to Ireland by seven monks, from Egypt., Whether this be true does not matter, but the fact reminds us that, for five thousand years or more, the Egyptians did not change or lose their art culture. The Irish to-day, after massacres, penalties, and endless degradation, are much the same as they were a thousand years ago. The Celtic temperament is distinct and utterly unlike the Saxon in various respects. The modern Irishman has distinguished himself in the army, on the bench, in medicine or in merchandise. There have been successful artists, but they have been merged with their English contemporaries. The Irish peasant has a capacity for industrial art, which existed in his ancestors to a preeminent degree and has not died out. No one who has xvi INTRODUCTION. seen the lace made by Irish peasant women can doubt that the workers are possessed with an innate sense of beauty. About a generation ago, the old art of carving Irish bog wood was revived in Dublin, creditable specimens of which are to be found still. In the art schools of the Continent, Irish students are not found inferior to others. Their volatile, impressionable, and emotional nature is more artistic than either the English or American. The kingdom of art is more thickly populated with this emotional class than with that possessing more solid qualities. It is then impossible, with such evidence before us, to conclude that the Irish people are devoid of artistic qualities, and equally absurd to suppose that such delicate .and beautiful designs, displayed on MSS. or carved on crosses, were the work of barbarians. England, having knowingly destroyed the best industries of the past, owes something to the half-starved peasantry. Their modest demands have hitherto been unheeded; they clamour, not for charity, but work. "Give us something to do: teach us to learn. Why should we starve when we are willing to work ? " This is the demand of a hardy race .and not the cry of a sickly, under-sized people. When millions of money are squandered in party purposes, something might be forthcoming to resuscitate a country drained by an impoverished landlord class-driven to extremes by insurance offices and Jew money-lenders. If the Fisheries, the Railways and Banking interests of Ireland be taken in hand promptly and efficiently, a dawn of promise will open for Ireland, and its advent will strengthen and consolidate the Empire and preserve the unity of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. THE PROVISION TRADE. CHAPTER IL THE PROVISION TRADE. Doubtful Origin of the Pig.-His Connection with Valour and Sorcery.-The Veneration of Eastern Nations-Ancient Custom Revived in Oxford. Devices-Pigs, jro-3oyo pulico. -St. Anthony's Pigs.-" Blessing the Bacon." The Song of the Pig."-Provisions. for his Comfort.-Tis Philosophy-An Apology for his Habits.--Opinion of Sir Francis Head-Leigh Hunt-Diversity of the Pig's Career-Origin of the Word 'Rasher. "-Peasants' Love for the Pig -Foreign Competition. -Quality of Irish Bacon.-Foundation of the Trade in Ireland. Russell.-"' Berwick" Pigs-Limerick Hams-Early Days of the Trade.-The " Limerick Liners."-Government Contracts-The "Cove of Cork"--Progress of the TradePig's Conversion into B~acon.-Peep into a Modern Pig Factory. -The "Limerick Cure."-U~ses of the Pig.-American Rivalry. -A Futile Scheme, -Heraldic -John IN the endeavour to prove a good lineage, it is usual to say that a family came over with the Conqueror. The pig, the family friend of the Irish people, did not come with the aristocratio soldier who shines at the head of our old nobility ; for the best of reasons; he was here long before William's arrival, The advent of the por oine race into Ireland is lost in obscurity. Whether they came with the Firbolgo-, the Belgm, or the Milesians, remains wrapped in that veil which hides so many I-2 4 GLIMPSES OF IRISI INDUSTRIES. vestiges of the past from the gaze of the present. Ireland in the olden time was covered with forests; great acorn-growing trees which nourished the swine. During the first glimpses of Christianity, the old Druids were represented as hunting at midnight on the stormriven mountain tops, mounted on pigs, for the souls of hapless travellers. The pig was associated with mighty deeds of valour and the darkest doings of sorcery. The natives of the Sandwich- Islands still sacrifice the pig to Pele, the witch goddess who personifies the crater of Keranea. The Laplanders, even when pressed by hunger,, refuse to eat hogs' flesh, believing those animals to be the horses on which magicians ride through the night, bent on unlawful errands. In many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, pigs are still believed to be witches in disguise. The mythology of the East represents that, when the earth was hidden away by the malice of Hinany-Akshana, the god Vishnfi assumed the form of a mighty boar, with fiery tusks, and rooted it up from the depths of Patolas, restoring the planet to its proper place, and thus dignifying the pig by associating it with his third visitation. In commemoration of this, Vishnul is represented in Hindu temples with the head of a pig. The Saracens had great veneration for the animal, and gave as their reason for abstinence from swine flesh, that the pig was the brother of mankind. The warlike Moors regard the tooth of a wild boar as a powerful charm against the evil eye. The Scandinavians held the pig in great honour, and the souls of heroes were supposed to feed on the boar of Valhalla. On Christmas Day, in the Common hall of Queen's THIE PROVISION TRADE. College, Oxford, a boar's head is brought to table, crowned with garlands of bay and laurel, decorated with ribbons and holding an orange, stuck with cloves, between his grinning teeth, which custom, in common with Yule sports, is derived from our northern forefathers, and is entirely of Scandinavian origin. Some of the oldest families in the kingdom bear the device of a boar's head as their crest; notably those of Argyle and Breadalbane in the Scotch, and Clare and Charleville in the Irish peerage. In the 5Sth century, Edward IV. gave a grant of all masterless pigs to St. Anthony's Hospital, in London. The same monarch, among other privileges, sanctioned the maintenance of a pig at the St. Anpublic expense in every village in England. thony, remarkable for his love of all God's creatures save heretics, is always represented with a pig at his feet, and even in the fine picture of his. death, painted by Rubens, there is a large hog lying under the bed. The pigs of St. Anthony became public pensioners, roaming and foraging everywhere, and a member of the royal family lost his life by one of them running under his horse's feet; after which Anthony's pigs were obliged to wear a bell to warn people of their approach ; this bell became the sign of their privilege and they were then regarded as holy. It is said that the virtues of the Bath waters were first discovered by a pig; one of the herd kept by Prince Baldud, the son of King Ludd, The story of the pig's sacredness was maintained for many years; its last stage was traced to Lincolnshire, where, on a certain day in the year, the custom of "blessing the bacon" was continued, until put down by the clergy on GLIMPSES OF .IRISII INDUSTRIES. account of the orgies which accompanied it. Egyptians, Mohammedans, Hindoos and Jews shun pork as an article of food, yet troops of hogs are constantly represented in many of the most ancient pictures and stone designs. In the x2th century, one of the Welsh bards with the high-sounding name of Lewarch-Ab-Llewelyn, composed the " song of the pig," and Catwig, a poet, frequently referred to in the literature of Cymry, concltrdes a dissertation on morals with :-"Thus ends this portion of the saying of the wise; and happy is the man who is as wise as a pig." The pig has a large family and is well known in every country in the world. The Irish are not the only people who treat him with respect and attention. In Mexico, when he travels, he is furnished with boots, sewn up with neatly-fitting soles, and, in parts of Germany to-day, he is accommodated with a bedstead, lest his health should be injured by a "lodging on the cold ground." The pig is well able to take care of himself and, in his semi-savage state, to get his own living. In the Cordillerean Alps, the wild hogs choose a leader as king, without slaying whom it is impossible to break their ranks; they also form themselves into companies, one of which devotes itself to shaking certain trees, in order to bring down otherwise unattainable fruit, while the other party feeds: in this manner the divisions relieve each other alternately. The jungle hog of India makes his bed of meadow grass; this he cuts down with his teeth; when he has collected a large heap, he creeps under it to rest, and so contrives that he can cunningly creep out at the other side, with- TIE PROVISION TRADE. out disturbing the pile. He also manages to secure a loop hole, through which he keeps an eye on his enemies. The pig is not only sagacious but a sage, for though in the matter of food he is not over nice and hardly temperate, occasionally getting intoxicated on distillery refuse, yet he lives as he foresees his destiny. Other beasts toil and moil for their ungrateful masters, as if they had immortal souls and wanted to gain heaven by their good works. The pig eats and drinks because to-morrow he dies, and, under the circumstances, no one can deny this to be supreme wisdom. But, he is such a dirty beast 1 Well, what provision is made for his ablutions? Much of our cleanliness is owing to the conveniences with which we are provided. The pig likes a moist skin and, if he cannot get one without becoming dirty also, he merely puts up with a disagreeable necessity. Besides, wholesome mud is not dirt. There are places in Germany where people take mud baths, and they are not branded as dirty on that account. Our own sparrows in the summer are constantly seen taking dust baths in the roads. I think I have now "rehabilitated" the pig from the libels ruthlessly flung at him, much in the fashion of the great writers of our own day, whose principle it is to set on their legs those notabilities whom the verdict of history has knocked down. We were once taught to regard Henry VIII. as a detestable human vampire, guilty of the most odious crimes, but, if we are to believe the veracious Mr. Froude, that monarch must have been a mild, gentlemanly youth, whom any mother might invite with confidence to drink tea with her daughters. 8 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. The moral and mental philosophy of a pig's existence is ingeniously set forth by Sir Francis Head: "With pigs, as with mankind," he says, " idleness is the root of all evil. The poor animal, finding that he has abso.lutely nothing to do, having no employment, nothing to look forward to but the pail which feeds him, most eagerly (or, as we accuse him, greedily) greets its arrival. Having no business or diversion-nothing to occupy his hours-the whole powers of his system are directed to the digestion of a superabundance of food. To encourage this, nature assists him with sleep; which, lulling his better faculties, leads his stomach to become the'ruling power of his system--a tyrant which can bear no one's presence but his own. 'The poor pig, thus treated, gorges himself, sleeps, eats again, sleeps, awakes in a fright, screams, struggles against the blue apron, screams, faints, and turns up the white of his little eyes and dies." From the earliest times recorded in history, herds of pigs were kept by our British and Saxon ancestors, in those districts where acorns and mast-bearing trees abounded. The old Irish pig had long legs, large erect ears, an attenuated snout and a light body; he was a roaming, restless brute, with porcupine bristles on his back, a hide of rhinocerine thickness and an aspect grim as a wolf. These animals were good for a long run, and could travel considerable distances in search of food. They bore absolutely no resemblance to the sleek, lazy-looking porker who now finds it a labour to cross. from his stye to his trough, and who looks like animated lard. The antics of pigs, when the wind blows high, THE PROVISION TRADE. gave rise to the notion that they can see the wind, and the quaintly complacent manner in which these animals run off with a sheaf of straw to improve their bed, proves them to be humorists. Leigh Hunt characterizes the pig as an animal "having a peculiar turn of mind; a fellow that would not move faster than he could help, irritable, retrospective, picking objections and prone to haggle-a chap with a tendency to take every path but the proper one and with a side long tact for alleys." There is a considerable diversity in his career, and the part he plays in modern life is certainly not heroic. In Minorca, an ass and a hog may be frequently seen yoked to a plough. A Herefordshire farmer, in the last century, rode into St. Albans market in a small cart, drawn by four hogs. The pig has been known to submit to the saddle and bridle. In Italy he is utilized to hunt for truffles. A string is tied to his leg and he is led into fields where those delicacies grow; wherever he stops, smells the soil and roots up the ground, there truffles will be found. But the most singular function he is called on to perform is related by Daniels, in his " Rural Sports,' where he tells of a pig who was taught to stand game like an ordinary pointer. This susceptibility to teaching would redeem the pig from the oftrepeated charge of stupidity, even if a peep into his keen, clear eye did not at once do so. The pig is an opprobrious term flung at Irishmen, who are regarded by many as the white nigger of the human family. There is no disgrace in the epithet: let them rejoice in it and feel proud of the animal which has done them solid service, and, before I have finished, I will show that the.pig may IO GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES, enu- tide the Irish over greater difficulties still. Any meration of the uses of. the living pig must be a short one; I wish to trace him through the ordeal by which he is made a valuable dead pig. More than one hundred years ago, bacon formed no inconsiderable item of the Irish larder, and it still holds the field,'despite fierce competition from the colonies. A piece of bacon furnished Goldsmith with a simile as forcible as it is true. He wrote: 'In some Irish houses, where things are so, so, One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show; But,.for eating a rasher of what they take pride in, They'd as soon think of eating the pan it is fiid in," "rasher a The of bacon" is common expression in Ireland; it is derived from the rapidity with which this delicacy is prepared for suddenly arrived guests, and possibly forms the commencement of a hospitality which approaches rashness. when wild pigs passed away, men became civilized and pigs domesticated. The old Irish breed were lean and cadaverous race, but when housed and fattened they developed into portly looking quadrupeds. In the days when potatoes flourished, pig feeding became a valuable trade ; the animals grew to a great size, the larger class weighing something over two hundredweight and taking about two years to attain that size. Thesmnaller' kind of pig weighs from xr2lbs. to 1261bs. Pigs come to maturity much earlier than any other description of stock, therefore the animal produce is relatively greater in proportion. Tfhe area of Ireland a THEE PROVISION TRADE. II is about 20,ooo000,ooo square miles, and it was estimated in 1865 that there was an average of about one pig to every sixteen acres. In 1841, more than a quarter of a million pigs were owned by the poorer classes. That time htis, however, passed away; the number has diminished, owing to the absence of the food supply. The poor idiomatically assert that Indian meal-the staple food-of the peasant-leaves only a clean skillet; that is, nothing for the pig. . The potato famine has swept away the food of the national animal. It is no wonder that the people set great value on the pig, for he generally repaid in cash all the outlay on his comfort. The sums realized for them were very great; a Kilkenny farmer was often able to bring home from Waterford Market a sum of .'240 for thirty pigs. Every penny the poor man could save, in purchasing bran or pollard for "the pig, the cratur," he recovered with compound interest. The county of Kilkenny was the pigs' paradise. When the peasant stored his winter supply of potatoes, it is said he usually divided it into three lots-the best for the pigs, the next for seed and the refuse for the family. A story is told of one enthusiast who gave the pound of candles he brought home from market to the pigs and ate his supper in the dark. In 1847, Ireland exported about 480,000 live pigs. There was hardly any town of importance in the country without its provision store, which made up pork and bacon for the English market. These smaller concerns have gradually disappeared and the trade is concentrated in larger places, each of which has its peculiar manuWaterford takes the lead in the London facture. 12 GLIMYPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES, market, but Limerick has established a reputation for one particular class of goods, which are sold at most of the provision shops in the kingdom. America and Hamburg are proving formidable rivals in the pig trade. The advantages of Ireland are two-fold; first, the less variable character of the climate, which contributes to make the fat more solid; next, the cheapness of labour. American bacon can be raised at the low price of three cents per pound, but the quality is inferior, owing to the food on which the animals are nourished. Herds of American swine are driven into a field of maize and allowed to fatten on the green stalks or the raw cobs of corn ; this imparts a rankness to the flesh, and, in warm c:imates, this rankness causes disease. Irish pigs, on the contrary, are usually well treated from their birth; they are not fed on garbage, and one of the results is that no instances of trichinosis are reported. American pigs are driven into the markets of New York and Chicago, where immense slaughter takes place, very little care being taken to separate the prime from the inferior. Irish manufacturers are holding their own, in spite of foreign competition and change of circumstances. This success arises mainly from the intelligence and enterprise of those engaged in the trade; the names of Messrs. Shaw, Matterson and Denny being literally household words-known all over the kingdom. The secret of their success is obvious; possessing culture and knowledge, these gentlemen keep pace with the times, adopt the latest improvements of science, and, in consequence, Irish bacon is admittedly the.best in the market. The largest export trade in Ireland is that in cattle; THE PROVISION TRADE. z3 more than half a million being exported annually, and about a million and a half of sheep. There are no exact statistics of the number of pigs, though the trade in them is perhaps the best conducted enterprise in Ireland. When it began in Limerick is unknown, but, about the year 1820, Mr. John Russell, a Cumberland man, went over to Ireland and, after remaining a short time in Dublin, settled in Limerick and started the bacon trade. He began business in conjunction with Mr. Matterson, the father of the present proprietor. In 182o pigs were cheap; they were usually brought to the market dead. It was about then that the title "Berwick" began to be applied to a small class of pig which has ever since Mr. Russell been distinguished by that appellation. a peculiar method of curing hams which he saw adopted practised in the town of Berwick-on-Tweed. Practically the honour of curing the first of the famed Limerick hams belongs to Mr. Russell. Throughout the civilized world, wherever the matutinal rasher is an institution, the Limerick hams take the first place. Of the millions who feast on it, few have the faintest notion of the care, skill and judgment, as well as capital and enterprise, expended on that rare delicacy before it is ready for the palate. Who is not conversant with that exquisite morsel, alternating bands of creamy amber and faint rose, which makes the morning meal so enjoyable? The trade started by Mr. Russell was at first pursued only to an insignificant extent men of enterprise were, in those days, cramped by limited means of communication and want of an efficient banking system. It was then impossible to obtain advances of money to purchase 14 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INfDUSTRIES, goods, bef6re their realization in cash. Limited consign, ments of bacon to England hardly paid; the time spent in transportation was so tedious. What stimulated the trade was the knowledge that there was in England a good market for hams and bacon. It was Mr. Russell who began the trade with London, and his first attempt brought him as much as a shilling a pound for hams. It was a small business in those days, before the introducIt tion of bills, railways, steam ships and telegraphs. was mostly conducted in the winter months, the only time when curing could be carried on. Mr. Russell invested the whole of his capital in the purchase of pigs, and when he shipped the whole to Eh'gland, he had to wait for the return of his enterprise in money before he could go to work again. It was not all fair sailing with this energetic merchant; in 1836, a fire destroyed his stores, valued at .440,ooo. This serious loss, however, did not crush him; he went to work again and rapidly :amassed a large fortune. It was about the time of Mr. Russell's loss that Mr. Shiaw and Mr. Matterson went into the bacon trade, to which these respective firms gave an impetus, not only in the city but in the country. Trade with England was at this time in its infancy; it was developed by a system of co-operation; the respective merchants clubbed together to equip a small fleet to ply between London and Limerick. The "Limerick Liners," as they were called, were a small class of ship, from 150 to 300 tons. They sailed irregularly, and some- times took two months to make the voyage. One of the ships went out with a cargo of hams and encountered such severe weather that, when she arrived in London, THE PR~IOVISION TRADE, 1 15 her cargo was gone, it having been eaten by the captain and crew. Here is one of the shipping notes: "Shipped, by the Grace of God, in good order and well conditioned, by Joseph Matterson, in and upon the good ship 'Ariel,' whereof is master under God, for this present voyage, Henry Carter, and now riding at anchor in the river Shannon and, by God's grace, bound for London, carrying 130 loose hams, weight 15 cwt. I qr. 23 lbs.; being marked and numbered as in the margin, and are to be delivered in the like good order and well conditioned, at the aforesaid port of London (the act of God, king's enemies, fire, and all other dangers and accidents of the seas, rivers and navigation, of whatever nature and kind soever excepted), with Messrs. H. J. Johnson and Co. or to his assignee; he and they paying freight for the said goods-twenty-five shillings per ton, with primage and average accustomed. In witness whereof I, the said master, have affirmed to three bills of lading all this tenor and date, &c. And so, God send the good ship to her desired port of safety. Amen. Limerick, 14th June, 1834.-I-Ienry Carter." The note referred to on the margin specifies that the 130 hams shall be carried in cabin berths. This shows a very pious feeling on the part of the drawers of the bill, and a great regard for their hams; nothing less than "tcabin berths" for the much prized edibles. The trade went on merrily for a number of years, the Limerick bacon becoming so famous as to attract the attention of the Government. Some of the merchants secured large contracts for the supply of pork and corn beef for the navy. "Mess pigs" were purchased at the t6 GLIMPSES OF IRISI INDUSTRIES. rate of from 23s. to 30s. per cwt. Among the first pro- vision curers of Cork was Dan Callighan, who supplied the British Navy with beef, and entered into a security for 20o,ooo to complete the contract. His son became ambitious of parliamentary honours, and was able to lavish £xoo,ooo on his election, in the days when bribery was rampant. The trade was then confined to Ireland; afterwards it was competed for by English curers. Dan, junior, was a popular man in his day; he represented the city of Cork in Parliament and was celebrated in the annals of his time as " The Cove of Cork." Those were days when a well-made coat and a full purse were better. recommendations to the electors than a plank bed and a glib tongue. It may not be out of place to remark that the export trade of salt provisions sprung up more from the necessities of a state of war than one of peace. Under Messrs. Shaw and Matterson, the respective fathers of the present merchants, the bacon trade progressed year by year; they speculated largely and adopted the latest improvements in their concern. The introduction of the ice process alone enabled the curing to be carried on in the hottest summer as well as it can be accomplished in the winter. Pig killing has advanced steadily, Limerick holding the first position in the trade. The "turnover" of the combined firms engaged in the bacon trade amounted, in 1876, to two millions of money. This progress is mainly owing to the superior class of pigs which are being produced in Limerick, Clare, Kerry and Tipperary. As long as pigs can be kept lean, level, and long sided, they cannot be affected to any great THE PROVISION TRADE. 17 extent by foreign competition. Fat pigs are a drug in the market, and breeders are now realizing the fact. The history of the pig would not be complete without a short sketch of the process by which he is converted into bacon. The person who regards the pig as an unclean animal must get his mind disabused of that idea. If cleanliness be next to godliness, a modern pig factory borders on sanctity. The amazing purity of every portion of the building is absolutely astounding. In the modern pigstye, where a number of animals await their fate with all the content of ignorance, their surroundings are spotlessly clean. The doomed animals are driven into the execution hall, where they are easily and rapidly secured. Before they can realize the strangeness of their surroundings they are caught by one of their hind legs by machinery; whirled aloft to a long round bar of burnished iron, running beside the wall of the building, beneath which is a channel course and open gratings in the floor. Here he is seized by a skilled hand who plunges a knife into his throat, after which he is whisked along the bar to bleed and make room for his comrades, who join him in rapidly increasing rows, the dexterous executioners being able to dispatch about three pigs a minute. There is no prolonged suffering; before the pig can appreciate his position he has become pork. The carcasses, after bleeding, are sent further along the iron bar into the singeing department. The first stage on the journey is the scalding process. Here, a gang of men give a douche bath to soften the hairs, a second body of operatives scrape and clean the skin, first rushing piggy through a blazing, fiery furnace; the carcass returns 2 I8 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. with every hair burned off, a black, smoking, charred body, with an odour suggestive of the roast crackling which won the heart of Charles Lamb, and according to the never-to-be-forgotten story, endangered the architecture of old China. The carcass, in its new condition, once more sets out on its pilgrimage along the bar, till it reaches another body of operatives, who open the body, disembowel it, remove the entrails and send it along to the weighing house. When the exact weight of eachpig is recorded, it is hung up with a number of its brethren who have undergone similar treatment. The next process to which the defunct porkers are submitted, brings them within a measurable distance of bacon. A gang of workmen, armed with long sharp knives, set to work on the carcasses. A few cuts and the head is severed from the trunk; then, a long slash or two cleaves the body; the carcass is laid open and the backbone is removed. Different classes of pigs undergo different cutting operations; in the case of "Berwicks," the hams are separated from the sides, but in that of the heavier animals they are never divided; the whole side is taken to the English market. When pigs are thus apportioned, they are wheeled away on small carts to the ice house vaults. These are immense, mysterious chambers into which the light of day never penetrates. Above them extends an iron bolted-ceiling, in which rest thousands of tons of ice, the effect of which, even in summer, is to keep the atmosphere almost at freezing point. All the parts of the carcass are piled on each other, with layers of salt between them. The sepulchral gloom and cold of those vaults befit the home THE PROVISION TRADE. 19 of the dead. Familiar spirits are moving about arches and pillars, the light of their lamps only making the darkness visible. In this state the meat must lie for a certain time before it becomes bacon. An improved method of refrigeration has been recently invented and patented by Mr. Alex. W. Shaw, which, when adopted, will create a revolution in the preservation of all perishable articles of food. After the several portions have lain in salt for a sufficient time, they are taken out and passed through the hands of a gang of workmen, who cut, pare and shape the hams to the orthodox size. A good carver can make an unpromising ham a most shapely seductive joint. The knife is used with artistic skill and finish; if in unskilled hands the joint would be less saleable. A perfect ham is a work of art. When dry, the hams are brought into the smoke room and coloured as carefully as a meerschaum. The "green hams," cured with salt and spice, according to a certain recipe, are suspended in a chamber heated from beneath; combustibles, of which the principal is sawdust, are set on fire on the tiled floor, and soon a dense smoke of the most pungent and suffocating quality fills the room, and is retained by means of air-tight doors which are fastened for about six hours. By this means, the delicate amber tints and rich pinkish hues are imparted to the flesh, and the faint but exquisite flavour of the " Limerick cure" is given. Every part of the pig is of use. The heads are steeped in brine, and after seasoning, are deemed a delicacy. The fat is converted into lard and boiled by means of steam into oil and poured into bladders. These are dropped 2-2 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. 23 into great pans filled with cold water. Here they roll about like huge snow balls until thoroughly chilled. They are then packed securely, like old china or delicate fruit, with a padding of oak husks, and shipped to England and the colonies. The intestines are purified with lime and warm liquid solutions, until they become white, transparent, and free from odour. The blood, formerly valueless, is now sold for manure, of great service as a fertilizer. The feet or "trotters" are sold green." The horny tips of the extremities are fashioned into the tops of canes and umbrellas.retailers. The backbones and parings are sold to Other portions of the pig are manufactured by steam machinery, chopped into mince meat and passed into a machine like a coffee mill and re-issue in ropes of sausages, when pigs are cheap. These are the forms which our friend the grunter contributes towards our enjoyment. But his uses do not end here; the lard is used in numberless ways by the cook, apothecary and perfumer. All ointments have lard as one of their ingredients and, as for perfumery, if bears' grease, marrow oil, Circassian cream, pomades and lip salve could speak, they would doubtless have of the pig. much to say concerning the virtues' Genuine calves' foot jelly is manufactured from the feet of pigs. About two million pounds of bristles are imported annually, all taken from the top c f the hog's back, where alone they are large and strong enough. The bristles which go to make hairbrushes are as different externally from those on the domestic pig as a buffalo from a shorthorn. Those large red or black boars are as tall as donkeys and as active as wild calves. THE PROVISION TRADE. 2I They are found, for the most part, in the steppes of Russia or the plains of Hungary; some of them are as large as a milch cow; lean, ferocious brutes which can leap a barrier of five feet. The cattle trade is the largest export trade in Ireland; more than half a million cattle are exported annually and a million and a half of sheep. Cattle and sheep are exported alive; this means a loss of more than a million sterling per annum, without benefiting the country. Instead of a live meat market, a dead meat market is required. Scotland sends large supplies of dead meat to the London market; Ireland should be able to do the same. In the process of transportation the poor brutes suffer much hardship, the injury being estimated at a loss of 30s. a beast; being equivalent to about one million annually. The cattle trade is capable of vast extension; if crops suitable to the growth of cattle were sown, three times as many could be raised and a larger amount of employment given. Mr. Shaw, in Limerick, employs over one thousand men. It must, however, be borne in mind that, in the matter of grain and cattle, Ireland has a formidable rival in America. It would be physically impossible for the United Kingdom to compete with the teeming resources of the New World. Cattle raising has not yet been fully developed in America; in the vast regions of the Amazon and the Mississippi there are over 900,000,000 acres upon which they can turn their herds to feed, free of cost. In the provinces of Parana and Rio Grande, and the state of Montevideo, the cattle are half wild; they live and propagate without stables 22 GLIMPSES OF IR1IS INDUSTRIES. or any assured supply of food. The number has been estimated as over 6o,000ooo,ooo head of stock. These remain unutilized for want of market and convenient For fifty years to come the cattle means of transit. supply in America will exceed the demand. The breed of cattle has not improved in Ireland during the last forty years. The wholesale importation of live stock from that country has crushed several of her most valuable industries, such as hides, leather, tanning, boot making, horn and comb trades, soap and candle trades, grit, sausage skin, &c. In fact, all the industries which followed the large trade are starved out in consequence of the present method in conducting the Here is exhibited a great want of public enterprise. spirit. In order to resuscitate the meat trade, a number of slaughter houses should be erected in Ireland and the railway lines should provide refrigerating vans for the purposes of transportation. In 1884, a futile attempt was made to supply this want. The scheme, however, was defeated by the rapacious conduct of a class of middlemen, who made profit out of the live meat trade, who had shares in the vessels employed in the transportation, and who obstinately set their faces against the change which would benefit the country, but was likely The infamy of such to diminish their sordid gains. should be exposed in the Press and the Houses conduct of Parliament. Without such reformation this valuable industry will be lost to the country. RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. CHAPTER II. RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. A Pilot of Civilization.-Public Incredulity.-Damaging Opposition.-Double and Single Lines.-Scale of Railways in United Kingdom.--Ornamental Officialism.-Neglect of Public Interest. -Attitude of Liberals.--Want of Unity in Management. -Excessive Charges.-Excursion Trains.-A Mistaken Policy.-A Successful Innovation.-Irish Railways.-Their Condition.Universal Dissatisfaction.-Scale of Charges.--Development of Industries Restricted.-Report of Commissioners.-Example of Belgium. COLUMBUS and his crew, drawing near the shores of the New World, on the morning of the 12th of October, 1492, was a spectacle of minor importance compared with the memorable pageant of September 15th, 1830. On that day, George Stephenson opened the first great trunk line in England. The historic trip, made at the rate of 36 miles an hour, carrying 130 passengers, was performed on the first passenger line opened in this country. Guiding his locomotive at the head of the line running between Liverpool and Manchester, Stephenson was a greater hero than the Duke of Wellington, who graced the occasion with his presence. Never in modern times had England passed through a sadder or a more anxious period, than during that when the first railway was built. It was the period 26 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. of reaction which followed the Napoleonic wars. The suffering of the poorer classes was severe, popular discontent great, the patience of the nation worn out; half the counties of England nightly illuminated by the glare of incendiary fires. A fierce political agitation was raging; the cry for Parliamentary reform was loud, and against this cry the prime minister had set his face like a flint. A greater man than Wellington appeared that day, not clothed in military attire, decorated with medals or orders, but in plain home-spun, seated on the bend of his little engine, guiding the young iron horse on its first journey, and introducing the animal whose iron hoof wassoon to tramp all over the globe, from the snows of Russia to the burning plains of India. There he sat, calmly holding a small steel handle; the reins, bit and bridle of that wonderful beast which a child might guide. Stephenson was a plain, blunt man, his face dark and deeply lined with thought, and a strong Northumbrian burr in his voice. He did not look a hero, but when badgered by Parliament men, who vexed him with doubts and misgivings, a spark of genius flashed out when, with fine scorn, he asked, " Did ye ever see aboat float on water ? I will make my road float on Chat Moss." The strains of the " Conquering Hero," which rang out to salute the minister, would have been, with more accuracy, directed towards the great pilot of modern civilization. The fascination of that day surpassed a reading of the Arabian Nights; the incidents that followed were more dramatic. The man who laid down the first parallel bars of iron revolutionized the earth and its inhabitants. At this moment the civilized world is encircled by a RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 27 network of railways; Europe alone possessing over one hundred thousand miles of iron roads. No human discovery, not even the printing press, ever made progress so fast as the modern railway. The world at large had no faith in the two parallel bars of iron and the steampropelled trains, that were offered as substitutes for ordinary high roads and coaches drawn by horses. Engineers sneered at railroads, municipal authorities opposed them in England, the mother of railways, and their construction was left entirely to private enterprise. The Houses of Parliament voted them a nuisance and declared that they would be the ruin of the country. It was against enormous obstacles that railways grew up in this country. Stephenson's idea was to lay the lines along the high roads connecting the chief towns; but so intense was the prejudice against his plan that it had to be abandoned, and he was compelled to construct endless tunnels and viaducts, in order to keep at a proper distance from the principal centres of population. It took a generation to make the towns, which regarded railways as a curse, discover their utility. The mischief done, however, was enormous. Nearly all the trunk lines at first were badly laid out and enormously expensive; the railway from London to Birmingham, which, if Stephenson's plan had been followed, might have been made in a year, at the expense of a million, took five years to construct and cost over four millions. Immense saving might have been effected if the importance of railways had been at first acknowledged, but notwithstanding prejudice and opposition the system grew rapidly, until the iron web has covered the United 28 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. Kingdom with nineteen thousand miles of railway. Roughly speaking, about five-eighths of the railways of the United Kingdom belong to England and Wales, two-eighths to Scotland, and one-eighth to Ireland. In England, the railways with double or more lines are nearly twice as numerous as the single lines; in Scotland the latter predominate, while in Ireland they are three times as numerous as the double lines. It is the nature of railways to expand, growing with the growth of population, and it is cheaper to lay a double track thanto lay fresh lines afterwards, involving the purchase of land, greatly increased in value by the existence of the railway. The capital invested in the railways of the United Kingdom almost equals the total amount of the National Debt. Very large dividends were paid by some of the earlier railways; at present the average interest is barely 44 per cent. in England, 3% in Scotland and 31/ in Ireland. In recent years, many of the smaller railway companies have been unable to pay interest on their loan capital. There can be no doubt that the railway, as at present managed, must gradually become less remunerative, if the growth of capital increases as it has done in the last ten years, with no greater increase of traffic. A process of amalgamation, under which the smaller lines are gradually absorbed by the larger, has been going on for years; still the total number of companies is much too large for their working expenses. There are over 225 railway companies in the United Kingdom, and, however insignificant, every company has its own board of directors and officials, retained as ornamental and mostly drawing large salaries. RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. t- iO cl (v + N Q- H - In T ,\' 00 1- T- v) S0 1 O In d '0 Z L 000- i "0 0 0M ci ci M "D0 0 0N- 0 000M t-.00 1- O000n 00 00 cNi0 i0 00 " 00 o - c 00 00 i t0 I 1O 0 'O "t.00 - i '0 10II)0 CO M "0 0 Mi M000000CT 00H- 'Cl J '0 0 In 00000 4 0' 0 cN 00 CTM_ ' C+ H in 0'tM- 00 7ci 0' N M > -ci N i 00 Nci N I! 0000C 0N'1000 d 001-r) 0 0000Hfr0\p0 11 -00in01%00 C' 0 00 00 n0 N + 00 OciN OcIn 0 0 t in 10 N n00i 29 - McH z Z %', 'C Q)N(j1 H00000n00 In ' l'd' F 0 C 00 00" t d-C")00 0 00 0 000 0'0ci t .- 0 N0 'r ' ' 00 0 M N0 o o z 00 r0- GLIMPS3ES uF IRISH IN4DU STIES. 30 M H 'd'00 O\ N H N H U) i:- - N 0 t- tomt- t- i) 0 0 0 0 0 0 U) U) d"N N H -00d" 0 't00 N "U)0ONN 1-0 ir 0 cli 0 t- 0 H ONH Ur) 00 00 H 0= H N ON\NN Ur)H H 0 ' ON0- MU H 00 ci C!) U) 0 0 000U)ON U00 O\ ON z 0 tom. H c3 d- l;c00 0C-1- O\ ON ON t-.\p 0 0- 0 I)nU)U) 1. 00 o 0 ci t- 00 O\ ' 0 N NON -0--U)0 ON N U)U H ON 0. 0) U)U)1U)00 U) 0 U)N H00 ON00 00 ON00 0-0 ONU)N U)OU) N z N U) U)1U) 0 0 u U) 0 110000 0" M)d" O00 H CO CO J C) U) N N d- N U) Ur) U) H U) ON t- -. H N N 0 00 C') z)U 0 :O 0 a) ci 0 c0 "-"./ .z 0 Z 00 0 C)0 P:s 3 RAILWAY AUTOCRIACY. RETURN SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CONVEYED BY RAILWAY DURING 1887. Number of Passengers, 3rd Class. 2nd Class. 1st Class. 564,508,813 647,774,956 England & Wales 25,260,910 58,005,233 1,930,158 Scotland.........4,695,255 Ireland ............ 1,367,624 4,203,965 Koalingd Kndm 3,2, 3, ,89 Total. 59,807,204 13,899,369 66,432,617 19,470,958 64,139,356 3,5733,678,531 6638,215,386 RAILWAY COMPENSATION. 1886. Passengers. -5000o5,008 13,673 £146,708 England.............................. Scotland ............................... Ireland Goods. 14,097 ............................... Total United Kingdom .............. 26,984 /£191,089 5,574 /165,955 TOTAL NUMBER OF PERSONS KILLED AND INJURED IN YEAR 1886. Killed. In the United Kingdom ............... Injured. 938 3,539 32 GLIMIPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. Many of those companies pay no dividend and some are hopelessly insolvent, in consequence of the expenses of management and want of unity in the On most of the great lines the method of working. profits made are squandered in needless competition. The London and South Western has a very profitable traffic, which is considerably diminished by competing with the Great Western Company, necessitating excessive speed; many of the trains must, therefore, be run at a loss. The same is true of the two railways south of the Thames, the London, Brighton and South Coast and the South Eastern. The lines of the two companies serve the same district, the counties of Kent and Sussex; the trains, usually not one-half filled, run side by side. There are two sets of trains where one might suffice, so there are two boards of directors and two complete administrative staffs, with secretaries, managers, engineers and architects. Often there are railways but a few miles in length, which have boards of five and even six directors. The cost of this lavish expenditure is borne by the people, in the shape of heavy fares and rates, the public interest being entirely left out of consideration. There are over one thousand directors administering the railways of the United Kingdom; most of them presiding over the affairs of some small lines, but a certain number uniting in their own persons the directorship of a dozen or more lines, great and small. No fewer than forty-four members of the House of Lords and a hundred and twenty members of the House of Commons are railway directors. RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. The railway interest is well represented inParliament, but it is doubtful whether the public is a gainer in the transaction. Freedom of access to the markets of this country and also to those of the world is as important to its trade and agriculture as the breath to the body. This freedom it does not possess, notwithstanding its goodly show of representatives. Earnest Liberals, who are ready at a moment's notice to alter or pull down any institution on the face of the earth, have for once in their lives nothing to say on the great reform which this institution requires. The majority of them countenance the present railway legislation, while the others consent to occupy a seat at the board when invited to do so by the railway authorities. It may be as well here to state that a man is seldom invited to this lofty position until he has added the potent letters M.P. to his name. The consequences are that, when railway questions arise in Parliament, the late additions to this immaculate board invariably vote "solid" with their brother directors. The multiplicity of railways, number of directors, and diversity of management have naturally led to excessive charges on passengers and goods. This want of unity in the entire management, together with the opposing influences on the part of great and small companies, leading each to seek its own interest, without the slightest regard for its clients, the public, have been the main cause that the railways of the country fail to be of universal advantage. The whole traffic of the kingdom is inefficiently developed, while the charges for passengers and goods are excessive and extortionate. One has to 34 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. look at the crowded trains called "excursions," swarming with human beings, to see the carrying capacity of our railways. But the noble lords and gentlemen who direct the management of the iron roads of the country, seem unable to grasp this simple fact. Instead of well-filled cheap trains, at a moderate rate of speed, there are companies vying with one another in organizing expensive fast trains at exorbitant fares, the carriages of which are mostly empty. It may be superb to fly through the air, at the rate of fifty miles an hour, in a sumptuous first-class carriage, but it does not pay. Express trains are an expense and a loss. The most profitable railway customers are those going by thirdclass. Mr. Allport, general manager of the Midland, by adding a third class to his express train and abolishing the second class, proved this beyond a doubt. The success of this innovation was so great that the other leading lines had to follow his example. They did so reluctantly. It would be mere waste of time to dwell on the obvious fact that the work of merchandise carriers, which our railways are now doing, is infinitely below what might be effected if the whole machinery were properly organized. In Ireland, the most pressing of all questions is that of railways, and, on every side, there is dissatisfaction with the present system. The neglect of legislation in this matter is keeping the country back. Light freights and more regular charges are absolutely essential if the industries of the country are ever permitted a fair chance of development. The railways of Ireland are proportionately smaller RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 35 than those of England; they pay dividends to their shareholders, averaging 3 to 4 per cent., but these are obtained only at the expense and welfare of the country by inordinately high rates and fares. The smaller companies that are independent pay no dividends, while many of the larger lines are heavily in debt to the Government. The first company as regards length of lines is the Great Southern and Western; it has its seat in Dublin, possesses 543 miles of rails, and pays a dividend of about 5 per cent. per annum. The second company is the Great Northern, holding 522 miles and paying 5 to 6 per cent. The third company, the Midland and Great Western, also has its headquarters in Dublin, owning 532 miles; this line usually pays 412 to 5 per cent. dividends. The Waterford and Limerick railway, with 279 miles of rails, does not return quite 3 per cent. to its shareholders. The most prosperous of the Irish railway companies is the Belfast and Northern Counties, with 217 miles of rails; it has paid a dividend of 6Y2 to 7 ' per cent. But extravagance and waste of power is also exhibited on this line; its mileage is only 217, but to be kept working, there are employed a board of twelve directors, a general manager, a secretary and a large administrative staff of officers. This seems nothing short of a farce, but wasteful extravagance in the matter of management is extensive throughout the United Kingdom. Every industry and trade in Ireland suffers from this calamity. Here is a specimen of the rates on home products. The distance from Belfast to Armagh is 35 miles, the charges are as follows : 3-2 36 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. s. Dead pigs - - - Potatoes - - d. 8perton I - 5 8 Three-ton lots of hay - 8 6 Butter in boxes - - I 3 per ton Butter in crocks - - 15 o - 12o Eggs Grain - - - - - - ,, ,, 5 6 Wheat and bacon can be carried more cheaply from Liverpool to Enniskillen than from Belfast to Enniskillen. The local rates are much in excess of the throughrates, which operates seriously against the manufacturers and merchants of the seaport towns in Ireland. The irregularity of charges is restricting the development of Irish traffic, instead of encouraging it, while excessive rates have done more to cripple Irish industries than the worst system of land laws which has been enacted since the Union. It is apparent that the value of a farm depends more on the facility of bringing its produce to the best market, than the rent paid for it. Without a cheap and expeditious transit of goods, a holding is comparatively valueless. Defective facilities for conveying produce to market, operate also on trades and occupations other than those connected with land. The State purchase of the Irish railways has been a frequent subject of discussion, and is regarded by many as the only sure way of minimizing an evil, the existence of which is fully admitted by every witness examined by the Royal Commission, established to inquire into the causes of industrial decay in Ireland. RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 37 On this subject, the Duke of Devonshire's Commission, appointed in 1865 to report upon the railways of Great Britain and Ireland, arrived at the following conclusion :-" We are of opinion that it is inexpedient at present to subvert the policy which has hitherto been adopted of leaving the construction and management of railways to the free enterprise of the people, under such conditions as Parliament may think fit to impose for the general welfare of the public." As a matter of fact there is no competition on the Irish lines; the country is cut up and divided between the different railway companies as so many principalities, with the usual system of frontiers, for the crossing of which its trade is not only heavily taxed, but delayed in transit. The whole of the country is controlled by railway companies, and they are authorized by law to charge certain rates for long distances, which are reasonable enough; it is the exactions for short distances which cripple trade, being two or three hundred per cent. in excess of these rates, or more than the law allows them. In dealing with the case of Irish railways the commission reports:-"We consider that there is not sufficient reason for excepting Ireland from this general conclusion; but as it has been the established policy to assist railways and other public works in Ireland, we recommend that, when Parliament thinks fit to make advances to Irish railway companies, the money should be lent for a fixed period of considerable length, so as to enable the company to develop its resources before it is called on for repayment; that advances should not be made to the Irish railway companies as a condition of reducing their rates and fares, 38 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. but, as railway companies have the best opportunities of judging whether rates can be reduced, so as to be recup erative within a reasonable time, they should be left to carry out such experiments at their own risk." Of this latitude the railway companies have extensively availed themselves, and, so far from lowering, they have raised their rates all round, until now in many cases they are prohibitive. The railway directors would regard it as a heroic proceeding to face their shareholders with a short balance sheet, and Few of emphatically refuse to make any reduction. the companies have any idea of making money,\ except by adding to their rates and fares. They have never grasped the fact that a traffic can be made by giving facilities and educating the people into travelling or coming in from the country districts. The example offered by Belgium in this respect ought to be sufficient to convince the most timorous. In 1856, that country reduced her goods rate from 25 to 77 per cent., and the consequences were that, in eight years, the quantity of goods carried over the Belgian railways doubled, and the receipts were increased 50 per cent., while the profits were quintupled in the short period of eight years. Take any town in Belgium, Liege, for example, and it will be found that there is more trade there than in half Ireland. Before i856, Belgium did not occupythe flourishing position she does now. The development of her commerce is largely due to the reduction of her goods rate. In 1864, the passenger rate was reduced, with manifest advantages. The rate of fare for a third-class passenger in Ireland, for a distance of 28 miles, is more than three RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 39 times what it is at present in Belgium. Cheapness of transit is unquestionably one of the most important elements necessary to the commercial success of a country, and it is evident that not only Ireland but the whole of Great Britain suffers more severely from the absence of this essential factor than any civilized country in the world. So long, however, as the constituencies are blind to their own interests and are bent on garrisoning St. Stephen's with a class of men, Tory and Liberal alike, determined to uphold monopolies against the interest of the public at large, so long shall we have to contemplate the spectacle of extreme luxury of a few ard abhorrent misery of the masses. 40 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. CHAPTER III. RAILWAY AUTO CRACY.-(continncd.) Tyrannical Combination.--Trade Crippled.-A Blood Sucking Process.--Value' of Land Depreciated.-Disastrous Emigration.-Indifference to the People's Wants.--Irish Farmers.-Two Great Defects.--Third Class and Return Farer.-State of Carriages.Some Curious Passengers.--Bye Laws Disregarded.-Irish Fairs and Fares.--Market People in Belgium.- Waste of Perishable Food.--Cost of Conveying Cattle.-Turnpike Boards.-Want of Resources in Ireland.-- Financial Ruin Possible.-Marble Quarries Unworked.--Charges from America.-A Useless Court.-Failure of Mills. A Desolate Picture.--Steamboats and Railways.-Absence of Quotation.--An Isolated Town-Royal Commissioners' Report.--Reckless Expenditure. IN Ireland there are about 2,600 miles of railways in a country possessing fifteen million acres of cultivable land. The counties most in need of development, such as Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Cork and Kerry, are sadly destitute of cheap and expeditious methods of transit, both for goods or passengers. The 2,600 miles of railways are split up into different companies, with special boards and expensive officials. These companies have hitherto acted in a tyrannical and selfish manner. They form a powerful combination, called a "conference," where representatives of the railway and steamboat companies meet and regulate the fares. The respective companies form a strong combination; the main object of their monthly meetings consists in labouring to extract the extreme rates and keep down competition. If this conference saw its own in- RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 41 terest it would at once establish low through rates from every town in Ireland to the chief markets in England, and enable Ireland to compete with the foreigner. For France, Holland, Italy, Belgium, as well as the new continent, deal with London. The railway companies throughout Ireland should deal with the competitive Irish ports in the same way that English railway companies have arranged among themselves to deal with their competing ports, Fleetwood, Liverpool and Barrow, charging equal rates to all the interior English stations. Paris has equal rates with Dunkirk, Calais, Dieppe and Boulogne. It is simply monstrous that Irish railway companies, in the face of such examples, should try to cripple the trade of their own country. One efficient man might conduct the whole railway system of Ireland, not so large as two of the English companies, with 200 per cent. capital less than that of the London and North Western, and while discharging this duty he might safely allow himself two days a week for fishing or shooting. A reform in this direction is absolutely imperative. The combination of the railway and steamboat companies, together with their purchase of several of the canals, on which they levy excessive rates or which they allow to fall into disrepair, is greatly to be deplored. This unjust combination has broken down all fair competition and retarded commerce. It is high time the trade of the country should be free from this blood-sucking process, which has been going on too long. When Parliament gave authority to railway companies to forcibly enter into and break up land, it did so in the interest and for the good of the people. This, 42 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. however, is not the way in which railway legislators regard the question. They have arranged that the people of this country shall not enjoy even the same rights over their own railways which are permitted to the foreigner. Americans and others, in consequence, can undersell the British farmer in his own market. Railway legislators are allowed to raise the value of lands in America and other corn and meat producing countries, by allowing the foreign producer the right to use our railways at less rates than those allowed our own people. The value of British land is depreciated in the same proportion as that of other countries is enhanced. There are hundreds of thousands of acres in Great Britain and Ireland wholly uncultivated and much more only partially developed, while we are paying annually several millions a year to the foreigner for what we could very well supply ourselves. Doctrinaires are calling on the country to assist her sons in emigrating, for the purpose of cultivating the artificially protected lands of foreign countries. In May, 1887, the pick and flower of the labouring class, to the number of 19,000, left Ireland, causing the price of labour to run up 200 per cent. The stream is going on still, depriving the country of its best wealth. If trade and agriculture are to revive, emigration must be checked, and, on several objects of traffic, a uniform railway charge must be introduced. No greater proof of the incapacity of the present railway companies and their indifference to the wants of the people can be shown than the statement that a beast can be transported from Canada to Bristol cheaper than from Kilkenny to the same town. Farmers in Ireland are prohibited from sending their RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 43 cattle direct to the English markets. All they can do is to send them to Dublin, there to be purchased by a ring of dealers, who traffic with the railway and steamboat companies for a less price than they would charge a farmer. On the whole question of goods there is a great irregularity of charge, and an extraordinary want of promptness in attending to the wants of the trading classes. The general defect of the Irish railway system is a want of adaptiveness to the sundry wants of Ireland and a total disbelief in the possibility of development. This applies with the same force to passenger and goods traffic. The passenger trade admits of large development if more facilities were given. In England, third-class fares are generally a penny a mile; they are fractionally over this in all parts of Ireland. Return tickets are more scarce, while the few given are obstructive to their own use. They do not give long dates and will not allow the passenger to get out at intermediate stations ; the restrictive conditions are far more numerous than in England, while the passenger arrangement is far less liberal. Besides, the third class is regarded with contempt; the accommodation is so filthy and uncomfortable in the carriages that it is impossible for respectable people to go in them. Passengers are allowed to bring a class of goods that would not be tolerated on any English or Scotch line, such as baskets of ducks, hens, rabbits, small pigs in bags; these are taken into third-class carriages, and a calf is known to have travelled in a first class. The companies in many cases fail to enforce their own byelaws; they are, for the most part, under different man- 44 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. agement, and, all working for their own hand, neglect the interests of the general public. The rivalries and endless jealousies of those petty companies entail public loss. 36,00ooo,ooo invested in Irish railways, There are about gross receipts of under three millions;the extenwith sions during the last few years have been very slight. From 1873 to 1885, a period of twelve years, the receipts do not indicate much progress. The charge for a return ticket for a distance of ten miles is 3s. 3 d., first class; the corresponding charges for second and third are equally high. Men going to fairs and markets would avail themselves of railways if the fares were low, but the conflicting interests of many companies prevent this. Fairs in Ireland are held early in the morning; the trains start too late to carry the farmer to market. The object of the directors and hotelkeepers is, that the people who attend the fairs should stay overnight; in this way the interest of a few is set against the benefit of the many. The consequences are that people ride their own horses or drive their cattle to market for long distances, rather than avail themselves of the railways, which often run close by the road. No attempt has been made to accommodate the public similar to that followed with such notable results in Belgium. The trains in that country are usually crowded with market people. Many of the remote districts of Cork, Kerry and Donegal are bankrupt for want of railway accommodation. Kenmare, a small town in Kerry, occupying the apex of the bay, has no cheap means of transit ; pigs have been sold there 30 and 40 per cent. less RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 45 than in Cork, for want of a market, while perishable food, like fish, is literally wasted. When the Duke of Edinburgh visited the coast of Mayo and Sligo, the coastguards gave him a return of 250,000 creels of £,500 worth of herrings caught in a fortnight. Of fish caught in Clew Bay, the men did not get £io in cash for the whole lot, there being no railway to transport it to market. The existing companies will not extend their lines to meet the wants of the fishermen; indeed, they will sanction no extension unless that extension bears directly on their own interests. The directors are content with moderate dividends that are safe; besides that, they entertain the notion that a traffic in cattle, minerals, and food supply pays to a certain point, but beyond that they have no desire to develop future traffic. The cost of conveying cattle everywhere in Ireland is excessive compared to England; in this matter Ireland stands at a great disadvantage. The cost of bringing a beast from Cork to Dublin is 9 d., while to transport it from Dublin to Manchester, the greatest central market in England, is only 9s. 8d. The cattle trade in Ireland, lately showing signs of enlargement, is greatly crippled by the present charges. A truck of cattle from Ballinasloe to Dublin, a distance of 91 miles, is 17s. £2 5s. The farmers in many cases prefer walking the cattle to removing it by rail, which is more expensive, and the animals are less subject to injury. The time taken by train is about fourteen hours, while the walking process occupies not less than five days. Railroads are necessary to maintain a country in a sound economic condition, but it is not fair to tax the 46 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. present generation with the whole amount of the cost. In Ireland, there is about one mile of railway to every 12 square miles of area and 1,8oo inhabitants, whereas, in Scotland, where the physical difficulties of railway construction are greater, and the population more sparse, there is one mile of railway to every io square miles and 1,200oo inhabitants. At one time, the public roads were made by turnpike boards; the Government of the day raised the money and charged it on the baronies; those using them were compelled to make payment if horse traffic were employed. All the great highways, both in England and Ireland, were maintained by boards of trustees. When railroads were developed through the country, the turnpikes ceased to pay; then Parliament by enactment, in 1855, abolished turnpikes and handed the roads over to the grand juries. At the time they wound up, the Government were recouped and overpaid for their expenditure. In many parts of Ireland, and especially where railroads are most wanted, the people are too poor to contribute anything towards their construction. There is really no place in Ireland where a railway can be made to pay, in the first instance, for the outlay. Neither Kerry, Cork, Donegal, nor any of the counties on the West Coast, can develop itself. Any system founded on the basis of the guarantee of a local taxation of the districts, must fail, for there are no resources in the neighbourhood that at present could be reasonably expected to meet the interest upon the money expended on the extension. Whatever is done must be on the basis of the entire empire. Taxation for such improvement must be imperial. To make poor districts in Ireland construct RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 47 their own railways, would be to commit a fallacy similar to that of the Poor Laws system, which makes the poor support the poor. The carriage of goods in those poor districts is highly extortionate. Meal in Donegal is conveyed at the rate of J per ton, which constitutes 30 per cent. of the price. If the Government took the initiative in forming tramways and railways, taxing the districts capable of giving support, they could recoup themselves from the revenue of the railways when the industries were developed. The trustees of the district would undertake the duty of collecting it as they did in the case of turnpike roads. The present system of management, if continued, is likely to land the country in financial ruin. Since the abolition of turnpike roads, the railways are practically the highways of the country. The public should have some control over them and prevent private companies raising rates to the detriment of trade and commerce. Irish produce cannot find its way into the English consuming markets, in consequence of the heavy rates adopted by the existing lines and the absence of further extension where railways are required. Except the linen, brewing and distilling industries, Ireland has hardly any produce to export. Such articles as limestone, slate, coal, iron, poultry and similar produce, have been overtaxed and, in many cases, their development stifled. Galway serpentine, the most beautiful kind of Irish marble, is to be found in Recess, a quarry about 35 miles from the town of Galway, the nearest railway station. In consequence of the want of cheap transit, it has not been sufficiently worked; Dublin artisans being able to 48 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. get marbles from Belgium and Italy at half the money it costs to get them from Galway, owing to excessive rates. The same may be said of other quarries similarly situated, besides which, some landlords demand a heavy royalty before the mine is opened, effectually killing the industry. The counties of Limerick and Tipperary, and a great portion of Cork, are entirely dependent on the production of butter. The falling off of the quantity sent to Cork is attributable to two causes, high rates and foreign competition. Butter is charged by the firkin; the rate from Tralee to Cork, 83 miles, is iod. per firkin, or 2s. 6d. a ton. From Fermoy to Liverpool, vi& Dublin, 299 miles, the rate is Ji 13s. 4d. per ton; the railway distance 6I miles, for which the company gets ios. rod. per ton, against 15s. 6d. for 38 miles from Fermoy to Cork. From Kilmallock to Liverpool, 261 miles, the rate is 30s. per ton. The railway company gets about 7s. IId. for 124 miles, as against i5s. 6d. to Cork, a distance of 41 miles. The same unfairness is exhibited in the transportation of beer. The railway company will carry a ton of English ale or porter 165 miles at 6s. 6d., while they charge is. 8d. for a ton of the same article manufactured in Cork, over a distance of 55 miles. There is no competition with railways in Ireland, while the rates in many cases are prohibitive. Pork is an article largely consumed in Cork. The rate charged for about 40 miles, from Dungannon to Belfast, is 13s. 4d. a ton, not carted at either end; adding cartage 2s. 6d. it would bring it up to 15s. Iod. On the other hand, the rate charged for American bacon coming the same distance, 40 miles, is only ios., including cartage L1 RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 49 at both ends, giving 5. iod. a ton against the Irish produber. The carriage of flax from Stranolar, in Donegal, to Belfast, 86 miles, is £ji Is. 8d. The rate from Ghent, in Belgium, is only I8s. 8d. Taking any distance in Donegal, breadstuffs can be carried from America to Londonderry at about half the rate they can be conveyed from Londonderry to the interior of Donegal. It is more costly to convey produce from Donegal or Derry to its markets than it is from America to Derry. It may be said that there exists a Railway Commissioners' Court, capable of adjusting those differences. Of this court it may be stated, as a sample of its action, that Mr. Hickman, the largest ironmaster in Staffordshire, deliberately informed the Select Committee that he was afraid to invoke its protection, in consequence of the great expense. Under those circumstances, farmers and small traders cannot be expected to make much use of it. The railway companies in conference unblushingly arrange the rates, instead of competing with each other. It is plainly the duty of Parliament to see that it is within the power of the humblest trader to obtain protection against such excessive charges. If a wholesome reform were effected, the people of Ireland would be benefited and the whole nation would participate in the general impetus given to both trade and agriculture. The stoppage of the milling industry has also been caused mainly by the difference in freight; from wheat being carried from the seaboard to the interior, and sent back again manufactured to the seaboard. The inland carriage alone prevented a miller in the interior from 4 50 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. carrying on his business, because he had against him the fact that the manufactured article comes from America with one carriage, whereas the wheatcomes in bulk, and one fourth of that is offal, the carriage of which turns the scale of cost against the home producer. The only prosperous mills now running are those on the seaboard, to be found in Dublin, Newry, Cork, and a few in Kerry. It is cheaper to send a ton of flour from Chicago to Liverpool (2os. a ton) than from Londonderry to Manchester. The brick trade in Ireland owes its decadence, in a great measure, to the heavy rates of carriage. An eminent builder in Dublin stated, in his evidence before the commission, that he could get bricks as cheaply from England, landed in Dublin, as he could procure them from King's Court, a factory only 50 miles from Dublin, notwithstanding the fact that a railway ran through the brickfields. The carriage of all minerals in Ireland is double what has to be paid in England. It is no wonder then that there is an absence of manufacturing industries in Ireland. The spectacle which strikes a stranger is that of desolation and decay, large milling concerns idle, extensive warehouses in ruins, squalid suburbs in all towns and, for the most part, a starving, discontented people. The prolonged agitation concerning the political condition of Ireland, has distracted attention from its industrial aspect. Several industries have been nipped in the bud; others never had a chance. It is now as cheap to send goods from any manufacturing English district to the remotest town in Ireland as it is to send goods from Dublin to those towns. Irish manufacturers RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 5t are thus handicapped against their English and Scotch opponents. The cultivation of sugar from beet once promised to be a hopeful industry. It failed through want of farming knowledge, machinery and cheap transit of goods. Farmers do not grow, not having a market to dispose of their produce. Many of the small railway companies strive to get the same money for doing less work, instead of doing more work at a reduced rate. The small amount of steamboat opposition has not cheapened the rates, as they act generally in conjunction with the railways; the doubtful advantage of securing more civility in case of complaints is all that they have achieved. Another serious defect in the management of railways is the absence of quotation. A man should be able to know the cost of conveying his goods from a central town in Ireland to the English markets. There is no such thing as sending cattle to an English firm of salesmen; even in long journeys, from Kerry to Dublin, the trader never knows what will be charged for goods; there seems to be no rule, and the charges on several The means of comcommodities vary considerably. munication between the different systems of railway are very defective and entail great loss of time. As an example of this, lately there has sprung up a considerable business in Kerry cattle. Buyers have to go backwards between Kerry and Tipperary; often a delay of two or three hours at the Limerick junction takes place, entailing loss of time and serious interruption of business. The service of the trains is inconveniently arranged, in consequence of the independent interests of the several companies. A quotation of through rates upon equitable 4-2 52 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIZS. terms continuously from one line to another is greatly needed. For example, to take goods from Belfast to Sligo, the Great Northern will quote to Enniskillen, and no farther; the trader must then apply to Enniskillen for the Sligo line, and so on. Goods cannot be invoiced through at one charge from Belfast to Sligo; all payments must be made separately. The town of Kenmare is twenty miles from a railway station. The whole country on each side of the bay, on which the town is situated, is entirely precluded from contact with other markets, in consequence of a want of railway communication. The produce of this part of the country consists of butter, pigs and eggs. There are no means of bringing them to the market except by cart, and from some parts of the district it is over 50 miles to a railway station. In the whole country west of Kenmare there is not a single railway of any kind. In this locality there isa considerable fish traffic, and men are known to pull their boats 30 miles, on the chance of selling some of their fish in Kenmare. They come from Dursey Island on the south and Rossmore Island on the north of the bay. The whole of this part of Kerry is without railway accommodation. It is difficult to get statistics as to what traders spend for carriage in bringing goods to Kenmare. One small, trader, a meal merchant, for the last 30 years paid an average of 50o a year carriage from Cork to Kenmare for goods. Ireland, compared to England, is not rich in minerals, but the few places where any exist are not developed, for want of railway communication. The coal fields of RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 53 Kilkenny deserve some accommodation. The present output of coal from that district is about 8o,ooo tons per annum-much less than it ought to be, if there were any means of getting it away. This promising district is no more than 15 to 20 miles from a line of railway, yet no attempt has been made to connect it, and thus this mine of wealth has been left undeveloped. About 20 short lines, judiciously fixed here and there, would provide all the communication wanted. Some of the finest fishing grounds in the world are off this coast, entirely unworked. Turning to the report of the Royal Commissioners on Irish Public Works appointed in 1888, we find that both fares and goods rates in Ireland have remained nearly stationary for a number of years, or, indeed, have in some cases actually increased. The commissioners continue :-" There can be no doubt that even the ordinary first and second class passengers' fares are (with few exceptions) high as compared with the charges made in other countries, still more so in relation to the limited means of the inhabitants, which would make fares, even equal to those in England, proportionately more onerous to them. This burden is only partially alleviated by the special low rates which are often given on market tickets, and by the reduction on return tickets, a system which has been largely abandoned in England in favour of a general reduction of fares." And in summing up the commission state :-" Whatever may be the cause, there has not been in Ireland that growth in third-class traffic which has been so remarkable in recent years in England, which fact would 54 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. seem to indicate that Irish railway management has not adapted itself to the necessities of this class." The commissioners quote the following instance of the methods of management in force on Irish railways:" Dublin is the only large city in the United Kingdom out of which there is no night train provided for thirdclass passengers to the principal centres of population. The night mail train on the Great Southern and Western line, in spite of repeated remonstrances, has no third-class carriage attached, and this state of things was defended by the representatives of the company. On the Great Northern line, a singular element is introduced by the fact that a third-class carriage is run from Dublin to Drogheda by the night mail, and on Sundays to Dundalk, and is there detached, so that third-class passengers wishing to reach Belfast have to pay an excess fare." As another instance of the same want of convenience, we may mention that from Dublin to Belfast, the populations of which are 230,000 and 207,000, exclusive of the surrounding districts, there is no train between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. which traverses the distance (113 miles) in four hours, and in such a case we cannot but believe that increased facilities would attract traffic. No experiment, however, has been made in this direction. Third-class season tickets are practically non-existent in Ireland. It appears from the Board of Trade returns that in England and Wales the receipts from third-class periodical tickets were ;£324, 113, being per cent. ;£1,682,158. 19"2 of the whole season-ticket revenue of In Scotland they p3roduced £53,5o7, or 31 per cent. of RAILWAY AUTOCRACY. 55 17 1,072; but in Ireland, only the corresponding total, the trivial sum of £856, out of a total receipt of £48,898 from season tickets, was derived from thirdclass passengers. We cannot understand why this class should be excluded from the facilities afforded by periodical tickets, and experience in Great Britain appears to show that such extension would almost certainly be beneficial to the railway receipts. The Great Northern system of 522 miles has three independent managers, each in charge of a separate district. Such a state of things does not tend either to efficiency or economy in the working of the line, or to the convenience of the public. It is, no doubt, a survival of the time before 1877, when that system belonged to several independent companies; but its continued existence after 12 years can hardly be defended. A few figures will show the initial and Parliamentary expenses of railway companies. The Parliamentary costs of the Brighton Railway averaged £4,806 a mile. The Parliamentary costs of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway averaged £5,19o a mile. The Solicitors' Bill for the South Eastern Railway o0,000oo folios, and Company consisted of amounted to £240,000. Astonishing as these figures are, they give but a faint idea of the amount of recklessness in railway expenses. It would be easy to establish a railway system which would insure a saving of fifty millions of money, give cheaper fares and rates, and absolute security to life and property. 56 GLIM'PSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. From 1873 to 1885, the population of Ireland has d clined by half a million. This has affected the railway traffic, and helped to keep the railway receipts stationary. Bad seasons, low prices and foreign competition have completed the impoverishment of the country, while the recent land agitation, with its terrorism and uncertainty, has demoralized a people for the most part hard working and honest, but thriftless through desperation and want of outlets to an industrious life. Many are in favour of a general amalgamation of the present railway companies, with a Government control. This, no doubt, would be a powerful means of lessening both fares and rates, and reducing the large staff of officials now employed; but it would be only a step in All over advance; better face the question boldly. Europe the railways are fast becoming national property, and the fate of our own iron highways, so important to a trading community, must be the same. England is not accustomed to grapple with large questions on a We left our Indian Empire for two short notice. hundred years in the hand3 of a knot of merchants in Leadenhall Street; no wonder we have allowed our iron roads, for half a century, to be under the control of a handful of commercial speculators, who, at best, are human, considering only their own interests. BANKING. CHAPTER IV. BANKING. The Typical Irishman. - Lever. -Thackeray. - Change in the National Character.-The Irish Party.-Joint Stock Banks.A Page of Disasters.-Sadlier's Bank.-His Career and Fate.Loss of Public Confidence.-O'Connell.-Foundation of National The Act of Union.-- Financial Bank. - English Directory. Crisis.-Irish Lords and Commons.-Removal of Wealth.-The Bank of Ireland.-Organic Change Needed.-Northern Banks.Laws Concerning Banking.-Bank of Ireland Monopoly.-A Rival.-Decline of Dublin.-The Bank Act.-Post Office Savings Banks.-Scotch Banking System.-People's Banks.-In Germany and America. THE history of every trade and industry in Ireland presents many features which cannot fail to excite a smile of derision on the face of the scornful, and perhaps a sigh of regret from those who are acquainted with her genial, kindly people. Ireland and her inhabitants for years past have been subject to the flouts and jeers of England. The typical Irishman is represented as a thoughtless, extravagant, happy-go-lucky buffoon, highly calculated to amuse his masters and utterly callous to the ridicule he provokes. One of Ireland's most eminent novelists has done much to strengthen this impression. When Lever practised as a physician in Ireland, the canal boat was a 6o GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. mo le of conveyance, but though the country is not much in advance at present, it has developed beyond the canal and turf boat. Thackeray visited Ireland and was hospitably received; his return was to caricature the people whose salt he had eaten. Having unearthed the baseness and snobbery of human character and depicted it with loving minuteness, he acquired the title of a great writer, and with singular want of generosity lost no opportunity of slandering Irishmen and misrepresenting the lives of those who made the mistake of believing that a great novelist must necessarily be a gentleman. Englishmen who have not crossed the Channel believe Jack Costigan to be an excellent representative of the Irish country squire. The truth is, the character painted by Lever and the dress and physiognomy depicted by "Punch," are much on the same level. Both are inaccurate, while the small fry of actors and play writers never travel out of the old rut, and persist in ignoring the great change which has come over the country during the last forty years. The joyful, witty, blundering Irishman no longer exists ; a thoughtful, serious and, perhaps, sullen individual stands in his place. That he is not wanting in sincerity and the ability to think and to act, may be gathered from the tone of the present leaders of the Irish party. .'True, they are not all county gentlemen; their manners do not possess the Vere de Vere stamp;" one of them is a beggar's brat and still retains * The writer of these pages obtained his facts in all cases from original sources, traders or Government returns; the former in In this some cases were tardy in giving the desired information. difficulty a polite note was written to Mr. M. IDavitt, asking him to BANKING. 61 the manners and suspicions of a vagrant, but Ireland has had great men in the past, many of them wholly submerged and losing their very nationality in the service of England. She possesses at present a band of Nature's gentlemen, brave, self-denying and disciplined, worthy to be compared with any of the groups which have passed away. The characteristic of this party is not mirth or blunder, but dogged resistance and do-or-die determination. Ireland has suffered too long and too much to be any longer mirthful. Her monied transactions shall now command our attention. In Ireland, there exist nine joint stock banks with several branches :-The Bank of Ireland, Hibernian, Provincial, Northern, Belfast, National, Ulster, Royal The capital of the Bank of Ireland and Munster. is ;12,000,000, £38,000,000, and the giving an other eight available possess about capital of about Here is a sufficient amount of money at the disposal of various companies to enable a country to tide over her difficulties and meet the adverse circumstances of the day. We will presently see the services they render the country. Beyond the number mentioned, there have been several other banks founded, which have disappeared; some merged into other banks, some for- £50,000,000. put the matter before his acquaintances. The answer was a flat refusal, coupled with an insolent attempt at patronage. Mr. Davitt is one of those patriots who appear to think that, since he has undertaken the cause of Ireland, she needs no other friends. So far as he is concerned, the brilliant literary ability of the McCarthys, father and son, and the statesmanlike acumen of Parnell and Healy might be expunged. The writer warns the Irish and American public of such a patriot. •62 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. gotten, while others have collapsed so disgracefully that they have sown universal mistrust in the minds of the people. Want of support ruined some; folly, ignorance and fraud disposed of the rest. Thehistory of those banks is a scroll, written within and without, in tears, lamentation and woe. As a case in point, take the Tipperary Bank, better known as Sadlier's Bank. It was founded in 1839 by Mr. John Sadlier, a young solicitor practising in Dublin, who afterwards became a Parliamentary agent. Owing to a plausible manner, he obtained considerable deposits from the rich farmers of Tipperary, and discounted large sums to landowners who mortgaged their property. Mr. Sadlier represented Carlow in Parliament, and subsequently Sligo. He became a railway director, a chairman of the London and County Bank, a junior Lord of the Treasury and the cynosure of the Irish brigade in Parliament. After swindling the country to the amount of 1,250,000, he ended his career with poison. One morning his body was found stark cold on Hampstead Heath. It was never known how he spent the vast sum of money he squandered, as his mode of life was unostentatious and frugal. The bank he established had many branches, but the panic occasioned by its collapse is not yet forgotten. He swindled the farmers and poor widows of the South of Ireland alone out of £400,000. A villainous transaction never stands alone ; thanks to a free press, in the exclusive hands of a couple of dozen monied men, its very publicity insures imitation. More than one swindle followed, whose history we need not publish; the consequences, however, are serious; the BANKING. 63 people of Ireland have become so distrustful that they will take the smallest interest from the Government rather than imperil their hard--won earnings by intrusting them to the hands of banks. Banking in Ireland is altogether on a wrong basis; instead of,promoting industry it prevents its development. No industrial efforts can be successfully carried on without liberal and extensive support from banking institutions. O'Connell perceived the influence which a good system of banking might produce; he founded the National Bank in 1834, with the view of fostering The and helping trade, industry and manufactures. conditions of this establishment were, that a branch should be founded in each suitable town in Ireland, and that the profits should be divided among the shareholders. In 1836, when it was well on its legs, it commenced to transact business in London, with eleven From that day branches and subsequently a head office. to this it has ceased to be an Irish bank; it is now a receptacle for the savings of the Irish people, to be sent across to London for foreign investments, or, more properly speaking, for facilitating all sorts of gambling on the Stock Exchange. The Irish National and Provincial Banks are controlled by boards of English gentlemen acting in London, who have no interest in Irish industries and whose main object is to launch all the available cash Ireland can spare into some enterprise which has no bearihg whatever on Irish commerce or manufacture. The first great blow dealt to Irish banking institutions The failure of the banks in was the Act of Union. Dublin at that time caused a loss of £20,000,000, and 64 GLIMPSES OF IISII INDUSTRIES. mercantile business was crushed. That was the first page in the history of disasters which the efforts of the greatest statesman of our time has not set on its legs. When money ceased to be spent in Dublin, business houses failed. Before the Union, there were one hundred and four lords in the Irish Parliament; perhaps as extravagant a body of gentlemen as could be found on any spot in the globe. French manners, dress and profusion, and a fine flavour of improvidence, purely national, were the order of the day. Of these one hundred and four noble lords who graced the Parliament with their presence, not a man of them spent less than /6,ooo a year; many of the number considerably more. Of these eighty-two banked with Latouche; the It ledgers show, to some extent, the expenditure. amounted to 624,0ooo a year, speaking of Dublin alone. There were three hundred members of the House of Commons. In the good old bribery days, no commoner, except a wealthy one, dared to think of law making. The expenditure of each of the three hundred could not have been less than £3,000, annually. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, all this money was spirited away from Dublin, like a piece of furniture in a pantoThe banks suffered, the towns suffered, the mime. The wonder is that Ireland, and country suffered. especially Dublin, survived this sudden removal of wealth, which fed and supported all the avenues of trade, industry and commerce. The establishment of a legislative centre of national life produces and stimulates the circulation of capital. When the centre of gravity is outside, the capital flows out with it. It is an und2ni- BANKING. 65 able fact that, wherever the seat of legislature happens to be, that becomes the centre of money; the tide of wealth flows there naturally. This may account for the strong desire of the Irish people to see a parliament once more established in Stephen's Green, which, no doubt, would have a salutary effect on Irish financial affairs. It is no wonder that Irish industries have declined and that the land is falling back into prairie condition, when capital and money, which should support trade, cultivate the soil, stock the pastures, and encourage every industry, is drained each year from the country by its own banks. The greatest offender in this respect is the Bank of Ireland, with its capital of £12,000,000. This bank allows the Government to use ten and a quarter millions of its capital; the remainder is kept for Irish purposes. It is needless to say that few or no small accounts are kept in the Bank of Ireland. No banking institution in Ireland is more out of touch with the masses of the agricultural and commercial community of the If banking were on a country than this concern. it should bring money into the country, inproper basis, stead of taking it away. There must be an organic change in the whole system before there can be even a chance of success in any renewed effort to revive and promote industry. Every industrial effort of the people has been blasted and their national resources blighted for want of a proper application of their monetary resources. Except in Belfast and some of the towns in the north, the support given to industry is of a most 66 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. limited character, infinitely short of what it should be. It is not generally known that there is four times as much Irish money made use of in sustaining Stock Exchange operations as there is in supporting the trade or manufacture of Ireland, while we are tired of listening to charges against the apathy of Irishmen, their want of diligence, and the rest of it. The laws which govern the Irish system of banking are penal laws of the worst description. From the very day of its foundation in 1772, the Bank of Ireland has proved a foe to the industries of the country. It started 3,ooo000,000ooo; of this £2,630,769 was with a capital of lent to the Government. The process still continues, until almost the entire capital has been taken over by the English Government. The incredulous reader may ask the reason of this wholesale transference of Irish money. It was done solely to direct the management and control the policy of the concern, so that the Irish people might to not derive any benefit from the bank. From the Bank of Ireland had a monopoly of banking in Ireland. During the whole of that time they never opened a single branch outside Dublin, but left the people in the provinces to the mercies of a set of fraudulent private concerns, which resulted in a loss of £2o,ooo,ooo, when those private banks failed in 1820. An alteration of the law took place in 1825; the Provincial Bank commenced business and opened branches in several Irish towns; the Bank of Ireland then woke up and started branches in the same towns ; not to benefit the people or promote industry, but to oppose the Provincial Bank. 1825, 1783 BANKING. 67 Five or six millions would be a fair estimate of the amount of money going out of Ireland for investments. This, in a poor country, with few manufacturing interests and nothing but doubtful agricultural returns, is nothing short of national suicide. Much of the impediment of applying skilled labour to the land arises from want of financial accommodation. The recent exhibitions of Irish manufactures prove that there still exist many industries requiring legitimate support and calculated to give employment, if capital could be turned in this direction. No large city in Europe has declined so rapidly as Dublin, and, instead of any improvement, matters are getting worse; a state of affairs abundantly attested by the threadbare aspect of the streets and decayed public buildings. About sixty years ago, a great stimulus was given to Irish industries by the establishment of This hopeful state of affairs joint stock banks. continued down to 1845. In 1844, Sir Robert Peel passed his Bank Act, and no new banks of issue were allowed to commence after that date. This law effectually paralyzed banking in Ireland, for no bank can be successful without the power of issuing notes. Before this Act, the banks of Ireland and Scotland had perfect freedom of issue. Ireland does not suffer from a want of banks; there are branches of the National and Provincial Banks in all the towns, but these are not commercial mercantile banks, such as the Ulster and The above banks will lend money on the Belfast. personal security; they will do bills, but will not lend on stock in hand, or what is called mercantile security. 5-2 68 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. The Irish banking system does not understand lending money on anything but personal security. The consequences are that, when a pressure occurs, several factories are closed, the hands discharged, machinery stopped-calamities which might very easily be averted by a little wisely-administered accommodation. No doubt, if industries were more numerous in the country, commercial banks would spring up of their own accord. Perhaps the greatest fraud practised on the country was the establishment of the Post Office Savings Banks; of these there are about six hundred, which collect the savings of the working classes, giving a nominal rate for their deposits, then transfer those savings, to the amount of three or four millions, out The .savings of the poor are thus of the country. applied to imperial purposes, rather than devoted to the stimulation of local trade or industry. To sweep the savings of the poor to swell the English treasury and foster industries other than Irish, is one of the greatest calamities which could have befallen Ireland. The Bank of Ireland does the same, so do all the other banks, with the exception of a few in the north. Depositing the surplus capital, in globo, out of the country is almost as bad as the old Irish system of keeping the gold in the stocking and not employing it. Much of the money transferred has been lost; the Marseilles Land Company, and similar investments, got their share, but not a penny of it has been invested in Irish enterprises. Irish banks are more inclined to make advances to speculative men who will run a big risk than BANKING. 69 to industrious men of character who are attempting to build up a business. From the contemplation of this heart-breaking policy, it is refreshing to turn to the doings of our Scotch Their banking system appears to have neighbours. reached perfection, for it employs the whole of the It resources of the country for its development. does this by means of what are called cash credit bonds. In Scotland every one has a banker, an Professional services are cheaper agent and a doctor. there than in other places. A young merchant, or manufacturer, commencing business in Scotland, goes to his banker and says, " I want £500; it may be for a fortnight or a month. I want cash credit to develop my business." The banker asks, "Whom do you propose ? " The rule is to offer two securities and that of If these are satisfactory, the banker the borrower. complies. The banks get three persons to subscribe to what is called a cash credit bond. The sum mentioned in the bond is not chargeable with interest, except in the proportion in which it is used. The merchant may not use the credit for three or six months, in which case no interest accrues, or he can use it at any time; the balances are calculated daily; he actually pays for the money he is using day by day. Whereas, the system of banking in force in Ireland is that if a man wants money he certainly gets it, if the securities are good; but the interest commences when the money is put to his credit. A friend joins him in a bill, which is discounted and the interest deducted, and this is renewable every three or four months. All the banks in Scotland 70 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. deal with persons, and not with illiquid securities; they always take a man in preference to a mill, or any other objective security, But the person who is to be obliged by this loan of money, passes to the friends who are security to the bond the security of his property, so that if anything happened to him his friends leave the property behind them, and the bank has not the trouble of realizing. This constitutes the difference between The Scotch the Irish and Scotch systems of banking. is exactly the converse of what it is in Ireland; the result is prosperity around every banking centre in Irish banks are over exacting as to the Scotland. securities for small transactions: the rule is that the smaller the amount the greater the exactions, while the character of the borrower is no factor in the case. In A credit system, Scotland, character stands first. similar to that established in Scotland, is much wanted in Ireland. No value is attached in Ireland to the holding of a farmer as a security; no loans can be obtained on buildings or improvements. As soon as the land was depreciated all the banks withdrew their accommodation. If Irishmen had the control of their country they would never tolerate a system which transports three-fourths of its whole capital out of the country, and limits accommodation. Besides, the interest which an Irish farmer or merchant is called to pay for an advance, though nominally 6 per cent., when commission and all other expenses are included, really amounts to 14 per cent. This gives no encouragement to rising industries, but rather restricts them. BANKING. 71 In Germany, People's Banks were founded by Shultz, of Delake, which have been very helpful to the people. There are now over two hundred of those banks in the German empire, managed in the most economical manner, with no expensive boards of directors. They 00 possess the entire confidence of the people; £75,000, 0 is passed every year in small loans with great benefit to all concerned. People's Banks are numerous in America and some of the colonies. The former has 2,500 People's Banks, in small villages to with a capital varying from millions in towns. In America, a bank does not get the power of issue until it has deposited United States bonds to the amount of their capital; they then get leave to issue as many notes as they please up to 90 per The Government holds the cent. of that amount. security of their own bonds against the issue of the notes, and the confidence of the people is secured. There are People's Banks in Italy, Austria, and other countries on similar lines, and the effect on the prosperity of the people where such prevail is acknowledged by all authorities. No doubt the freedom of banking in the British colonies has been one of the means by which they have made such rapid progress during the last ;£2,000 thirty years. The people of Ireland should establish similar banks for themselves, and make use of their own savings, as is done by other countries. With 250 People's Banks conducted by themselves, as in Prussia, and a capital of £6,000,000, Ireland might foster her fisheries and other industries without asking for Government assistance, 72 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. which should only be granted for Imperial purposes. The sum of /J6,ooo,ooo is specified, for nearly that amount is deposited in the savings banks and drafted out of the country, whereas, if utilized at home, it would benefit the country. If nine or ten Scotch banks turn over yearly a sum of £70,000,000 sterling, in advances to merchants and farmers, Ireland need not look to America or the Continent for a good example. POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. CHAPTER V. POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. ----- Mill. -- An Paper Manufacture. -- Its Past History. -Balyclare Envelope Factory.--No Technical Training.-Foreign Designs. -Prohibitive Railway Charges.-Dairy Produce.-A Philanthropist.-Creameries.-Dairy Colleges.-A Much Needed Reform. Suggestions for Improvement.-Mineral Wealth of Ireland.Ancient Testimony.--Gold and Silver Mines.-Peasant Gold Seekers.-Coal Fields.--Inefficient Working.-Concealed Coal Iron Resources. - Abortive Beds.--A Hopeful Prospect.Attempts.--Copper Ore.--The Rio Tinto Mines.-Irish Marbles. -Their Beauty and Variety..Dean Stanley.-St. Patrick.-A Dublin Omnibus Company.-Belleek China.-Porphyry. THE manufacture of paper was once a flourishing inwhen the duty dustry in Ireland, but, after the year was taken off, the paper trade collapsed; there was no capital to support it. At the time of the abolition of duty, Irish merchants were not disposed to intrust their money to any concern which could benefit their country; the habit of waiting for Government help created a nation Belgium and other countries have now of paupers. usurped the paper trade, in the carrying on of which there is no law which puts Ireland in an inferior position to England. Paper is made of rags, wood fibre, straw, 1826, 76 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and other materials, and though Ireland is not a woodproducing country, she can grow larches, from which the wood pulp is extracted, as well as Sweden and Norway. Irish rags at present go to America and England; Ireland could buy esparto grass from Spain, Morocco, Tunis and the northern parts of Africa, just as reasonably as Besides, Ireland possesses abundance of England. water power. Belgium does not produce wood pulp any more than Ireland; she gets her raw material mostly from Germany. Before 1826, all the paper employed in the manufacture of newspapers in Dublin, was made at the old Bawn mills at Tallagh; now they get their stock from Bristol and Lancashire. The great bulk of the paper used in the Times comes from the latter place. If the same skill and capital were brought to bear on it, the paper manufacturers from the South of Ireland ought to be able to live on as well as those of Lancashire or A few isolated Belgium, using the same raw materials. houses here and there could not resist the foreign competition; this knocked on the head all small manufacturers, who were not in a sufficient number to support each other. If an Irish trader wanted stationery and bought at one of those mills, he could get but one article, so he sent to London, when several could be supplied at the same time. The consequences were, that a few mills that survived made paper, sent it to London and had it brought back and sold in Ireland. No enterprise has been exhibited in this direction, and numberless opportunities have been lost. Ireland, owing to her extensive bogs, has a large POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. 77 quantity of peat; this is capable of being turned into several uses, among the rest, the construction of brown paper. The difficulty in this case is, that peat must be saved in dry weather, and the climate of Ireland has few fine days; still this is not so formidable a difficulty, if artificial means are employed. The only flourishing paper mill at present in Ireland is one at Ballyclare, This concern gets its material from near Belfast. Glasgow, and is at present doing a fair trade. Coster, Johnson and Co. do an equally good business in paper bag making; what is wanted is a resuscitation of the paper mills. We can judge of the value of this industry by the fact that the amount of duty paid on it in 1825, reached the sum of £823,000. About this time there were several paper mills on the Dodder, of which McDonald's is now the only surviving firm. There is a large manufactory of envelopes at present in Dublin, giving employment to three or four hundred hands, but there is no earthly reason why a much larger number should not be in existence. One of the defects in this industry is the same as in all others, a want of technical education; there is no skilled labour in the country, and a proof of this is seen in the fact that not a single specimen of decorative paper is made in Ireland. All wall paper is now imported; France and Belgium rule the market, owing to the superiority of their designs. If the people of Ireland would only study the example of Continental countries and that of the states of America, they would combine their savings and build up capital in People's Banks enough to draw on. The material and the market exist in Ireland, but the 78 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. people elect to put their savings in banks which exploit them to England and help to build up the industries of every country but their own. The railway rates have also helped to sink the paper industry; carriage from Manchester to Calcutta being much less than from Manchester to Cork. Through rates favour a parcel from London, but will not do so from Dublin. It is cheaper to send direct from London to Mallow than from Dublin to Mallow: further comment is needless. Among the industries which require more extensive development is that of dairy produce. Canon Bagot, of Kildare, has adopted this as his special hobby, and his name must be permanently connected with it. In order to qualify himself for advancing this branch, this benevolent and large-hearted divine visited allthe butter-producing countries of the Continent, to study their methods. On ascertaining how the foreign production exceeded the Irish in quality and price, he first applied to the railway authorities to reduce their rates. In this appeal Canon Bagot was more successful than the promoters of any other industry in the country. How he softened the stony heart of the railway company should be made known. His next step was to set about teaching dairy farmers the best process of making butter. Dairymaids were put under proper instruction and received certificates when proficient. The services of trained dairymaids are now in great demand. This worthy gentleman complains bitterly that the council of the Royal Agricultural Society do not afford him the amount of co-operation necessary in his educational work. He has further induced dairy farmers to combine and send their cream into POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. 79 Creameries are now established, producing factories. excellent results. They are conducted much on the same principle as cheese making in Switzerland; each contributing a share to a general receptacle, when the manufacture takes place, and getting paid out of the general result, according to the proportion supplied. This method works well, and what now is needed is a iultipli•cation of those creameries all over the country where cattle and grazing lands abound. In several parts of the Continent, dairy colleges have been founded, under Government inspection. Sweden, Denmark and Germany have their colleges and professors, where the teaching is conducted in a thoroughly scientific spirit. If the industry is to prosper in Ireland, it must be on commercial principles, in order to compete on equal terms with the foreigner. Canon Bagot calls on the Government to further the plan he has initiated, and we heartily support his appeal. The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland show an utter disregard of their duty and what they owe the country, in refusing to hold a periodic examination of the students from the Hospital creamery. The Parliamentary representatives should bring this matter before the House and put pressure on the commissioners to forward a movement so beneficial to the country. Much credit is due to Canon Bagot for his earnest and patriotic services. The clergy of all denominations should take the hint and see what they can respectively do to forward other industries. They have leisure and opportunity, and their appeals for assistance would be duly appreciated by the country. Canon Bagot sums up his instructions 8o GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. in the three following suggestions, which speak for themselves: i. 2. 3. Educate by dairy colleges and schools. Establish factories and creameries. Prohibit, by making it felony, the sale of butterine as butter, and have it classified as such, passing through Her Majesty's Customs. The mineral wealth of Ireland is small compared to that of other countries, but it ought to be a source of employment which it would be criminal to neglect. If a sufficiency of skill and enterprise were applied, it might serve to foster industry as it does in other countries. The most ancient records of Ireland show that gold was discovered at various times. There are no less than seven auriferous districts to be found in Derry, Antrim, Carlow, Wicklow, and other places; the most important gold fields, however, are those of the latter county. Ancient gold ornaments are common in the country, the most remarkable find being in the bog of Allen, on the borders of Tipperary and Limerick. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, gold was worked in the reign of Tighernas, A.M. 3656. During the Norman Conquest, England was called to pay into the exchequer of Normandy a sum of 23,730 mares of silver, while Ireland had to contribute as her share, 400 marcs of silver and 200 oz.of gold, a large quantity for those times. In the reign of Edward VI. the silver mines of Wexford were worked for the Crown, by German miners. About the beginning of the present century, gold was found in no less than fifteen different clays, but so disseminated in rock formation as hardly to POSSIBLE INDUSTRIETS, S 81 be worth working with the indifferent machinery then in existence; the gold discovered was washed from the In 1852, 32,000 oz. of matrix by mountain streams. silver were discovered, and, since 1790, over -7o,ooo worth of gold has been found in Wicklow alone. The discovery of nuggets, some 22 oz., in the streams, excited the curiosity and cupidity of the people; the numbers who went gold searching caused the Government to prohibit their discursive operations, on the plea that peasants were assembling for unlawful purposes. The Kildare Militia were sent down to disperse the gathering, and secure as much of the gold as they could. Soldiers, however, are not the best miners. Their efforts had the effect of rousing the Government to send down special agents to examine the locality. When the rebellion of '98 broke out, the soldiers were provided with other employment, which caused their being withdrawn; up to which time their operations had resulted in a profit. After the rebellion, the search was resumed, mostly in the direction of drift gold from the neighbouring hills ; it was badly conducted; the men unskilled, the appliances clumsy ; the experiment proved a failure. The operations of the but the troops resulted in a find of £3,675 7s. i4d., peasantry were more successful in finding in the streams alone, drift gold to the value of X25,ooo. Separate attempts to discover the lode were made from time to time without success. In India, the Government employ competent persons to report on all the gold fields of that country. The same should be done in Ireland. If a systematic search were organized, not in the spirit of the rulers of 179b, but with a view to the material prosperity 6 82 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. of the country, a better result might be expected. One or two small works should be erected, where samples might be secured and reliable essays made with improved machinery, before this possible industry should be abandoned. It may be a trivial matter to state that tradition, for 3,000 years, has identified gold with the county Wicklow; that the sources of gold were known to the natives at a very remote period, and that there still exists abundance of gold ornaments, for the importation of which no foreign source can be assigned. These, with the discoveries already described, justify at least more scientific examination. Undoubtedly, there are many less profitable fields for the employment of capital. Of coal and iron there is great abundance, the Leinster coal fields covering an area of 61,440 English acres. The coal beds here are eight in number, in various layers. The first have been worked out, but the lower have not been touched. The Tipperary coal fields are twenty miles in extent. In Cork, Clare and Limerick there are numberless indications of coal, but the most important coal fields are to be found in the county Tyrone. This coal burns rapidly with flame and evolves great heat. The dimension of the field is six miles by two, and covers an area 'of 7,00ooo acres. From twenty-two to thirty-two feet of solid workable coal has been found within I25 fathoms of the surface. The best of the coal fields are found in the Connaught district; the Arigna mines, notorious for jobbery and mismanagement. The causes which led to the failure of the Arigna Coal Company might have acted as forcibly in Staffordshire or Myrther, and may be P'OSSIBLE ND vSTRIES. 8 83 removed by a better system. Regarded from the nhost modest computatioli, the.quantity of coal.available is sufficient for domestic trade. Lough Allen district contains 2,o0o acres of coal, calculated to yield not less than 200oo,0oo tons. As most of the Irish coal beds are deeper than those generally worked, the quality of the mineral has not been ascertained. Of what is known, it is estimated that the coal of the northern provinces is mostly bituminous, or flame giving, while that of the south is anthracite, which burns without flame; the latter coal is useless for household purposes, as it is difficult to light and requires a strong blast to keep it up; it is, however, useful for smelting and manufacturing processes. coal from Kilkenny was as follows: In x88x ,, x882 - - 82,714 ,, - - - 75,399 tons. - -, - ,,i883 The output of 83,711 ,, The Leinster coal fields are badly situated with regard to railwvay accormmodation. The coal fields in Munster are perhaps the largest in the United Kingdom. At present, not a single colliery is at work on them. The coal fields are the most important in Ireland, covering about 17,000 acres. Only two or three inferior collieries are at work there. The output from this mine was : Tyrone In 1881 - ,1882 ,, 1883 - - 16,562 tons. - - 113709 2,520 -X - it The quantity of coal taken is seen to decrease, owing tQ. 6-2 84 G1LIMPESES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. the inefficient" manner in which the mines are worked. This process, from want of education on the part of miners, deficient machinery, and a sort-of hand-to-mouth method of conducting operations, together with. the want of proper facilities of transit, has led to a decline. The Tyrone and Kilkenny-mines are the most valuable. The products do nbt equal in value those in Durham or South Wales, but are quite good enough for manufacturing piirposes.. There is also an extensive coal field at Castlecornier, on the borders of Carlow and Kilkenny, which has not been worked, mainly for want of railway accommodation, Parallel lines of railway run within ten miles of the mine, but no attempt has been made to connect this valuable property. The estimated quantity of coal in the whole of Ireland is as follows Antrim - Tyrone Leinster - Tipperary - - - 12,oooooo tons. 30,000,000 - --. - Clare and Limerick - 15,000,000 !Connaught- - ~ rx8,oooooo 10)000,000 - 4,000,000 - Total - , ,, 209,000,000- The concealed coal beds, at a dep th. of 3,000 feet, are about twice that 'of the visible. No capital or energy is of Ireland directed towards them. The coal cannot be worked at a profit until the mineral is more fields valuable than at present. Coal must grow dear, on account of the increase of depth and the rapid rate at which it is now extracted. English and' Scotch mines, POQSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. 8 85 in the nature of things, must get exhausted: in Lancashire they are now working at a depth of 3,5oo feet. If any perceptible diminution takes place, it will bring the coal fields of Ireland to the front. That day may not be far off; when it comes, if iron can be equally developed, it will be the making of Ireland, enriching her beyond the dreamn of avarice. The iron resources of Ireland have been entirely neglected in modern days, though the smelting of this commodity in former times helped to strip the country Iron ore is discovered in of her splendid woods. several districts; its quantity is practically inexhaustible, and of greater purity than that found in England. Large quantities are found in Derry and Antrim, but In there are indications of iron in several counties. the absence of fuel, this ore cannot be converted into iron, so that at present, ironstone is imported from To Cumberland, Barrow-in-Furness and Glasgow. make successful ironriworks, it is necessary to have both limestone, coal and iron ore close together. The two materials exist in Ireland in close proximity, but, owing to deficiency of transit, want of skill on the part of miners and managers, proper appliances for working, faith on the part of the people, and trust in the honesty of those engaged in the operations, nothing is beifig done. Of those known, the most imp6rtant iron fields are to be found iri the Antrim hills. Antrim possesses an area of 17o square miles, capable of supplying several million tons of iron. In 188o, there were about 23x,132 tons of pisolitic iron ore developed. There also extensive iron mines in Cavan, Leitrim, Longford, and several 86 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. other counties which have not been closely examined: In Lough Allen district, several abortive attempts were made to establish an iron industry. The first was made by a Mr, O'Reilly, who started a very successful manuAnother factory of bar iron, made with charcoal. experiment was made in 1830, known as the Arigna. Iron Works. The Arigna mine failed through jobbery, overloading the business with an amount of expenditure quite disproportionate to its resources, speculating and swindling in Ireland and London. The. failure to develop was not due to causes which would discourage future operations. At Creevella, a third attempt was made by a Scotchman; this failed through pure incompetence, the persons who managed the concern pot understanding the business. They used a furnace with a wide throat, which would burn a whole coal field in a few years. These people made coke so roughly that, what ought to have given 70 per cent. of heat, only gave them 30, by their method of working. The history of the whole scheme is discreditable. As regards copper, this ore has been found in several counties in more or less quantity, but the recent discoveries in Spain and Portugal, to say nothing of North and South America, have checked the development of Irish copper mines. The importation from the Huelva mines in Andalusia alone is more than rtoor 15 years' importation from Ireland in its most prosperous times. So far as exportation is concerned, we have no mineral copper. Not many years ago, over 5o,ooo tons of copper ore were raised in the South West of Ireland; as late as 1883, the supply fell down POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. 87 to 183 tons. This was due partly to the old mines being worked out, but mainly to the introduction of foreign ore. All over Ireland, deposits of copper have been found, but neither enterprise nor capital has been applied to develop it. The Rio Tinto mines, with their almost inexhaustible deposits, have entirely squashed the Irish mines. The Geological Survey has done much to reveal the existence of iron and coal, but has thrown no light on the existence of the mineral veins of lead, silver and gold. These kinds of lodes are mostly discovered by accident or by people on the spot; silver and lead are found mostly together; small quantities have been found in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Wexford, Dublin, Armagh and Wicklow, mixed with clay and slate. None of the old mining plans from former days have been preserved. The number of persons engaged in mining has diminished by more than one half, within the last ten years, and, whatever the mineral wealth of the country may be, there are no Government authorities which have any knowledge of it. Ireland is rich in marbles of a very varied character. In olden times, nothing. but white marble had any value, but since colour in decorations has become more the fashion, there is every chance that Ireland may develop a profitable industry in marble. There are several quarries of this material to be found in Kilkenny, Down, Donegal, Cork, Mayo, Armagh and Galway. The green, or serpentine, of the latter county is very beautiful, with its varied tints and vivid colours. The quarry where it is found is awkwardly situated, in the 83 GLIMPSES OF IRISII INDUSTRIES. heart of the Ben Beolagh mountains and by the shores of Lough Corrib, about 35 miles from the town of Galway and some distance from the sea. A block of this exquisite marble, worth X3o0, was left for six months in a ditch, owing to the difficulty of removal. In Armagh, there is a dove-coloured marble, and another reddish-brown with yellow tints, which, when polished, presents an attractive surface. In Cork, some splendid marble for balustrades can be raised. Both white and black marbles have been found in Sligo and Roscommon. In fact, different kinds of marble can be found through the length and breadth of the country. The firm of Sibthorpe and Son, of Dublin, have done a great deal in getting the red marble of Cork and the green of Galway into the market, but the charges of the railway companies are crippling the hands of these spirited employers. For decorative purposes, a good deal of marble is imported from Italy, Belgium and Devonshire. In the last century, Ireland was cele. brated for her marble mantel-pieces, but it is a matter of regret that most of them were transported from -Italy, and not of Irish origin; marble quarries were never developed in Ireland, At present, Irish gentry and peasants systematically undervalue the products of their own country, and those that can afford it import foreign commodities. If the marble quarries were opened, there is no lack of skilled artisans in Ireland to work them. Some Irish marble has been used in the new Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, as well as in the' Museum of Oxford. It is gratifying to know that the sculptors and. carvers in both places were Irish, and POSSIBLE IND~USTIES. 8 89 the 'excellence- of the work is unquestionable.*At -present'there-is a great demand in Ameica for carved objects in Irish'marble, of which a profitable industry might be made, if taste and skill were brought into requisition. Bit it is idle to offer any suggestion till the railway companies make a change. When itis stated that it is cheaper to bring marble from Italy to Dublin than from Cork to. the same place, enough has been said in the matter.. The wonder is that Irish marble is not nMore in demand for edclesiastical lurposes.* The' late Dean Stanley expressed a" desire to. ornament St. Paul's'with the variegated hut this'desire did not lead him to disburse the money himself, though he left a large sum at his death to strangers. The dean had fine taste, but small generosity. The authorities at the Brompton Oratory ereoted a rich marble altar to St. Patrick, without a foot of Irish marble in*-it. If the saint can take cognizance-of Ga'way marble earthly doings, and possesses anything of the warlike spirit he exhibited on Croagh Patrick, when wrestlirig with the demons, he is not likely to listen to any prayers put up from that altar- by those who despise the country he loved so well. In the matter of slate, Wales has the advantage Of most countries, inporting to Dublin, Germany aind all the central ports of the Continent.- Yet quarries Of *Killaloe and Valentia are capable of furnishing slate of a 'the fine quality; only io,ooo tons of this material have been worked in the year. Irish architects follow their masters in the- insane folly of depreciating the products of their country; they decline to u~se Irish building -material, go90 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. preferring Bath stone to Irish freestone, Welsh slate to Killaloe, and Bridgwater bricks to those of King's Court. Perhaps the perversity of the national manner cannot be better displayed than by stating that the Dublin Omnibus Company imports hay from Holland, and when some of this commodity is wanting in Cork, it is shipped to Dublin, goes back to Liverpool, and from thence it is reshipped to Cork and, marvellous to say, gets there cheaper than it would if landed in Dublin and taken across the country to Cork. There is only one china work of importance in Ireland; the railway companies have effectually killed all the others. Belleek, in the county Fermanagh, turns out excellent specimens of artistic design, which have won the approval of high potentates. Ireland is not particularly rich in clay beds, but is not worse off than Staffordshire in this respect, for granite, flints and silicious materials can be found in the country, such as Staffordshire imports from Russia, America and the South of England. There are a few rich clay beds in Ireland, so there is no reason why she should not. prosper in the manufacture of china. Belleek sends most of her beautiful wares abroad to Rome, Paris, Vienna and America; threefourths of her best work go to the Continent; very little finds its way to the home market, the Irish preferring cheap pottery from Glasgow. Belleek is badly situated, too remote from a sea-port; the cost of coals in consequence makes the work dear. Specimens of this pottery were to be seen at Olympia, The Parian work is superior to anything produced in England, owing to the very fine character of the felspar of Fermanagh. Irish POSSIBLE INDUSTRIES. 91 china is warranted to last ; the glaze does not crack, while it bears the heat better than Minton's. It is a pity that the manager of this important work should not take his designs from old Irish MSS. and not from Italy. The emblazoned manuscripts are better than anything produced; besides, a revival of old Irish designs would be a credit to the country. For some time, the fortune of the Belleek factory was in a doubtful condition, but, owing to the national movement, the enterprising company who have now taken it in hand are giving employment to many in the neighbourhood and showing signs of increased vitality. The railway company killed the small pottery at Coalisland, and is doing its best to cripple Belleek. In Ireland, there are also to be found some splendid specimens of red porphyry, in the Curlew mountains, the nearest approach to the verde antique of Italy; the same also is seen in Lambay Island. This precious material has not been worked. Ireland may never become a manufacturing country to anything like the same extent as England and part of the Continent; a remunerative system of industry would, however, find many of the necessary materials in the country. The depressed state of the mineral and other interests may be in part attributable to the absence of mining and technical schools in the country, and, consequently, very defective knowledge as to the nature and extent of such properties as the country possesses. It is only from a thorough and practical treatment that we can hope to maintain our position in the face of the overwhelming competition from abroad. LACE. q 6l& 4,v, CHAPTER VI. LACE. Aimer.-Monkish Its Ancient Origin.-The Beautiful Embroiderers-English I-Ioniton.-Men Lace Workers.-The and the Needle.--Lady Arabella Denny.-First Lace School.-Irishwomen during the Famine.-The Trsuline Convent in Cork.-Enterprising Women.-Torchon Lace Making in Mayo, -Degenerate Taste.-Machine-made Lace.-A Parisian Market. -- enmare--The Convent of Poor Clares.-Faulty Designs.Exhibition in Cork.-South Kensington and the Cork School of Art.--Method of -A Strong Indictment and a Defence.--The Pope's Jubilee Gift.-Hiow He Wore It,-High Sword Instruction. Repute of Needlework in Ancient Times.-Laws Protecting Needlewomen.-St. Patrick---An Irish 11 Smocke."-Legislation for Irishmen's Shirts,-National Love of Finery. THEi cultivation of lace, as a distinct branch of labour in Ireland, dates from a distant origin. In feudal times, their daughters to the castles of their suzerain lords, there to be trained to spin, weave and embroider, under the' eye of the chatelaine, a custom very prevalent in all primitive countries, and continued in France up to the time of the Revolution. Great ladies prided themselves on the number of their maidens, and passed their mornings in singing knightly families were in the habit of sending 96 GLIMIPSES OF IRISHI INDUSTRIES. ballads and chatting over their work; the poetry of the time is full of allusions to such industry. Nor is there any difficulty in accounting for this sedentary occupation, for, in the olden time, the swampy state of the country and the absence of roads, save those traversed by pack-horses during the fine season, and the deficiency of all suitable out-door exercise but that of hawking, caused women to while away their time within doors the best way they could, Nations far removed from civilization were not ignorant of needlework. The women of Ireland never lost the skill in embroidery and lacemaking which they possessed as far back as the days when the beautiful Aimer was courted by the champion of the Red Branch Knights. This lady was found by Cuhulan in the midst of her maidens, working with the needle, and he was smitten by her attractions. Whoever reads the pathetic legend of the sixth century, will see that, in those days, no small amount of cultivation was bestowed on the manufacture to which Irishwomen are still addicted. Needlework was the daily employment of the convent, the sanctuaries of many noble ladies, in days when insecurity of life and property made them the.best resting-place. Nor was the occupation confined to women; we read of monks who were commended for their skill in embroidery as well as missal painting. In the literature of the sixteenth century, there are several references to men working at frames. In the matter of personal decoration, the vanity of. man on a level with that of the fair sex. This was strikingly exhibited in the days of Louis XV. of France, the ,esthetic epoch of the past, when men wore ruffles of .is LACE. 97 gorgeous patterns sewn on their cuffs, collars, and even boots, when frequently they were wanting in the matter of a shirt. Queen Anne, who was a great martinet in trifles, was in the habit of marshalling her servants before her every day, that she might see their ruffles were clean and periwigs dressed. Footmen wore gold and silver bags and lace ruffles. The valet was only distinguished from his master by being better dressed, and a critic of that time complained that roast beef was banished from the kitchen, because the powdered footmen would not touch it for fear of daubing their lace ruffles. Irish lace stands on much the same footing as the English Honiton, the latter introduced by Flemish settlers about the end of the sixteenth century, who found a refuge in Devonshire, when the persecution of the bloody Duke of Alva diove them from their country. Both industries have declined from the same reason-competition with machine-made lace, which looks very well, and can be purchased for a much less sum. A veil of Honiton lace costs as much as /100ioo. The working of embroidery was not confined to monks in the olden time; in Devonshire, boys, until they attained the age of fifteen, and were competent to work in the fields, attended the lace schools daily. Men, especially sailors returned from sea, would again resume the employment of their boyhood, and in this way add to their weekly gains. There were twenty-four men laceworkers in the village of Woodbury, as late as I820 Some of the greatest generals of the French Republic, Hoche and Moreau, added to their pay by embroider- 98 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. ing satin waistcoats, long after they entered the military service. In the middle of the last century, Lady Arabella Denny took an interest in the industrial condition of Ireland, and had the children of the Dublin Workhouse taught the art of lace-making, but the industry did not spread till necessity gave it wings. The first school of lace in Ireland dates from 1823, known as the Bath It was founded by two sisters, and Shirley School. who at first held their class in an outhouse of their brother's farm, but, their efforts being crowned with success, they afterwards built a school in the village of Culloville, and, in I846, encouraged by this example, the manager of the Bath and Shirley estates erected large schools at Carrickmacross. They have long been famous for beautiful aplique work, and are perhaps the only schools which continued to flourish, at a time when others in the country, owing to various causes, had almost ceased to exist. At the present time, there are about 130 workers employed, who can earn from is. 6d. to 2s. a day. After the famine of 1847, the eagerness to obtain means of siipport was so pressing, that a perfect clamour for employment arose. It was then the ladies of Ireland showed that sympathy for their poorer brethren which has done them honour. Ireland has a well-developed female power, which only wants organizing to make it an effective force in the State. Individually, the members of this body are making numerous efforts to assist in the elevation of their country. It is to be regretted that they do not associate and systematize their schemes. Neither LACE. 99 enterprise, capital, labour, nor the demand for work is wanting. These exist in abundance, but artistic cultivation is absent, and without it, individual effort, no matter how earnest, must ultimately prove abortive. The old race of Ireland wants something from its legislators; its women beg for a boon that can easily be granted: the Government should provide what those of most Continental countries have been doing for some time past, namely, a connected and organized system of instruction. When the famine of 1847 devastated the country, Irishwomen were inspired with an energy to work that was truly surprising. Wherever there was a female hand it was set in motion, and generally it seized a needle and wielded it vigorously for bread. Women of the upper ranks developed an extraordinary skill in needlework, and also an aptitude to turn it to profitable account. The repose of aristocratic society and the leisure of the cloister were disturbed. Ladies burst the bonds of conventionalism and went regularly into business, to procure remunerative occupation for their destitute sisters. Lace industry, like water springs, burst up in several places; schools for embroidery, crochet, knitting, netting, tatting, &c., were established all over the country. The monthly earnings at crochet ranged from 6s. to 15s., and kept steadily increasing for three years; it attained its highest scale of remuneration in 1 8 5 7 . The employment freely propagated itself and settled down in several counties, Cork, Clones and Monaghan becoming the most important, and they still There were as maintain their distinctive character. 7-2 100 GLIMIPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. many as 300,000 women employed in sewed muslin work and 20,000 in lace manufacture. These consti- tuted a grand force, available for the benefit of the Irish community, and in the hour of necessity they effected a good service. When men's hands were useless, girls' fingers, by means of this lace work, provided for families. The ladies of the Ursuline Convent in Cork supported many poor girls during the famine; the work is still continued, though its sale has fallen off considerably, owing to machine-made goods. There are at present several ladies of high culture and notable sincerity doing valiant service in the cause; but it is to be regretted that there are a large number of their sisters in Dublin, and especially in Cork, not animated with a sufficient love of country to join in this good work. Among the ladies whose names will be honoured by posterity are those of Mrs. Hall Dare, of Wexford, who, about the year 1867, came to London to learn lace-making, in order to instruct her village girls. Her plan is to set before her pupils some old lace of a superior workmanship, and imitate the original pattern. Miss Keane, of Cappoquin, about the same time started a lace class, adopting a similar plan; this lady states that she got her women to unravel some old Venetian rose point, and in this way acquired the method of producing a similar article. Mrs. Vere O'Brien, of Limerick, has gone a step further, by putting herself into communication with the best London houses, providing good designs and endeavouring to revive the drooping trade of Limerick lace, once so celebrated. The torchon lace-making in Mayo, presided over by LACE. IOI Mrs. Dawson, is reported to be progressing favourably. This lady obtained good patterns from abroad, and having received a loan of £20 from a friend in England, started in 1884 with four workers; these have now increased to forty. In the production of the torchon lace, nothing but Irish flax thread is used, which is supplied at cost price by Messrs. Barbour. The workers earn from sixpence to eightpence a day; one even earning Is. id. a day. This lace, from its great durability, is eminently suited to the trimming of underlinen, and as it is moderate in price, it is sure of a market, which cannot always be found for the more costly varieties. About 50 years ago, Limerick lace was taught, and even 30 years ago, there was a large factory which gave employment to about 500 women. The character of the work degenerated-the material latterly used was much coarser, and more suitable for furniture than dress. The only exception to this deterioration was some work of ecclesiastical character, produced by the Convent of the Good Shepherd. Several of the convents of the south are doing their best in the same direction. Mrs. O'Brien complains of the want of young hands, and is bravely sending some of her skilled workers to Tralee, Cork and other towns, to teach the finer kinds of lace. We earnestly urge our fair compatriots, never wanting in sympathy, imagination or ability, to organize themselves into a compact body, just as the ladies of the Primrose League have done in London, to form corresponding branches in America and the colonies, where they will find sympathy; to formulate their wants, furnish the Press with printed slips of information, containing 102 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. reports of their doings, approved of by a representative central body, and to get their wants laid before the House of Commons by their respective representa tives, and, having done this, to march shoulder to shoulder till they have obtained their end. Much has been done in the cause of those industries in which women are employed by the unflagging energy of Miss A. I. Gould, a lady who has written largely and ably on the subject. If Irish women can get the special training, which it is the solemn duty of the State to furnish, there is no :reason why Ireland should not be in the British dominions what Vosges, Ypres, Malines and Valence are in their respective countries. Doubtless, the fluctuations in the demand forhandmade lace are largely owing to the somewhat degenerate taste of the present day, when women are content to smother their costumes in miles of a common, cheap lace, which would have filled their grandmothers;with horror. Quantity and not quality seems to be the desideratum of a large majority, while many women cannot distinguish machine-made from hand-made lace. That all are not equally ignorant or degenerate, is satisfactory to the laceworkers of Ireland. "It is all nonsense," remarks a writer in the Irish Textile Journal, commenting on the subject, "talking about machine-made lace having driven hand-made lace off the field. One might as well say that the invention of electro-plating or of Britannia metal destroyed the goldsmith's trade. I do not exaggerate when I say that, in Paris alone, there is a sufficiently large market to take :in all the hand-made lace made in Ireland, either as it comes 'from the LACE. 10o3 cottagers or made up into handkerchiefs and other articles. There are many large dressmaking establishments whose proprietors would be glad indeed to enter into communication with the London depot; but the better plan would be for the 'Cottage Industries' to open a small place in Paris under some less apologetic name and work the Paris market systematically." 104 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. CHAPTER VI.-(continued.) LACE MAKING.-CONVENT OF POOR CLARES, KENMARE, KERRY. on the picturesque mountain road leading from Killarney to Glengariff. Its majestic beauties are too well known for description. It was in this lovely spot, enthroned in mountains, vivified by rushing torrents and brilliant colouring, that Sir William Petty, in the seventeenth century, brought a band of English settlers, whose insolent depredations made them anything but welcome to the natives. In this little town is situated the Convent of Poor Clares, standing like one of the old Hebrew cities of refuge in the desert, giving comfort, guidance and education to the poor girls of the neighbourhood. It was founded in KENMARE is a pleasant halting place 186i, its first abbess being sister to the late distinguished Irish judge, Lord O'Hagan. This estimable lady, seeing the poverty of the people and their want of employment, opened a lace school within the sacred cloisters, and here the present devoted abbess, like her great Master, electing a kingdom, "not of this world," has continued and enlarged the work, and reigns in the heart of her people. To this distinguished lady I am largely indebted for the present information. From the earliest days of lace-making in Europe, convents have been associated with this particular Crochet was the first industry as its peculiar home. LACE. To5 branch taught in Kenmare school, but about the year 1868, flat needle point lace was introduced. Point lace is the queen of laces; it is supposed to have been invented about the fourteenth century by a nun, and has ever since been esteemed as one of a woman's most fascinating adornments. There is much uncertainty as to its invention, but it is undoubted that the best work of the kind has been produced by convents. This industry, like several others, owing to the changes and chances of this mortal life, has undergone modifications; still it is consolatory to knosv that lace made in the present day at some of the Irish schools is not inferior to the historic point d'Argentan of Louis XV., or the much prized Greek lace, more correctly called Reticella. The marvellous patience and labour bestowed on this thin, mysterious, filmy cobweb, so delicate and so durable, place it on a parallel with the decorative works in gold, wood and stone, relics of which works are preserved in the national museum. It must not be supposed that in this beautiful art a mere mechanical dexterity is the only requisite. Apart from the designing, which requires the skill and training of the artist, the accomplished laceworker must possess the keenest sensitiveness of temperament, in order to place her in sympathy with the designer, otherwise, however perfect in detail, there will be something wanting in the result, and a piece of music rendered by one having no true conception of the composer's meaning would be scarcely less harmonious. Mrs. Hall Dare, a lady of authority on the subject, states, in corroboration of this, that she finds no two girls can work on the same piece of lace, for, though the workers may display ro6 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. equal skill, a certain difference of execution will be apparent, which spoils the effect. For a long time, although the work in the Convent of Poor Clares attained great excellence, it was felt that the designs were faulty. There was no competent supervision in the production. of the work, and this had much to do with its degeneracy. A recent writer on the subject graphidally complains that, "the whole stock-intrade of many a designer consisted of a distorted harp, a few caricatured shamrocks, and occasionally an Irish deerhound, with a small round tower placed beside him as though it were his kennel," But a revolution was about to-be effected, bringing with it marvellous results. In the year 1883, an exhibition was held in Cork, in which the lace department attracted much attention, and it was lamented that such great skill and dexterity should have been misapplied. The consequence was that Mr. A.S. Cole, of the South Kensington Museum, was sent over to Ireland to lecture .andshow specimens of ancient lace, and in connection with Mr. Brenan, master of the Cork School of Art, good teaching was provided for all who desired it; in this way a new era opened. The Convent of Poor Clares was the first to avail themselves of the offer of Government assistance, and the advance made has been in consequence most rapid. The method of instruction pursued was as follows: First, classes were formed, under the instruction of Mr. Brenan, and as the sisters could not leave their convents to avail themselves of this knowledge, an arrangement was made by which instruction was carried to them.. Classes were formed, to which the., master of LACE. I07 the School of Art was to give twelve lessons in the year. The sisters carried on the instruction during the intervals of the master's visit, the results being submitted for his inspection each month. The most accomplished of the sisters devoted themselves to making designs for the lace-workers, and several of the pupils exhibited the highest faculty in designing. Specimens of old valuable lace were lent to the schools by the authorities of the South Kensington Museum, and when the classes had fallen in with the organized system of inspection, grants were made to the workers, and medals and prizes awarded in annual competitions, open to all the schools of art in the United Kingdom. Mr. Allen Cole, recently, in the Pall Mall Gazette and Irish Times, made a strohg indictment against the lace dealers. " They virtually do nothing," he said, "towards the production of new and good patterns. . Their stock is full of well-worn and degraded patterns." This charge was not allowed to remain unchallenged, and was ably and energetically denied by Mr. Ben Lindsey, who, in reply, attacked the designs originated by Mr. Cole. "Some of them," he said, "have come into my hands, and by experts, as designs, are considered of questionable merit, involving much labour and of small effect, not adapted to the purpose of the lace, wrought for articles of the most limited demand, which experience had taught to be a natural sequence of persons attempting to design for work without a practical knowledge of the method by which lace is made." Without entering into the question as to whether or no the Government aid has been beneficial to the lace io8 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. trade, it is only fair to state that the exhibits of Irish lace in the Manchester Exhibition, proved beyond doubt that the designs and work were quite equal to anything that has been done since Government attempted their improvement. In 1885, a further fund was created, for the purpose of giving prizes for the best designs in lace. In this competition the Cork schools distinguished themselves, Kenmare, however, taking the lead by winning eight of the prizes. Girls are now earning in the lace schools from £io to £20 a year, and might earn more if they could devote their whole time to the work. But one day they may be working in the fields or attending to their home duties, and the next doing the most delicate lace. About thirty girls are engaged in the Kenmare school, where designs for special pieces of lace are made to order at any time. Among the work executed by the pupils is a fichu for the Queen, and a counterpane, probably the largest piece of needlework ever made in Ireland. But the last and crowning result of the enterprise and selfimproving spirit of the Convent of Poor Clares is realized in the recent jubilee present to the Pope, where the first prize was taken over seventeen schools which competed, to present an original design suitable to the occasion. The articles consisted of an altar fall, alb and rochet, with emblematic figures wrought in such perfection that they received the highest commendation of the best art critics. The execution of the design selected was intrusted to the pupils of the presentation convent at Youghal, famous for the skill of its workers ; the design was worked in flat needle point. It is to be hoped that among the LACE. io9 rare and splendid offerings made to Leo XIII. the tasteful gift of one of the most ill-used countries in Europe will not be the least esteemed. Concerning this gift, a writer in the Irish VIManufacturers'Jaournalgives the following interesting account : "The Vatican resounded with triumphant paeans; the ancient city was thronged with ecclesiastics of all ages and dignities; and amidst the clang of clarions and the peal of organs, the Pontiff of the Catholic world appeared to acknowledge the gifts which had been poured upon him from all sects and climes, on the occasion of his jubilee. . . . He wore the beautiful Kerry lace alb which was exhibited by the Lady Mayoress and Miss Gould a few Sundays ago, in the Working Men's Club, York Street. That marvel of Irish industrial art was the admired of all admirers. . . . That Kerry lace will never be seen on the altars of St. Peter's, but it will recall the cottage homes of Ireland and the deft peasant fingers therein, which are able and ready to keep up the fame of Irish art and industry and only await the This was not the only occasion and the means." specimen of Irish art presented to the Pope. The congregations of Holy Cross and Ligoniel sent three hand-woven pieces of linen, with which the finest Ulster yarn, as warp, and old gold-coloured china silk, as weft, were interwoven. A design was worked in the linenan Italian scroll, bearing the family arms of Leo XIII., with the papal tiara and keys, underneath the words " Lumen Ccelo" and the date of the Pontiff's birth. This magnificent work will be used in the communion services of the Roman church. Through centuries of I IO GLIMPSES OF IRIS I INDUSTRIES. oppression, misrepresentation and calumny, the daughters of Erin have never lost the taste for art, and the aptitude for its performance, which characterize the early life of their nation, and the same taste and aptitude are sensibly exhibited in this, their latest performance. The distinction between embroidery and lace did not exist with the old writers. "Wrought with the needle," was an expression which embraced designs worked on the surface and the diverse species of ornamentation which we now understand by lacis, or lace work. In such repute was the art of needlework held in Ireland, in very ancient days, that special laws were framed, protecting needlewomen who had been obliged to pledge any article of their handicraft, in the event of that article being withheld from its owner, after the sum advanced on it had been repaid. An ounce of silver was considered the equivalent value of an embroideress's needle, "because," adds the enactment, "every woman who is an embroideress is entitled to more profit (or value) than a queen." In such a manner were needlewomen honoured in the old Brehon laws. St. Patrick kept three em'broideresses constantly at work, with their staff of assistants-one of the embroideresses being a king's daughter. We have reference to tasteful decorations in costume back to the most distant period of Irish history, but the details are too scant to indicate their character. There were laws enacted by King Nuadhad of the silver hand, coeval with Moses, designating the "lawful price of a queen's clothing if she brought a royal dowry, as six cows ; but if she brought no dowry, the payment to be made in LACE. III proportion to the value of the clothing." Cambrensis, writing with his usual inaccuracy, describes the hooded mantle of the period "composed of various pieces of cloth worked in squares by the needle." In the sixteenth century, we have frequent mention of the saffron-coloured shirts of ample dimensions, as the national costume worn by the chiefs. These garments were embroidered in silver and gold, and esteemed in such repute that King Edward IV. did not consider his wardrobe without an Irish " smocke." complete The dye used in the manu- facture was procured from certain lichen gathered on the rocks, and not from saffron. The grand-motherly go- vernment of that day regulated the dress according to the rank and social position of the wearer, so that the length of an Irishman's shirt was a subject for English legislation. They were ordered not " to weare any shirt, smocke, bendel kercher, mocket or linen cappe coloured or dyed with saffron," and not to use more than seven yards of linen in their shirts or smocks. The Irish always were distinguished for a love of finery, and often carried this vanity to excess. Costly ornaments and lace were used at the interments of the nobles. The warrior was buried in full panoply, with his arms beside him, and long before his death he drew up minute instructions to that effect. Before the Union, the Irish nobles adopted many of the fashions of the Continent; band the cuff of geometric and scarf due succession. of Flanders lace, design, all the falling appeared in During the eighteenth century, much lace was imported and smuggled into the country; then a woman's head-dress was prodigious, requiring several 112 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. yards of lace, costing from /5 to £30 a yard. Gold fringe was a favourite appendage. We read that in the procession to the Parliament, the eccentric Bishop of Derry, afterwards Earl of Bristol, drove in his carriage wearing white gloves with gold fringe. The statistics of our own day show that over one million's worth of foreign hand-made lace is imported every year into Great Britain, a fact which is greatly to be regretted, as much of this industry might be conducted in their own country by Irishwomen. POPLIN. 8 CHAPTER VII. POPLIN. A Momentous Marriage.-The Edict of Nantes.--French Refugees. -The Liberties.-Commencement of the Silk Trade. Mistaken Kindness.-The Rebellion of '98.-Import Duties. Destitution of the Weavers.-Norwich Poplin.-Possible Origin of the Manufacture.--Meaning of the word " Poplin." The Jacquard Loom. Process of Manufacture.-An Interesting Fact. Aniline Dyes.-A Fitful Patronage.-Want of Courtesy. A Prosperous Firm.- M. Worth to the Rescue.-Silkworm Cultivation in Ireland.-" Irish Distressed Ladies' Fund."--Exhibits at Olympia.-Anecdote.-" The First Gentleman in Europe," Regal and Vice-regal Patronage. IN the year 1685, a private marriage took place at Versailles, the consequences of which coloured the history of that century and all which followed, affecting the lives, liberties and fortunes of some hundreds of thousands, and materially influencing the religion, politics and commerce of our own time. The Jesuit advisers of Louis XIV. consented to perform a marriage between the king and the widow of the witty cripple Scaron, on condition that Madame should use her influence over Louis to obtain the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, by which Henry IV. had granted equal civil and religious liberty to all his subjects, Protestant and Catholic alike. 8-2 ii6 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. The lady fulfilled her pledge; the results which followed are matters of history. Half a million subjects were driven into exile by the revocation of the edict; and about 120,o00 of the French people found a refuge in England. These were of all ranks and conditions landed gentry, professional men, merchants, students, mechanics, sailors and craftsmen. In England, at the time, there was no demand for intellectual men; the whole of the new arrivals were, in consequence, obliged to fall to the level of artisans. Previously, all the velvets and satins worn in England had been imported from France, besides paper, ironmongery, cutlery, fine linen, feathers, needles, combs and many other articles for household consumption. Within six months, England found herself with large manufactories of all these things growing up in her midst. The most important of the branches of industry to which the refugees devoted themselves, was the silk manufacture-satins, brocades, velvets, paduasoys, and black lute-strings, known as "English taffeties." The Tours and Lyons workmen brought over the secret, then but recently discovered, of giving lustre to silk taffety. They set up their looms in Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, and soon became a thriving colony. The manufacture of silk was somewhat advanced in England, when the Revolution of gave a new turn to events. William of Orange came over to Ireland with a number of Frenchmen in his train, who settled in the country. When the king was established on the throne, he granted them naturalization, guaranteeing them the free use of their religion. 1688, POPLIN. II7 In the centre of the City of Dublin lies an unsavoury .district, densely populated, with dingy houses, once stately mansions, known as the Earl of Meath's Liberties. This was formerly the city proper, with Parliamentary privileges granted to it by successive English sovereigns. Here the French refugees set up their looms and began to work. As early as the 15th century, a fabric had been woven in Avignon, called apjeline, which was made of silk, and much esteemed. The exact nature of this material is unknown, but from it sprang the poplin fabric. The work commenced in 1693, two years after William The concluded the shameftil treaty of Limerick. Weavers' Hall was erected in the Coomb, at the expense of Mr. Digges La Touche, the warden of.the guild. It was in the immediate vicinity of this hall, in a place called Skinner's Alley, that the aldermen of Dublin took refuge, when threatened with pains and penalties .by James II. on account of their religion. In this little parliament the traders met to legislate for their trade. The success of the first silk weavers in Dublin induced others to leave England and join them. Street after street sprang up, and, from being one of the poorest quarters of the city, the Liberties became the richest and most prosperous. The names by which the now decayed streets are still known show they were originally bestowed by English settlers. The Coomb, Pimlico, Spitalfields, and other places were called after the corresponding streets in London. Coomb is derived from a Devonshire phrase, meaning a valley or nook; and old maps show the track of a river through the Dublin Coomb. Some have ignorantly supposed it referred to the occupa- 118 GLIMIPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. tion of combing wool in the district. Old houses, once tenanted by Irish nobility, stand in the Liberties. The character of the residents is now indicated by long poles stretching out from the windows, with unsightly burdens of clothes hanging to dry. In some of those old houses, ceilings, woodwork and chimney-pieces testify to the artistic taste 'and skill of the workers, as well as the wealth of the owners. Since the revival of fine art and aesthetic culture, speculative dealers have ransacked the old houses, and carried away all the remains of the work done by the French refugees and their descendants, during the one hundred years in which the silk manufacture enriched the City of Dublin. Many modern mansions in London have been decorated with the spoils, the owners all unconscious of their Hibernian origin. In the Foreign Office to-day may be seen one of those old mantel-pieces, bought for a song, polished up and sold to Her -Majesty's Government at a fabulous profit. The only surviving taste which remains of the descendants of the old French residents, is their love of birds. The same predilection marks the French quarter in Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. The error of the new settlers in Ireland was that, at the outset of their career, they excluded the native Irish from the benefits of their industry. The silk manufacture, in consequence, became an exotic, deriving its support from artificial patronage. Previous to the establishment of the silk manufacture in Ireland, the woollen trade had been the staple produce of the country. When it was ruined by English jealousy, the silk trade was taken up, fostered, subsidized, and ultimately killed POPLIN. I19 by kindness. The Royal Dublin Society had been for many years instrumental in promoting art and manufacture in Ireland; it also originated the idea of an annual exhibition of pictures, which gave London the idea from which has sprung the Royal Academy. The poplin manufacture was placed under the protection of this society, who established a central warehouse in Parliament Street. They offered a premium of £zo to all manufacturers who deposited there for sale silk goods made in Ireland. This led, as might be expected, to all kinds of fraud, the same goods being deposited over and over again in the warehouse, and the premium demanded on each occasion. Monopoly created indifference, and the zeal which fosters ingenuity and promotes improvement soon became extinguished. The discrepancies in the accounts returned to Parliament, in order to secure the bounty, proved the utter failure of the monopoly system, and the signal want of sagacity in the representatives of the six companies who ruled the Weavers' Hall. In the year 1775, there were 3,400 looms at work, while the returns of the silk imported into Ireland during the previous three years, could not keep looms at work. Worse still, they report more than the amount of finished fabric as yearly increasing, while the raw material imported, and the number of weavers employed, sensibly diminished. In 1786, Parliament withdrew its support. In '98, the Irish Rebellion paralyzed every branch of trade, and when tranquillity was restored, combinations and trades unions impeded further progress. The consequences were that a number of the weavers left Ireland i,ooo 120 GLIMPSES OF IRISH- INDUSTRIES. and went over to England, where, at Macclesfield and other places, their descendants may yet be found. Protection entirely failed, as a remedy, for in i8oo, though the Government laid a duty of io per cent. on the introduction of foreign and British silks, still the trade languished. The heavy import duties levied on raw silk, in order to increase the revenue, completely hindered the expansion of the poplin trade. On foreign orgazinesilk the duty was 17s. 7 'd. per lb., on raw silk from Bengal 4s.; and from other places 3s . 6d. In 1826, Mr. Huskisson reduced this taxation, but the reduction was not sufficient to relieve the manufacturers, and the market was supplied with smuggled silks, a trade which well repaid the risk run by the contraband traders. Up to 1843, the Custom House returns show that out of 484,438 lbs. of silk goods shipped from France for England, only 276,256 paid duty. In 1826, with the reduction of the duty on raw silk, the protective duty was also withdrawn, and the workmen, not able to comprehend the altered spirit of the times, refused to meet their employers by modifying their laws, which gave the finishing touch to the tottering edifice. The silk weavers were plunged into destitution, while the caprice of fashion diverted patronage into other channels. Public attention was, from time to time, called to the impoverished condition of the unhappy weavers, which induced the leaders of fashion to advocate, on benevolent and patriotic grounds, the weaving of home-made silk, but this factitious demand only served for a little time to raise hopes in the weavers which, when the exciting cause was forgotten, allowed them to lapse into further indigence. POPLIN. 121 The origin of the word poplin is exceedingly doubtful, and various theories exist on the subject, which leave something to be desired. Professor Skeat gives 1667, as the date of the first mention of the word taeline, and imagines it is connected with the word popelin, "a little finical darling," or se popiner, " to trimme or tricke up himselfe." A writer on the subject in Notes and Queries thinks it probable that the word had its origin in a place, viz., Poperingen, which was variously written by English writers, as Poppering, Poperin and Poppeling. This place was certainly once celebrated for its woven stuffs, among which were poplins. One of the difficulties which have attended the following of the poplin trade through its fluctuations of fortune has been that in all the returns made of trade in Dublin, silk and poplin have been included under the same head, and even in the census returns, no distinction has been made between the weavers of different fabrics. With the commissioners a loom is a loom, whether used for frieze, damask, cambric, silk, or poplin. It is the same with the Custom House returns. Though poplin is included in the returns of the silk trade, it is not all silk, but an ingenious combination of wool and silk, the weft being the finest wool and the warp an equally fine description of silk, so woven that each surface, both upper and under, is entirely silk, while the interior of the texture is wool. By this arrangement the article has all the lustre of silk with much greater softness and fulness of texture. It is when poplin is allowed to fall in folds or drapery that its beauty is most to be seen. Norwich, as well as Ireland, manufactures poplin; poplin 122 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. there is, however, a vast difference in the two fabrics. In the Norwich poplin, the woollen thread is so thinly covered with silk that the rich lustre is entirely lacking. The weft or inner thread is, if not entirely cotton, considerably mixed with it, and the warp has the scantiest coating of silk. The first exposure to a damp atmosphere is, therefore, destructive to these imitation poplins, while the Irish make has less to fear. In Irish poplin, "cockling" is an impossibility, for the woollen thread employed, known as Jenappe, is of the finest quality, selected with the greatest care, and having been previously dyed, can shrink to no less dimensions. To reduce this difference of the poplin of the two countries to figures, the number of threads in the narrow dress breadth varies from 5,000 to 6,ooo, while that from the Norwich looms has only 3,500 threads of silk in the same breadth, so that, if the cost be reduced to the purchaser, it is at the expense of the quality of the fabric. Another difference exists in the use of the warps and wefts, producing diverse shades and totally different colours, which may impose on the inexperienced buyer, but, to the artistic eye, has a muddiness of hue that destroys the delicacies of the lights and shades. The inventor of this marvellously beautiful coinbination of silk and wool is utterly unknown. I hazard a few conjectures as to its origin which appear the most plausible. When the wool trade was suppressed in Ireland by English legislation, an attempt may have been made to utilize the quantities of fine wool which the merchants had on stock, by working it into the fabric permitted by the Government, or the manufacture POPLIN. I23 might have been the result of an accident. Some trader may have grown short of silk, and have supplied the deficiency with worsted. "The earlier processes of dealing with the silk and wool, after they have left the dyer's hands," says a writer in the Irish Textile Journal, "are extremely interesting to witness, but most difficult to describe. The first process is that of winding the hanks or skeins, which looks simple enough, but requires skill; and then the silk is transferred to machines, at each of which twelve women, or silk winders, have to watch the operation of filling eighteen bobbins each-a very delicate operation, considering the spider's-web nature of the threads. The bobbins are then handed over to the weavers, who work on a spacious floor, and at the time of my visit there were about sixty looms going. There were three hundred on the premises, but I was informed that, if the manufacturers were dependent on the home trade, there would not be a dozen at work. At times, almost all are in full working order." The same writer mentions the following interesting fact concerning the poplin trade in Dublin: "While," he says, "in various parts of England, any person who, in any way, acquires a little skill, may work at it, the rule is rigidly enforced here that none who have not served a seven years' apprenticeship, or who are not eldest sons of regular tradesmen, may work or will be recognized as weavers. This is arbitrarily enforced and may have much to do with the high class of work produced." Poplin is divided into three classes, technically known 124 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. as single, double, and terry. The first two are similar in appearance, the double only differing from the single in the quantity of silk in the warp. The third is like richly corded silk or terry velvet, but being the same on both sides. The first two qualities are made figured, a pattern in brocade being thrown up. Tartans are made in poplin, and, as the silk is dyed before it is woven, the colour is durable, and the pattern the same on both sides. For a long time the poplin weaving, like that of linen and muslin, was carried on in the weavers' homes, an arrangement now altered, every large establishment having a factory of its own, where the material is stored up and issued to the weaver. Some of the workers, however, are still permitted to do their work at home. In the manufacture of figured goods, a wonderful imby the invenprovement was effected in the year tion of M. Jacquard, of Lyons. He introduced a loom, called after him, which superseded the employment of draw-boys in weaving figured goods. At present the silk employed in the manufacture of poplin arrives from China in large bundles and is dyed in all the most delicate and fashionable shades in Dublin, but undoubtedly a great impetus would be given to the poplin trade if the materials used in it were The Irish poplins exclusively of home production. are remarkable, not only for their texture, but the colours have a softness and brilliancy peculiar to themselves. Manufacturers of other fabrics have availed themselves largely of the new aniline dyes, but not with the same result. The brilliant shades of Irish poplin are ascribed to some quality in the water of Dublin, z8oo, POPLIN. 125 the same which makes Guinness's stout pre-eminent. Beyond doubt there are few materials so thoroughly becoming to a woman as Irish poplin. It falls in soft, massive folds, and has no disagreeable rustle, but rather that soft froz-frou about which the French novelists go into raptures when they describe the gracious movements of their heroines. The brilliant colours of this fabric are as varied and numerous as the tints on a painter's palette, and afford a choice of hues so extended that every complexion may find its becoming colour. There are tender spring-like greens for the too florid cheek of the matron, turquoise-blue for the rose bloom of girlhood, delicious French greys and pearl shades for the bride of mature years, or the young bride's mother, and a sliding scale of the rubies, amethysts and maroons, while for those who wish to exhibit their loyalty or nationality there are colours for every nation. The poplin fabric wears well, outlasts every other material, and in this sense is highly economidal. Black poplin is excellent for mourning; the deeper shades are far more intense than those produced in either silk or wool. Some lawyers' gowns are made of strong silk poplin; the price of this fabric runs from 4s. 9 d. to I is. 6d. a yard. A heavy duty was charged on exported poplin, almost prohibitive, while, on the contrary, French silk brought into this country paid only a small duty. The consequences are that the trade is not carried on as extensively as in former times, and during the last forty years it has steadily decreased. The rapid changes of fashion favour the adoption of cheaper and less durable material; as a poplin dress will last out three silk dresses; silk mercers 126 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. also discourage its sale, and dressmakers who supply their own materials naturally recommend fabrics that will procure them a larger profit. The greatest defect of poplin is characteristic of all mixed fabrics. It has been previously stated that the warp is wool and the weft silk; the combination of the two tissues is consequently more liable, at different rates, to shrink when exposed to moisture. Poplin has also the disadvantage of being more easily marked and stained by rain than silk. The fitful patronage bestowed on this material by the Castle folk and the leaders of fashion has not been continuous enough to build' up or sustain the trade. Indeed, so costly a material-in these days of cheap fabrics-is only the luxury of a few, and can never be accepted as a general article of wear. If, however, the trade is to be improved, the only way to achieve this object is by infusing more trained skill into the work; by persistent and extensive advertising, reduction of the duty on poplin entering the United States and Canada, and a national Parliament in Dublin, which would bring the better society into the capital, where the houses of the nobility have been turned into hospitals and grammar schools. My list of recommendations would be incomplete if I omitted another item in the programme necessary to promote the growth of this particular trade. I mean better business habits and more courtesy on the part of the heads of the poplin firms. Ireland was once distinguished for her chivalrous courtesy. An Irish gentleman was the pink and pattern of gentlemanly decorum; this particular gentleman is now more likely to be found among the humbler ranks of life, while the shoddy order POPLIN. 127 who take precedence are apt to be oblivious of those graces which constitute good breeding. One of the most painful evidences of the degradation of Ireland is the absence of this quality. The firms engaged in the poplin trade exist only in Dublin; they have dwindled down in numbers, only three remaining. Not more than 500 hands procure work by this employment. Messrs. Pim, Brothers and Co., of William Street, Dublin, and Milk Street, London, are about the most successful. When the manufacture was in a moribund condition, this firm went boldly into the wholesale trade, particularly for exportation, giving a new impetus to the industry. Honours have been thickly thrust upon them; a list of their medals gained at exhibitions both at home and abroad furnish sufficient commendation. At present Messrs. Pim and Co. are hopeful, and admit a marked improvement in the trade. This is greatly due to the suitability of poplin for the present simple style of dress, and also to the nark of approval set on the material by that omnipotent ruler of fashion, M. Worth, of Paris, who has lately given large orders. There is no reason why the poplin industry should cease to exist in Ireland, except it be the incompetence of its managers and the dearth of enterprise which, like a malarious fog, is creeping over the country. "Silk, reeled from cocoons bred near Cork, has been pronounced equal to the best Italian silk," says the report of the Irish Home Industries Association. Ireland, on the testimony of experts, is regarded as a country suitable to the culture of the silkworm, and with some care and attention it might be made a silk-growing country. 128 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. Some years ago, an association was formed, presided over-by the Earl of Bandon, to promote the growth of silk by the rearing of silkworms in Cork and Kerry. It is earnestly to be hoped that the venture mayprosper, as its success would mean the employment of a vast number of gentlewomen, who would be especially fitted for the delicate work. More than six hundred of this class, in every part of Ireland, already find employment, owing to the efforts of the "Irish Distressed Ladies' Fund," started in i886 by Mrs. Power Lalor. At the Irish Exhibition at Olympia, specimens of raw silk, produced by worms reared in the south of Ireland, were exhibited. The association above mentioned has imported fine young trees from Orleans; it has also purchased a reeling machine and secured the services of a competent teacher to instruct in reeling cocoons, &c. It is interesting and hopeful to learn that a large Dublin firm has offered to buy all the silk offered to it by the association. Some years since, the experiment of planting mulberry trees was tried on the Earl of Kingstown's estate, in the county of Cork, with success; only a few of the trees died, and some, in the first years of their transplantation, put forth shoots twenty inches long. Malta, however, was selected as a more favourable field for operation, and so a branch of commerce which might have rivalled the linen trade of the north, if directed with prudence and perseverance, was withdrawn from Ireland. The poplin trade was at its climax in the beginning of the present century, but has been subject to constant fluctuations ; at one time almost killed and, at another, receiving some temporary encouragement from the IPOPLIN. 129 POPLI~.12 caprice of royalty and the ladies of the Viceregal court, but never pursuing a steady, prosperous course. That it must appeal to another class than royalty, experience has proved, and this fact is illustrated in the following anecdotes: During a time of great depression in the poplin trade, the silk weavers, who still put their trust in princes, waited on George IV. with a magnificent robe, in the hope of securing his patronage. The "First Gentleman in Europe," with a courtesy worthy of his title, expressed his delight at the present and promised to recommend the manufacture to his court. When the deputation had departed, the king flung the robe to his valet and washed out the memory of his plebeian petitioners with some eau-de-cologne. A deputation which waited, on a more recent occasion, on the Duchess of Marlborough, met with similar success. Her grace promised to foster the use of Irish poplin by her example, and the weavers were, in consequence, jubilant. A new era was about to dawn for them; public excitement was great, and an adventurous citizen " dropped into poetry " on the occasion, representing the duchess as a "New Godiva," on horseback, followed by her ladies, tricked out "in poplin's rainbow wear !" The result of all this rejoicing was that one of the oldest of the Dublin poplin makers failed. WOOLLENS. 9-2 CHAPTER VIII. WOOLLENS. Ireland's Advantages in the Woollen Trade.-Causes of Decadence. -Early Traditions.-Ancient Irish MSS.-The Lena.-Ancient System of Dyeing.-Mayo Stockings.-The Book of Kells.-Importance of Colour.-Irish Chieftains 2,000 years since.-Irish " Frisages."-" Sain d'Irlando."-Trade with the Netherlands.Penal Enactments.-Wholesale Emigration.-Papal Agents in Ireland.-The Book of Rights.-The Earl of Strafford.-A Rejected Gift.-Dutch William.-Smuggling.-Grattan and the Volunteers.-The Famine of '45.-Hindrances to Trade.-Want of Patriotism.-Report of Devon Commission.-The Mills of Blarney.-The Lucan Woollen Factories.-Flourishing Firms.Kilkenny Weavers.-Galway Flannels.-The Irish Woollen Manufacturing and Export Company.--American Patronage.A Deserved Success.-Suggestions for Development. THE south of Ireland has always been famous for its rich pastures, consequently the breeding of cattle and the manufacture of articles made from the carcasseshorns, wool and hides-has been for many years in- digenous to the soil. Several of the trades which followed those industries are still in existence; their vitality is feeble, while some have entirely declined, for reasons which shall be presently indicated. Ireland is in every way suited to the woollen manufacture, being I34 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. rich in grazing land and possessing a vast number of skilled labourers of a certain class-those accustomed to card and spin wool. The growth of wool is the chief industry, after the cultivation of land, for which Ireland is best suited. It is one which need not be confined to any special district. Wherever there is a good river, and sufficiency of idle hands, a mill may be started. The whole of the western coast is eminently suited for this production, owing to the enormous supply of water power and cheap labour. With such advantages, there is no necessity for Ireland to import seven-eighths of her wearing materials, as she is doing at present. The civilized world is clothed out of four materials-silk, cotton, flax and wool. Ireland produces two of those commodities in abundance, and could make ten times as much, if required. At one time she grew flax enough to supply all her looms; now, Belgium, 'Germany, Russia and the West Indies supply the linen mills of Belfast and Derry, and the damask looms of Lurgan and Armagh, as well as the hand-looms of Fermanagh and Tyrone. Less than 15,000 tons of flax are grown in Ireland, worth /5700,000; this amount might be trebled and quadrupled in value if the industry received the proper amount of encouragement, by erecting some model flax farms throughout the country. Instead of this, stagnation and ruin exist everywhere. In consequence of the moist and undrained pastures of the country, and the absence of the friendly shelter of trees, the number of sheep has diminished during the last fifteen years by nearly a million. WOOLLENS. 135 Ireland was thoroughly skilled in wool work long before the Flemish refugees had begun to teach the art to English workers; and Irish woollen stuff had an ancient history, and was valued and known two centuries before the first cloth manufacture was introduced into England. The origin of the Irish woollen fabric is lost in the mist of ages. Its history is mixed with the earliest traditions of the people, and specimens exist in the national museum which prove that it flourished in remote ages. In ancient Irish MSS. frequent mention is made of the lena-a garment in many cases made of woollen cloth, dyed in various colours and patterns, gold thread being interwoven with the wool. The lena was worn next the skin; it covered the upper part of the body, reaching to the knees, and was fastened round the waist with a girdle. In the 8th century, a short hooded cape was universally worn by the Irish; it was made of a coarse long-napped cloth, which was exported in large quantities up to the middle of the 14th century, and corresponds to the Irish frieze of the present day. Though men no longer wear the short cloak, it is still, with some modifications, adopted by the women. The dyes were obtained from lichens and moss, much in the same way as at present practised; and the various patterns, spots, stripes and speckles mentioned in ancient legends were probably produced in the same manner as now. The process is simple, but very ingenious. The white wool is made into skeins, which are tied very tightly at intervals by linen thread. When put into the dye liquor, that part round which the thread is fastened escapes the action of I36 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. the dye, and remains white, so that when the dyeing process is complete and the ligatures removed, the yarn presents a mottled appearance, some parts being white and the rest coloured. In Mayo at the present time, stockings are made from wool dyed in this way. That the most varied and beautiful colours were very early known to the Irish is proved by the famous book of Kells, the illuminations and designs of which are of exquisite beauty. Colour in dress in very ancient times was an important matter in Ireland, for the various classes in society were distinguished by the colours they wore, servants being only allowed to wear one colour, and so on through the various grades up to the chiefs, who were allowed five colours, poets six and sovereigns seven. A very accurate and minute description is given, in an Irish MSS., of the dress worn by the chieftains about two thousand years since. The writer was an eyewitness of a great meeting of the septs, and thus describes the King of Ulster: " He wore a mass of hair curling, drooping hair; he had a pleasing, ruddy countenance; he had a deep blue, sparkling, piercing, terrific eye in his head, and a two-branching beard, yellow and curling on his chin; he wore a crimson, deep-bordered, fine-folding tunic, a gold pin in the tunic over his bosom, a brilliant white shirt, interwoven with threads of red gold, next his white skin." The sovereign's chief minister, the orator Sencha, is described as having " long, flowing, brownyellow hair; he had a sharp, black-blue eye rolling restlessly in his head; he had a divided, curling, two- -yellow, WOOLLENS. 137 branching, narrow beard upon his chin; he wore a black-green long-woolled cloak, wrapped about him he had a white shirt with a collar next his skin; a bright shield, with devices in silver, hung at his shoulder; a silver-hilted sword in a flaming scabbard at his side; a spear, like a column of a king's palace, beside him." Such was the appearance of Erin's ancient warriors. Edward I., in a royal order making it a penal offence to import any foreign manufactured textiles, especially exempts " Irish frisages," and an Italian writer of the 14th century mentions a white serge which was much esteemed, and which was called "Sain d' Irlando." Many centuries ago a trade existed between Spain and Ireland in a scarlet cloth, which was much used by the Spanish court and nobility. An export trade from Ireland to the Netherlands existed in the 15th century, and flourished more or less until the penal enactments at the close of the i7th century ruined it. In Dublin alone, about fifteen thousand families were reduced to starvation, and many of the most skilful workers emigrated to America. Over £/2,000,000 worth of friezes, tweeds and blankets are brought from England and Scotland annually, yet Irish goods are 25 per cent. better than Scotch and English at the same price. In the I 3 th and 14th centuries, the Popes of Rome used to send their agents to several Irish towns to purchase woollen fabric for the construction of those gorgeous mantles used on State occasions; the ingenious designs and ornamentation were invariably the work of 138 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. Irish artists. In fact, the old Irish frieze was eagerly bought up in Spain and Italy, and so prized, that garments made of it were entered as heir-looms in the wills. of the Florentine citizens. The old Brehon laws, proclaimed from green benches on the hill-side, and under the waving trees which once clothed the country from mountain to sea, contain minute rules about the dyes of woven wools-the shares which should belong to husband and wife, in case marriage became a failure; for the abstract question of the usefulness of that The Book of ordinance was even then undecided. form, states the exact number of Rights, in Homeric cloaks which a king is entitled to claim from his tributaries. A similar custom entitles the Queen of England to levy a tax of silk shawls from her Indian dependency, which she dispenses as wedding gifts to her loyal subjects, with the courtesy and generosity which have made her reign glorious. For years, Ireland retained her old trade in wool, and even during the Tudor period, when the terrible desolation of Munster took place, the Waterford and wool trade was not extinguished. carried on a traffic in that commodity with Dungarvan England, France and Spain. There was a large export trade with foreign countries down to 1699, when about that year it began to decline. Ireland always maintained a high character for her wool, just as Manchester is renowned for cotton, or Staffordshire for pottery. All the elements of successful manufacture still abound. The first systematic attempt to deprive Ireland of this trade occurred in the days of Charles I., when the Earl of Stafford, in the interest of the English manufacturers, WOOLLENS I39 crushed the industry. The energies of Charles II. took a different direction; he suppressed the trade in cattle, and taught the English people first to distrust the Irish. The rooted aversion to everything Celtic then grew so strong that a munificent gift of cattle, sent to the perishing Londoners after the great fire, was scornfully refused. The Dutch William next placed an embargo on the trade, excluding its carriage into England, except through a few ports on .the Bristol Channel. The penalty for violation was a fine of £5oo and forfeiture of ship and cargo. By this, a monopoly was created for the English merchants, which enabled them to buy the article at their own price. As a consequence, smuggling sprang up, and the caves along the coast of Cork and Kerry were filled with wool; and, in exchange for this commodity, large quantities of brandy and claret were brought into Ireland, utterly demoralizing both rich and poor, for all joined in this unlawful traffic. In 1779, Grattan and the volunteers won free tradei.e., a free export of wool and woollens; after this, the trade revived, until the famine of 1845 crushed the spirit of the people, with regard to all industries, from which depression the country has never recovered. The absence of profitable industries in our own day is not entirely due to want of capital, but to want of technical skill and enterprise. The deposits in the banks prove that capital exists, if only safe outlets for its employment can be inaugurated. Since the year i80o, the failure of Irish industries cannot be attributed to any selfish policy on the part of England and the trading class; but, indirectly, the industries of the country have been crushed 140: GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and the people demoralized. Among the many hindrances to Irish trade, are the high rate of freights on Irish railways, the ruin of cottage industries by emigration, and the importation of cheap and gaudy goods from England and Scotland. A small army of commercial travellers invades the country, introducing slop goods and finery, which the farmers' wives and daughters purchase on account of their cheapness. In this way the draperies of Manchester, Leeds and Bradford are circulated, to the detriment of Irish woollen stuffs. Shopkeepers get a greater profit for all such stuffs by dealing with the English warehouses, and, consequently, will not push the woollen fabric of their own country. A large number of the Irish are disgracefully wanting in If several shopkeepers would only copatriotism. operate for the sale of their own manufactures, a better feeling would be promoted. Irish traders should comMany of the bine, like the Poles and Hungarians. Irish workhouses get their blankets from England; the Dublin streets are paved with stones imported from Wales; the Dublin Custom House is built of Portland stone, despite the abundance of the native freestone; and the marble in most of the altar-pieces in the Catholic churches comes from Italy and Belgium, instead of Kilkenny and Connemara. The Irish are charged with chronic discontent and idleness, while few investigate the charge. Dissatisfaction is admitted; and it arises from poverty, injustice If the causes were removed and want of employment. the discontent would dissolve, and agitation would cease The on'y way to remove it is to develop the to exist. WOOLLENS. 141 resources of the country beyond those of agriculture, and to improve the education of the people. The arts and manufactures in which Ireland excels have almost expired, stamped out by a selfish bygone legislation and the free imports of foreign manufactured goods, admitted to unrestricted competition with the heavilyThis competition has taxed home manufactures. reduced the profits on those Irish industries which have survived the misgovernment of the 17th and centuries, or what sprang into existence after the Union was accomplished. This is the reason why Ireland cannot compete with her powerful sister in the race of that commercial activity which marks the 19 th century. Instead of a flourishing commerce in Ireland, we have mills and factories silent and in ruins, valuable mines unworked, quarries of beautiful marble neglected, and water-power running everywhere to waste. The system of free imports which has brought temporary prosperity to England, has yielded few advantages to Irish trade. The unrestricted competition with the world has only helped to extinguish the industries that remain. The Irish people are too tied to the cultivation of the land, for no other occupation is open to them. This must be put an end to; and they will hail with enthusiasm anything which will release them from the slavery which it entails. Forty years ago, the Devon Commission described the condition of the Irish peasant as "the worst fed, the worst clothed and the worst housed in Europe." Little improvement has been made, and none is likely to take place, until Government discover that it is better to spend money in creating industrial habits, 18th !42 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and fostering such trades as the manufacture of wool and the like industries, than in supporting soldiers and police to keep order among those who would be orderly of their own inclination, if poverty did not drive them to despair, or agitation urge them to crime. About the oldest woollen and worsted mills in Ireland are those situated in Blarney, within a stone's-throw of the castle, familiar all over the world as the site of the How the absurd story confamous "Blarney stone." cerning it should have gained currency is not worth inquiring, but it conveys a reproach which every Irishman should resist as an insult to his nationality, crediting him, as it does, with only a smooth tongue and a plausible manner. The dismantled stronghold belonged to an old family of the McCarthys, the last of whom forfeited his lands, then valued at £15,ooo a year, for King James II. The old square keep still stands, and, jutting out of the battlement, the stone which fools go to kiss. The superstition is entirely modern, no mention of it being made in any of the old records. An early English colony tried to found an industry at Blarney, but failed; either the privileged class waxed insolent, or the absurd trade laws of that period crippled them. Industrial Blarney dates from 1824, but a century ago, Arthur Young found thirteen mills at work there, and 30o hands engaged in linenThe present mills, the property of Messrs. making. Martin, Mahoney and Brothers, are about 30 years old, years that the business but it is only within the last firm gives employment to has grown to maturity. The 18 over 700 hands, of whom 300 are men and 450 women. WOOLLENS. 143 The rate of wages, for young hands, ranges from 4s. to 8s., and, for older people, from ios. to £2 ios. a week. Blarney exports to Austria, America, Australia and The products are tweeds, friezes, serges, New York. rugs and yarns. The friezes of Irish make stand unrivalled; this is largely owing to the absence of spurious admixture, nothing but honest wool being employed. In the Yorkshire article, " shoddy" gives a superior appearance of finish, but proves unstable as water. It is a feature of all the Irish woollen mills that they have not descended to this method of adulteration; the consequences are that the Irish tweeds, friezes and woollen stuffs are considerably dearer than the English and Scotch manufactures, but far more durable. The firm in question is complete in itself, manufacturing its own gas, soap and dye. The wool used is largely home-grown, and the superior quality of the goods has won various prize medals, and, recently, the approval of the Honourable Society of the London Clothworkers. The Lucan Woollen Factories of Dublin is another firm which has thoroughly established its good name. This firm, consisting of two factories, manufactures yearly over 120,000 yards of tweed; half this supply is for home consumption, and the remainder for English, Scotch and American markets. The managers are practical men, alive to all modern influences, and determined to raise their house to the first position. They are now making considerable additions to their premises, rely entirely on the excellence of their goods, and are firmly holding their own in the fierce competition with their English and Scotch manufacturing neighbours. In this establishment 144 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. girls earn from 5s. to 12s. a week, andmostly on piecework. It may be added that piece-work is not largely adopted in Ireland; better if it were. One trade, that is cabinetmaking, was lost to the southsimply because people refused to employ the system. Messrs. Hill and Son are hopeful and enterprising, they richly deserve the success they have won, and are likely to develop their trade to a great extent in the future. The Athlone Woollen Mills are situated on the Shannon, and avail themselves of the splendid water supply which that old historic town commands. This concern has grown ten-fold during the last seven years, ever since the home industrial movement sprang up. The works give employment to over 500 people in the neighbourhood, while the yearly consumption of wool amounts to 730,000 lbs. Their speciality is a fine class of tweed, the wool employed being almost entirely grown in the country, and collected principally from the counties of Galway and Roscommon direct from the farmers. The success of this fabric has been testified by the fact that Athlone tweed has won the highest prizes in thirteen open competitions since the year 1882. It is of a complicated design, remarkable both for its appearance and great enduring qualities, and in such high demand in the colonies, that the promoters of the manufacture have some difficulty in meeting the steady demand for the article. The Athlone Woollen Factory has established itself so firmly that it has no rival in the market. Much of the success of this prosperous firm is owing to the ability and courtesy of Mr. W. Smith, one of the managing partners. WOOLLENS. 145 The Conway Woollen Company, in the county of Donegal, is doing excellent work. This company is of recent origin, being the youngest of five resulting from the Dublin Exhibition of 1882. Since it has been started, mills have sprung up in Antrim, Castleblaney, Ballymoney and Coleraine. The Conway mills have shown an astonishing amount of vigour and enterprise. At the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition, they presented specimens of serge, tweeds and flannel which took a high place for excellence of workmanship. One feature in this concern is that wool is made up according to any pattern forwarded by the sender. Goods are also exchanged on the senders paying for the manufacture. A circular is forwarded showing the quality of wool required, and containing instructions. This little thriving concern gives employment to over 6o people, the rate of wages varying from 5 s . a week for young boys. and beginners, up to £2 for foremen, the average pay of men and grown-up girls being 15s. and 9 s . respectively. The talented and courteous manager of this admirably conducted firm deeply deplores the want of technical education among the people and the heavy charges of the railways, which disadvantages, as I have already pointed out, have checked and interfered with the growth of several Irish industries. The prosperity of the Conway Woollen Mills is largely owing to the perseverance and administrative ability of Mr. John S. Weir. The Tralee Ballymullan Mills, situated in the capital of Kerry, is another small concern which deserves special commendation. It has the advantage of possessing a manager of great business capacity, tact, shrewdness I0 146 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and uniform courtesy. Mr. Joseph Rivington held a stall in Olympia, and some choice specimens of the products of his mills were here exhibited, attracting much notice. The Ballymullan mills are able to turn out Irish wools, tweeds and homespuns, the very best products for winter costumes. Half the productions of this house go to America and England, and the other half are for home consumption. The firm gives employment to women, the rate of wages being from 4s. to r8s. a week, some of the men's wages reaching to 45s. a week. These mills are a great advantage to the town. There are several other mills in Ireland turning out excellent fabrics; the few specified give a fair idea of the condition of this industry. There is room for double the The woollen industry has the most natural number. growth in Ireland, and none affords greater facilities for being eagerly entered upon; but the want of technical skill on the part of capitalists and operatives, and the absence of schools to instruct the rising generation, are among the chief drawbacks at present. In the matter of tweeds and fine self-made goods there has been great improvement within the last three years; but the manufacture of wool requires both skill and knowledge-rare qualities in Ireland, a country that spends annually about fifteen millions in the purchase of materials which she could very well manufacture for herself. Irish capitalists are too ready to part with the raw material instead of expending labour on it. This is a fault common to every industrial occupation in the country, and it is owing to this insane practice that a number of highly remunerative employments are lost, WOOLLENS. 147 In the beginning of.the century, Kilkenny alone had weavers; now the trade has almost died out of ,000ooo that town. At one time almost every town in the country had a tannery; now few have any. This profitable trade was killed by competition with the west of England, where the tanning process is completed in a short time. A special kind of flannel, known as " nab flannel," is made in Galway, which is admirably suited for ladies' skirts, hearthrugs, &c., and is so durable that it is almost impossible to wear it out. The Rev. Martin Cummins, of Clare, Galway, has, done much to encourage this industry and is anxious to find a market for the work. The Galway flannel is also eminently suitable as a covering for perambulators and also for ladies'out-door jackets, having a soft, furry appearance, which is owing to the long hair of the sheep of the district. The Irish Woollen Manufacturing and Export Company has done work which has produced marvellous results. This company was started in May, 1887, in Dublin, by Mr. Mayne, M.P.,and several other gentlemen. Their representative, Mr. Peter White, the managing director of the company, first paid a visit to America in May, I887, and, notwithstanding many obstacles in the way of jealousy and misrepresentation, the excellence of the Irish goods insured their success and were warmly appreciated by a nation ever generous in its approval and encouragement. In the second visit of Mr. White to America, he received sufficient orders for tweeds, dikgonals and friezes to keep every mill in Ireland working overtime for a year. In the woollen manufacture about 8o,ooo spindles and upwards of i,ooo power 10-2 148 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. looms are employed, as well ash a very large number of hand looms throughout the country. The company is able to export goods which may be valuedat /350,ooo a year. One of the best known and most influential of American merchants, Mr. Shuman, of Boston, visiting Ireland in September last, spoke most favourably of the improvement in Irish woollens. He visited the Irish mills, had interviews with the mill-owners, and expressed an opinion that the woollen trade is only in its infancy and that there is a prosperous future in store for it. "Messrs. Shuman, of Boston," says a writer on Irish woollens, "have not alone given large orders for Irish tweeds, but have so far facilitated the working of the Irish Woollen Export Company, that they and other American firms have so guaranteed the financial success, that the Bank of Ireland permits the company to overdraw seventyfive per cent. on the exports, the day after shipment." The cause of the marvellous success which has rewarded the efforts of the export company may be gathered from the following extract from a pamphet published by them : "All stuffs must be sent to their stores on Usher's Quay, Dublin, where they are most scrupulously examined and tested by skilled 'examiners, before being shipped. But, no matter what the quantity of the goods, nor the locality where they come from, on one thing this company rigidly insists, and that is, excellence in quality. They do not dream of demanding a preference simply on the sentimental ground of their exports being Irish. They rely on their sterling value for support, WOOLLENS. 149 and as is natural, take care to preserve a high and even standard, with which the 'producers must perforce comply." -Notwithstanding the success which has naturally attended a scheme conducted in so admirable a spirit of thoroug/hness, it is admitted very generally, that in the matter of new designs, the Irish manufacturers are at a stand-still. The same patterns are maintained year after year, and unless more enterprise is shown in the way of novelty and enterprise in advertising, the Irish will scarcely continue to hold their own in the woollen trade. Ireland is at present importing seven-eighths of her shoes and boots, and England is selling an immense quantity of highly-finished French and German boots, largely consisting of brown paper and lacquer, admirably suited to catch the eye, but utterly worthless for wear. The Irish trades give preference to this class of imported goods, owing to its cheapness, and large quantities of these slop goods are distracting attention from home manufacture. There is not nearly as much coarse frieze prodluced in Ireland as formerly; its use is going out in consequence of cheap importations. In the small mills referred to, an excellent article is produced, owing to the thorough process of preparing and finishing of the whole material in their small looms. Some of the managers suggest that a judicious system of loans and a, more accommodating system of banking would enable the few spirited employers to develop their trade. I am not in favour of loans, except under peculiar circumstances. I believe in and attach more importance to the establishment of industrial training schools, scattered widely 15o: GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. through the country. They are the imperative necessity We have had too much whining and begof the day. ging in the past. In Austria, America and Canada, Irish woollen goods are welcome and appreciated. There is also a large field for lace-making and all kinds of small industries that might be carried on in the cottages of the Irish peasantry by women and children; hosiery, ornaments made from raw materials to be had in Ireland-green marble, bog oak, Irish spar-and many others now totally neglected. KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, EMBROIDERY. CHAPTER IX. KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, EMBROIDERY. A Private Enterprise.-The Fort of the Stranger.-A Pathetic Beauty.-Gweedore.-Heroic Endurance.-The Donegal Sheep. -Knitting and Home Spuns.-Plan of Operations.--Mrs. Hart's Report.--£15,000,0ooo annually sent out of Ireland.- Crochet and Sprigging Embroidery.-The Kells Art Work.Ancient Designs.-Royal Patronage.-Want of Faith.-Prohibitive Charges. THE revival of certain old industries has been mainly brought about by a private individual, Mrs. Ernest Hart, who is fired with a noble ambition to ameliorate the wretched condition of the Irish peasantry. Her painstaking efforts, after much opposition and indifference, have been attended by considerable success. Donegal, a corner of the north-west of Ulster, was selected as the basis of her industrial operations, though the work is not rigidly confined to this county. Donegal, meaning the "Fort of the Stranger," is unsurpassed in beauty of mountain, lake and glen. Here you have concentrated, vast uncultivated tracts, wild heath-clad mountains, broad lakes gemmed with islands, and numerous rivers teeming with fish. Donegal possesses 154 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. interest for the antiquary, the geologist and botanist. The Blue Stack Mountains, Slieve Snaght and Errigal -the latter looks down on the sea from an altitude of 2,463 feet--would compare favourably with the Swiss Alps. There is nothing in England or Scotland to compare to the noble estuary of Gweebarra, running some seven miles into the heart of the hills, shadowed by the Glendowan Mountains and the towering peaks of Slieve Snaght. Near the Errigal Mountains there is a bed of white marble, so fine-grained as to be adapted to the most delicate operations of the chisel; it closely resembles Parian marble. Besides this, there are other beautiful marbles-black, dove and rose coloured. Here are also to be found the most useful clay beds pipe clay, potters' clay and porcelain clay; iron and copper pyrites and lead ore in great abundance. But there is no use digging marble in Ireland till there are tradesmen to dress it and railways to transport it. At present there is not demand enough to keep the Irish quarries open. The mountain regions are interspersed with fertile valleys, which would be the delight of the tourist and painter, if the country were opened up and supplied with ordinary accommodation. Lough Swilly forms :a. beautiful sea lake, flanked on one side by a splendid range of mountains of great magnificence. A number of small lakes, utterly unknown to the world, doze under their shadow with a pathetic beauty. For miles of this mountain region no human habitation brightens the landscape. The Steppes of Russia are not more desolate. Into these mountain fastnesses the "mere Irish" were driven when King, James founded KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, ETC. 155= his Ulster plantation, bestowing the lands of the O'Neills and O'Donnells on his Scotch and English followers. The only marks of civilization that remain, after 800 years of conquest, are a martello tower, a ruined village and a police barrack. The district of Gweedore, the headquarters of Mrs. Ernest Hart's operations, extends for miles along the north-west coast. Here the whitebearded Atlantic thunders along the shore in all its magnificence, and the harsh scream of the sea-fowl is its continual and suitable accompaniment. The coast is studded with islands, and the ocean may be seen striking against the opposing headlands or precipitous cliffs with great force, the waves forming into a column of foam which is driven to an immense height, and remaining visible for many seconds, until the feathered spray becomes gradually and gracefully dispersed: "It plays with the clouds, it mocks the skies, Or like a cradled creature lies." There are about 200,000 inhabitants in this county- a fine, stalwart race of peasantry, whose courtesy is uniform, simple and charming, and whose unquestioning trust in the goodness of God is a matter of wonder when their condition is known. This condition may be gathered from the fact that the average rental does not exceed £2, and that, in the whole district of Gweedore, there are only six persons who pay more than £4 a year for their holdings. The proportion of unreclaimed waste to arable land in this district is as seven to three. A more unpromising spot in which to establish an enterprise could not have been selected. No wonder 156 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. Mrs. Ernest Hart's scheme was regarded as a chirmera,, and cold water flung on her efforts. There was, however, something sublime as well as pitiable in the patience of this people, who stood, year after year, face to face with famine, cut off from civilization by forty miles of bog on one side and the pitiless Atlantic on the other. For generations back, the peasantry used to spin and knit home-spun socks and stockings of the soft wool of the Donegal mountain sheep. The system of inclosing the lands, and stocking them with Scotch black-faced sheep, changed the character of the Donegal hosiery. The wool of this animal is coarse and inferior to that of the native sheep. In consequence of this change, the Lancashire firms ceased to send buyers to Ireland, and the native industry had, in consequence, declined; the skill, however, remained, and it is now admitted that the Donegal women are the best knitters in the United Kingdom. Samples of knitting and home-spun tweeds were taken and presented to some of the London houses, but failed to procure purchasers, in consequence of the coarseness and inferiority of the work. Agencies were next started in the different villages for the purpose of instruction. Samples and yarn were sent to the workers, and better workmanship followed. The Donegal people can now produce hosiery which competes in price with that made by machinery, and beats it in quality and durability. The plan of operation is simplicity itself; but no one except the founder can imagine the patience, toil and indomitable perseverance which it entailed. Materials are sent direct to the different districts by the London com- KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, ETC. 157 mittee j these are made up into various goods, according to instruction and under direction of local agents, Who :inspect the operations, collect and pay for all the work executed, and then forward the goods to London. The various articles are then sold by the committee direct to retail shops and stores, at prices calculated on the lowest possible scale. Any profits made over and above the working expenses and what may be required to consolidate the business, will be returned to workers s. in the form of bonuses. A woman can earn from 4s. to 5 a week by knitting, without seriously interfering with her household duties. Fine socks are paid for at the rate of 9s.a dozen. Writing in July, 1885, Mrs. Hart says " During the past twelve months I have paid my .workers over £I,042, having made that year 12,300 pairs of stockings and 4,954 yards of tweed, and a considerable quantity of fancy articles. There is now no difficulty in getting orders from the best West End .firms- and the co-operative stores, for the work produced will stand competition with that done in Scotland or any other place." However, notwithstanding this success, a quarter of a million sterling goes every year to Germany and Scotland for the stockings worn by the Irish people, and, taking fabrics of every kind, it is estimated that fifteen millions annually is spent abroad by the Irish upon materials they might as well make themselves. Tweed-making is the next industry undertaken. This is valuable work, for it gives employment to men as well as women; besides, the people are taught to find native dyes from bracken or lichens, found in their native bogs, 158 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and, as they already know how to card, spin and weave, their knowledge of these subjects has been enlarged and improved. The founder now confidently announces that she has succeeded in producing tweeds, serges and friezes which have attained a high reputation. For years past, Irish girls hadbeen in the habit of doing crochet and sprigging embroidery, the demand for which has lately fallen off, in consequence of the introduction of Madeira competition and Swiss machine work. Finding that it failed, Mrs. Hart originated something that would take its place, employ the ancient skill of the women, and .satisfy the modern demand for embroidered articles of domestic use. The result has been the Kells art embroidery. In seeking designs for this new industry, Mrs. Ernest Hart had recourse to the old letter designs, drawn from illuminated books and manuscripts of the sixth and seventh centuries-the Durrow Bible, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells, already referred to. The novelty and attraction of this work is that both designs and material are entirely Irish. Polished flax threads are worked on flax, not silk, producing a most tasteful result. The Kells embroidery is inexpensive, effective and washable ; it is used for all kinds of domestic and decorative purposes, such as curtains, table-linen, chair-backs and dresses. The Queen and the Princess of Wales have patronized it; and the demand for this ornamental work is now unlimited. Already, orders are being received from the colonies and other parts of the world. This trade is capable of indefinite extension, and gives employment to over 7,000 women. To teach this work, KNITTING, SPINNING, WEAVING, ETC. no the the set 159 less than fourteen different classes were started in different mountain homes. Peasant girls, used to old white embroidery, quickly imitated the patterns before them, and now can easily earn from ios. to 15s. a week. Owing to the low price of labour, hand-knitted, handwoven and hand-embroidered articles find a ready sale; and the London committee expect to produce goods of the highest quality, at the price now paid for inferior machine-made articles. What the founder now wants is financial assistance to carry out the work on a larger scale, and to employ travellers to put the work before the public. No one, not even the Dublin traders, had faith in the enterprise. Perhaps the greatest existing difficulty arises from the heavy railway charges in conveying goods to the English markets. AFFO RESTING. CHAPTER X. AFFORESTING. Ireland before the 16th Century.-Vandalism.-English Bishops.Action of Foreign Governments.-Les Landes.--The Value of Forests.-A Profitable Undertaking. Spanish Peasants.-Two Irish Landlords. - A Mistaken Idea.--Fatal Emigration.Capacities of Ireland.--Foreign Competition.-Forests as Rain Producers.--Fish Benefit by Them.-Forests as Water Purifiers. -The Best Trees.-The Basket Industry.-A Pleasant Occupation.-Relations between Landlord and Tenant.-A Desolate Home.--A Baneful Influence.-Resident Gentry.--Fruit Growers and Railways. - The Royal College of Science. - National Schools.-A Long Suffering People.-Mrs. Ernest Hart. Continental System.--An Attractive Picture. A TOURIST visiting Ireland for the first time, especially if his course embraces the most picturesque parts-the north and north-west coast-is appalled by the spectacle of lofty chains of mountains standing in naked grandeur, as a rampart against the force of the Atlantic. For cliff scenery, sublime in its loneliness, it has no rival in the Contemplating its savage grandeur and the world. squalid wretchedness of the ruined villages that nestle at its base, it is difficult to imagine that this country was once the abode of a pastoral people with plains rich in herbage, woods full of game, lakes abounding with wild I I--2 164 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. fowl, timber in abundance everywhere, and all the necessaries of life procurable without difficulty. There is no feature of the Irish landscape more characteristic than the desert baldness of her hills; robbed of those sylvan honours which once diversified the prospect, it now presents to the eye a type of the desolation and misery which have overspread the country. This barrenness of trees is but of recent origin; many localities, in every part of Ireland, derive their names from having originally been embowered in wood. The country was covered with dense and continuous forests prior to the i6th century. The Vandal work of destruction began in the days of Queen Elizabeth, culminated during the Ulster plantation and has not ceased in our own day. Between the -years 1841 and i88i, there was an absolute diminution of wood, to the extent of 45,779 acres. During this latter period, no systematic attempt to replant had been made. In some districts, wood was cut down to increase the arable land; and in others, to destroy the shelter which bands of outlaws found in their recesses. Two centuries ago, the manufacture of iron led to the cutting down of innumerable trees, in order to prepare charcoal for smelting. Immediate profit was the only object desired, and no care for the future was exhibited, until the lands have gradually become as naked as they are now. This destruction was carried on in many parts of.the country with reckless profusion. Trees, to the value of £20,000, were cut down on one estate in Kerry, the proprietor seizing upon the smallest profit, several of the large trees being sold for sixpence each. When the lands of the Irish families were proscribed, AFFORESTING. 165: the first act was to cut down the wood; even the English bishops imported to Ireland assisted in the devastation. Whitenhall, Bishop of Kilmore from 1699 to 1713, boasted of the number of trees which he removed from his diocesan property. Most of the wood was sold and at this time there was carried on an extensive export trade in oak. When the confiscation of Ulster was inaugurated, one of the chief inducements held out to English and Scotch settlers, was the abundant wood to be found on the old Irish territory. About the end of the 17th century, a great quantity of wood from Coleraine and Belfast was shipped out of the country and, at the same time, the magnificent forests of Down, Derry and Antrim were all destroyed. If due care had been taken of the forests, even during the last 200 years, 1oo,ooo,0oo in Ireland might now have a property of forests. her woods and This reckless waste is in glaring contrast with the action of most Continental countries. Since 166o, a Government department in forestry has been in operation in Denmark, and most other countries have exhibited a similar interest in their woods; every industry, directly or indirectly, is dependent on the production of forestry for its development and maintenance. Afforesting increases the value of land 1,ooo times. In Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Russia, the Government compel the lands to be planted and derive a large benefit from such industry. The annual product of some American forests is reckoned more valuable than her wool crop, and actually ten times the value of her gold and silver mines. In Nebraska, 43,000,000 trees are 166 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. now growing where, a few years ago, not one could be seen; the wholesale destruction of the Canadian woods has at last aroused its Government to take steps to arrest the process of demolition. Perhaps the most notable instance of the value of wood to a country, may be seen in the case of the cultivation of the lowl-ying lands near the Garonne, a region which, thirty years ago, was one of the poorest and most miserable in France, the home of malaria and fever, where the sickly inhabitants travelled on stilts. Forty years since, on this territory of Les Landes, therewere hardly 20,000 inhabitants; now there are over one million, owing to the introduction of industries in connection with the forest. It was found that the planting of pines improved the climate and greatly aided the development The profits of forests, in most Conof agriculture. tinental countries, have been large and increasing. Sweden and Norway rely as much on their forests as on their fishing industry. Russia, in 1882, put down the value of her woods to the sum of 14,485,000 roubles; the value of a rouble in our money being equal to two shillings. What was true of Les Landes was also found true in part of our own dominions. It is not so many years since that, for sanitary purposes, we created forests in India, which cover from 40 to 70,000 square miles. The profit of this undertaking now yields considerably more than half i million sterling. There is no country in the world which fails to appreciate the value of wood as a means of its improved condition, but Ireland. This gross ignorance lies entirely at the door of her great landed proprietors; great only in their stupidity in fail- AFFORESTING. i67 ing to see what has been duly appreciated by the Even poverty-stricken countries already mentioned. Spain, with its emasculated religious system and insolent grandness, feels the value of planting. Poor peasants may be seen, at the risk of their lives, carrying on their backs bits of the soil up their steep mountains and planting trees round about. There is no occasion for this in Ireland, as there are always small ledges upon which the soil accumulates and there trees can be grown. With the exception of Lord Ardilaun and Mr. Mitchell Henry, there are few Irish landlords who have attempted to plant their estates. One effort proved highly successful; some years ago 400 acres of the slopes of the Galtees were planted; the land at the time was not worth a shilling an acre; lately, the same plot was sold for £15o an acre. The plantation, for the most part, consisted of pine and hard wood. On the whole, few ventures pay, so well as planting; for every /z,ooo laid out, j£8oo of it is expended on unskilled labour, and the most necessitous parts of the country are precisely those on which land is most suitable for planting. The wide territory of the west, from Killala to Clare, is admirably adapted for the plantation of all kinds of forest trees, There are from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 acres of waste lands in Ireland, 7,000,000 of mountain bog and river flat, of no use for agriculture; while from emigration, tyranny and other reasons, arable land is falling out of cultivation every year. One of the many mistaken, notions entertained of Ireland is, that she may, with proper care, be converted into a pasture country, capable of supplying 168 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. John Bull with beef and mutton, while other industries should be left exclusively to England and Scitland. Many of the proprietors of large estateshave acted on this principle, with fatal consequences. The neglect of tillage has not increased the growth of stock toany appreciable degree, but the loss to Ireland, of land going out of cultivation within the last thirty years, has been upwards of twenty millions sterling. By putting great tracts of land into grass, the owners of estates abolished the labouring class. Agriculturewas nursed by this portion of the population; the land is at present but half tilled, and much of it falling into a prairie condition. Labour has left the country, because it has gone into grass; the dying condition of agriculture in Ireland is owing to want of labour, skill and enforced emigration. There is no other country where so large an amount of what is called rent is spent out of it as in Ireland. The power to raise rent indefinitely and eject capriciously has impeded the cultivator's energy. Pasture is not as productive to the people or the country as tillage. Once, on a Sunday morning, a farmer at the chapel door might get 500 labourers; now that the demand has ceased the supply has fallen off. One of the most mistaken panaceas for the improvement of Ireland has been that of emigration. This is a serious error. Its futility is obvious, for, as 75 per cent. of the population who emigrate are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, their absence throws the burden on the less capable at home. If the land question, which is the foundation of all interests, were properly settled, Ireland AFFORESTING. 169 could feed -fifteen millions .of people and spare some food to export. The population of the country is infinitely below its capacity to. support,.and emigration is still taking place, owing to the strained conditions between landlord and tenant. Emigration, except by the family, is bad in every respect.. In Germany, it is calculated that a child, up to fifteen years of age, costs the State 0oo0; after that he begins to make some return for his maintenance. If he goes away at that age, it means a dead loss of 00oo to the country. A million emigrants from Germany would represent a total loss to the country of £ioo,ooo,ooo ; this same application is true of Ireland. Since the destruction of the Irish woods, agriculture has proved less valuable, grazing of cattle, except in a few places, has not been remunerative. Ireland is not a country for flocks and herds, whatever it might have been in the past. Only rich lands, which do not require cultivation, should be laid. out in grass. A climate saturated with rain cannot produce permanent pasture. No doubt an improved system of agriculture would more than double the produce, which, in arable land under cultivation in Belgium, is more than treble what it is in Ireland. It would seem, however, that we are approaching a time when the food supply-meat and grain-can be carried on both by California, America and Russia, and that it is only whipping a dead horse to think of rivalling the resources of those great countries. Ireland must develop fresh industries and cultivate an exchange of commodities. When wheat can be carried from Chicago to New York for 5 cents a barrel, and carried free to Liverpool, as ballast, it is 1.70 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. high time for both English and Irish growers to consider their position. A trade can be cultivated in flax, wool, paper and other materials, but several industries which once flourished in Ireland cannot be revived by protection duties or by any other means. It is idle to think of returning to the old system of protection, though it would appear that Ireland, unlike England, cannot stand without a qualified form of it; that is, a duty on manufactured goods of all kinds; everything, however, in a raw state, required for food, should be let in, freight free. This would give employment to the people at home in the conversion of raw material into the manuThe question of forests, however, factured article. demands our attention. In a general way, it has been proved that forests are a necessity to the country. Men of science further prove that the presence of woods largely regulates the flow of water in water-courses, insuring a steady supply during dry seasons, while they There is some prevent sudden and disastrous floods. uncertainty as to the power of a forest in producing rain, but there is no doubt as to its effect in conserving the water which falls. The humidity of the air above the forest is considerably larger than that of the air of an Experiments in the south of France open country. showed that the rainfall in a forest, as compared to that in an open, was in the proportion of loo to 92"5, while the evaporation in the forest was only one-third of the evaporation on the plain. The actual water received and retained from the atmosphere is nearly 50 per cent. greater in a forest than that received and retained by the AFFORESTING. '7'I plains.' Forests act as conductors of electricity; they influefce the currents of vapours and their action is felt far above the actual height of the trees. They also condense th.e clouds into rain, by lowering the temperature, and act as bulwarks against the severity of storms. The want of woods has produced disastrous results, as seen in the great floods' and long droughts which took place in Spain, France, Sicily, Chili, Peru, Mauritius and many other places. In the Murcia valley, the rivers were reduced to a succession of stagnant pools which, during the summer developed malaria and fever, detrimental to life and health. But, as soon as the winter rain came, the rivers, in nearly all the valleys, became raging torrents, destroying life and property. The forests, with their numberless roots and decaying vegetation, retain the rain water and prevent it from rushing to rivers and the sea, while it gives it off slowly and steadily. It simply acts like a great sieve and retains the firm particles of the soil which the influence of :the'air and the sun, the frost and rain, and the action of numberless roots have decomposed, thereby fertilizing the land, by forming moulds into which larvae and other insects live and breed. The protective influence of forests is a question of natural economy which has a great claim on the attention of the Legislature. Besides other benlefits, forests are. of value ini protecting the health of fislihs. The decaying forest leaves produce a vast amount .fhourishment for fish. Each breeze drops into the water numberless grubs, flies and other insects, the kind of food most relished by fishes, while; from the banks and roots, worms and grubs are constantly supplying then with 'heat, I72 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. delicacies. The shade of. overhanging trees is also agreeable tofish; one only needs to place a board over a stream and see the fish gather underneath it, to be convinced of this; it is.well known that the best fishing is where the forest is close to the shore, as in Denmark. Overhanging trees prevent large evaporation and, at the same time, keep the water clear and cool in summer, while, on the same account, the winter frosts do not deal so severely with fish. Forests not only regulate the flow of water, but they purify it. This has been seen in Australia, in cases where the streams have been polluted by wool-washing establishments. The water, after passing a few miles through a dense and shady forest, will reappear as clear and pure as it was above the woolwash. When fish desert a river, it is often because the shelter of the forest or the border of trees have been taken away. In stocking a river with fish, it is not enough to place spawn and fry in the water; they must be provided with food and shelter. The most suitable trees for the purpose of planting are oak, beech, plane, larch, poplar and willow. The question of planting, however, is one which requires both skill and experience. Firs and pine, with larch and oak, have been largely cultivated in Denmark. There is a new variety of shrubs and annuals which might be grown on the banks of rivers or on the margins of bogs. Several American and foreign trees might be introduced, willows should be extensively planted, for this tree has a preference for water, particularly running water. Fish are fond of willows. In Australia, the best fishing places are close to some weeping willows. The yearly consumption of osiers in AFFOILESTIN(. 173 England is greater than the national supply, as the basket industry is constantly increasing; it would be, on this account, advisable to further the cultivation of willows. There are many places close to the mouths of rivers and creeks which might be made highly profitable. During the long winter nights, the Irish peasant could not find a pleasanter employment than in osier work, an art easily acquired. The osier takes no more than ten years to grow. This work might supplement the ordiThe genius of Celtic art was first nary means of living. exhibited in the form of basket work. Bog oak ornaments of a very inferior quality, wanting in design, are sold about Killarney. This indicates an existing taste which, if only developed, might produce good results. Stone carving was an industry which Ireland excelled in long before the Christian era. The transition to wood carving is natural; this is a branch specially recommended; machine-made goods can never supply its place and it affords ample scope for imagination. The presence of wood gives birth to a host of industries unknown in Ireland. The entire destruction of the Irish forests has been a serious loss to the country. One of the principal causes of the destruction of salmon in the province of Ontario, has been owing to the rapid clearance of the splendid woods which abounded in that country. Farming, forestry and fish culture have a natural affinity ;they aid each other. When forests are cut away, the rainfall is interfered with, and agriculture is affected. There: are localities in Canada where forests have been wholly destroyed, which are now unable to raise the same kind of grain as in former years. There is no doubt that thk 174 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. clearing of the forests is injurious to agriculture andmay have something to do with the deterioration of the potato crop, once so flourishing in Ireland. That country will grow everything but:wheat; the climate in the south and west is favourable to the culture of fruit and vgetables but no attempts have been made to start such industries, mainly owing to the debased system of land tenure. If the cottier showed any improvement in his garden or personal appearance, it brought on him an increase of rent. The relation between the owner of the soil and the people, tended to make the latter idle and deprive them of .the incentives to industry which belong to every well-regulated community. The Irish cabin to-day, so far as industrial occupation is concerned, is as great a blank as the wigwam of an Indian. Insecurity of tenure prevents both progress and accumulation. Now that the occupier is fast becoming the owner, the time to make a move is come. The long period of inaction has ruined the character of the Irish peasant and perhaps much cannot be expected from the present generation. Often, want of enterprise and downright laziness prevent him seizing the opportunities within his grasp. It is marvellous how baneful has been the influence of a landlord of the worst type in .destroying the confidence of all the people in the neighbourhood. Resident gentry, as a rule, did not ent courage industry as the same class in England. Neither have they been examples of morality; rather the contrary" many men of rank corrupted the neighbourhood rather than improved it. The fact remains, that the evils of Ireland are as much social as political. One noble lord, with an income of ,£5,ooo a year, instead AFFORESTING. 175 of encuraging local industry, made himself agent-general for: trhe co-operative stores and lost no opportunity of circulating the lists among all his acquaintances. Fruit growing might be conducted with profit in Ireland, the soil being neither too cold nor too hot. With the exception of Armagh, no orchards are attached to any of the farms in Ireland. In Loughgale, an attempt has been made to found an industry of the kind. The apple farms of Armagh have been cruelly treated by the railway companies, and, to a large extent, they have been robbed of the fruits of their industry. On one estate in Kent, the magnificent sum of io,ooo has been obtained on cherries alone. Ireland can grow gooseberries, currants, strawberries, apples and pears. The fruit growers of Armagh are badly circumstanced, for want of a market. The distance to Belfast is about thirty miles and the railway charge for this distance is 12s. 6d. a ton. The through rate from the same place to Glasgow, including steam, is 24s. 5d. a ton. The exorbitance of this charge may be inferred by comparing the rate from New York to Liverpool, 3,500 miles; for this distance the charge for the carriage of apples is only 3os. a ton; and from Lisbon to Liverpool, 1,147 miles, 21s. a ton The Irish growers about Armagh complain that they are injured by the importation of foreign apples. There are few things of the ordinary north-west of Europe which will not grow in Ireland, but no organized effort has been set on foot. In Killala, peaches are known, to ripen in the open air, but the people are entirely destitute of agricultural education. Nothing serious has been done in the way of drainage since 176 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. and unless a great national system of arterial drainage be taken up, private attempts to drain little farms are of no use. A single sample of the ignorance displayed in this respect will show the extreme backwardHay has often been allowed ness of the country. to rot in the fields or stacked in wet places, when the same article was at famine price in Dublin. The first requisite for the improvement of agriculture, is the better and more skilful cultivation of the land, especially in regard to the choice of manure and the rotation of crops, and the saving and proper use of refuse, as manure. So little has the value of training in agriculture been appreciated in Dublin, that the chair of agriculture at the Royal College of Science was abolished Dr. Davey was allowed to within the last few years. retire because he could form no class. What is wanting is a greater diffusion of property in land among the people, a judicious application of capital to improvements, and a more general sound agricultural education. Plots of ground might be attached to 5,ooo out of the 7,000 national schools in the country, which would enable the teachers to give practical instruction ; conferences might be weekly held among the farmers, with a trained instructor present, to give information in an easy conversational manner ; less school and more handicraft knowledge might be given. National schools should teach girls domestic and home industries, cooking, bread-making The Irish national schools and domestic economy. of the pupils towards literary, mainly direct the interest rather than technical instruction. No standard of taste is inculcated, and the highest ambition of a boy or girl 1715, 177 AFFORESTING. leaving the national school, is to become a clerk or a school teacher. The country is greatly in need of a diffused system of cottage industries, such as has been adopted on the Continent. This would prove a great blessing to the Irish people, as it would afford a healthful and remunerative occupation during the long winter evenings. Nothing can be more dreary than the life of the Irish peasant; without books or occupation, remote from towns, the wonder is that the discontent which this life engenders is not more widespread. If the country were planted, the possession of cheap wood might prove a strong incentive to the population to learn the use of their hands in the construction of many articles which at present are imported from abroad, giving foreigners work which could be well executed at home. The whole of the toy manufacture of the Black Forest and Tyrol has Switzerland has no more been created in recent times. wealth than Ireland-no coals or ore, but the mineral skill and enterprise of her people and the excellence of her government have produced both comfort and indeMany of the old Irish industries died out pendence. from competition with British manufacturers, whose products have been brought to the door of every small Besides this unavoidable shopkeeper in Ireland. casualty, the Irish labour market was heavily weighted in the race, owing to the fact that, fifty years ago, most of the skilled trades in Ireland were in the hands of Protestants exclusively. Catholics were not admitted into apprenticeship, because of the political power attached to trade. This arbitrary regulation helped effectually to kill those industries. The poverty and degradation of 12 178 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. the people were further augmented by a defective education; young people of the labouring class possess great manual dexterity and aptitude which only need The experiment in Donegal is weighty developing. evidence in favour of such a trial. Besides, the question has been tested and found to work well on the Continent, where the intelligence of the people is not above the average. This is how the system of instruction has been conducted in Austria and Germany, in mountain homes and in villages remote from railways and towns of any importance. A school for instruction is first started in a modest way, a single room in a vacant cottage being hired by a local committee, and managed by a council, chosen from the surrounding districts. Local authorities find the premises, and the State pays the teachers and provides models and examples. A regular prescribed course is laid down. All the tools are supplied by the school. The work executed belongs to the workers, on paying for the wood. The school meets three evenings a week. Two hours are given to drawing and modelling, followed by an average of eight hours' practical work. The course of instruction lasts four years. No boy can be received into the school before the age of fourteen, and until the completion of his course in the elementary schools. In all these the pupils are instructed in drawing and modelling, and the trades taught are carpentry, joinery, turnery, carving and wood inlaying. In order to secure proficiency, the Government institutes periodical visits by a staff of inspectors, who present reports to the ministers respecting the state of the schools, the quality AFFORESTING. 179 of the instruction, and the changes which appear advisable. Such schools are in active operation at Nuremburg, Salzburg and the Black Forest; also in the Tyrol and South Austrian provinces, where all instruction is Furthermore, to provide for the sale of gratuitous. school work, a dep6t or show-room has been opened in Vienna, in which examples are gathered of all the best work done in the schools. They are also provided with a technological trade museum, with collections of tools, plant, raw products, models for instruction, a library and a monthly journal. As to the teaching staff, the invariable custom is to select, in the first instance, an artisan of skill and ability to give the needful practical instruction. From among the best pupils, it becomes possible to procure competent young men to give similar instruction in other schools of the same character, and thus the nucleus of a few schools is made a nursery for a large The boys taught, naturally turn staff of instructors. their attention to the pursuits which hold out the highest inducement in the shape of pay. The council, in order to secure the services of the best pupils, offered them better pay as teachers than they could earn in the workshops. In this way, a large proportion of men trained in the schools were secured as instructors. The system of school workshops, inaugurated by the Austrian Government, is the most complete in Europe. There are many districts in Ireland resembling the Austrian provinces, where much might be learned from this inexpensive method of improving the condition of the people. There are also plenty of philanthropic people, both in 12-2 iSo GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. England and Ireland, who would help this work by subscriptions and personal service, if the Government would initiate the work. It might be left to each locality to select its own home industry. The existing institutions in Ireland might be made to supply a complete system of technical education. These are Trinity College, the Royal College of Science and the three Queen's Colleges. Trinity College is full of excellent material, but the scholarship and ability of her professors and fellows have become ossified from clinging to old routine and not moving with the times; all it wants is to be roused to a sense of its duty, when its intellect would shine forth to the world. What has been said of Trinity College applies very generally to everything in Ireland. There is no reason why the Royal College of Science might not become a complete polytechnic school, if only the Dublin people would take an interest in it; the cause of its decay rests entirely with themselves. A moral rust seems to have settled down on the country, as testified in its threadbare streets and the unkempt appearance of windows, doors, pavements and everything, including the people. The cottages in Clare, Galway, Mayo, are thatched mud-holes, unfit for human habitation. In the district of Thuringia, where the modest industry of straw plaiting is conducted, the homes of the workers are neat and comfortable, the cottages pretty and well kept. Most of the windows contain flowers and bird-cages; many of the houses have pretty gardens attached to them. The people are tastefully dressed, and have an air of being well fed and contented, while the groups of laughing girls one meets AFFORESTING. 181 coming from the class schools in the evening, with their bright eyes and happy faces, form a pleasant picture that lingers in the memory. This is what we desire to see in Ireland; only let the agrarian interests, which are the foundation of all others, be well established, and other industries will revive and prosper. FISHERIES. CHAPTER XI. FISHERIES. Geographical Characteristics of Ireland.-Saying of Lycurgus.Condition of Navy.--Importance of Fisheries.-Provision for by Special Act.--Philip II. of Spain.-Dutch Partiality for Irish Coasts.- Irish Palaces. - Cromwellian Tyranny.-Anecdote.Abortive Scheme.--The Fishery Board.-Infamous Jobbery.Scotch Fisheries. The Bounty System.-Lady Burdett-Coutts.A False Impression. The First Herring.-Starving in the midst of Plenty.--Scotch Unity and Irish Jealousy.-Anecdote.-Red Tapeism.-First Fishing Fleet.--Character of the Fisher Folk.--Fantastic Legends.-The Herring.-Its Enemies.-The Cod.Buffon.-Remarkable Fecundity.--A Curious Partnership.-The Lobster.-A Change of Habitation.--A Doubtful Delicacy.-The Devil Fish.-The Conger Eel.The Sacred Whale.-Norse Legends. FOR years the land of Ireland has been locked against the industry of the people, and for the most part con. fined to the possession of a few who wanted the capital, skill, and it may be inclination, to develop its resources. Why is it that the sea, which is open to all, should be powerless to alleviate the perpetual cry of distress which, like a wind from the cross, moans over that unhappy country? It is not want of material opportunity, for there is probably no part of the globe where the sea offers so much support to an adventurous population. Among the many industries of Ireland which could be i86 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. rendered available towards increased comfort of the people and the prosperity of the empire, the fisheries are entitled to the first attention. The geographical character of the island would alone be sufficient to Ireland is surrounded by an confirm this position. ocean teeming with fish of every description to gratify the most fastidious palate; her whole coast is indented with deep and spacious .bays, creeks and havens, in which smaller craft can find shelter in stormy weather. The expenditure of a few thousands would enhance the value of thosenational capacities. Millions have been spent on martello towers, signal posts and barracks, most of which are now mouldering away or standing idle; monuments of folly and the extravagance of war. Half the amount thus idly lavished would have made Ireland the most prosperous fishing country in the world, gifted as she is with an extraordinary range of coast compared with her acreable contents, and equally rich in the capabilities of that coast to further the nautical advantages of the empire. Lycurgus, when he was recasting his country in the mould of soldiership, cried out, "Let me have walls of men, not of brick." England has won her great victories on the water; her empire has grown with her seamanship, but the recent disclosures of our deficiency in ships and men by one of the first naval authorities of the day, cast a chill into the hearts of all thinking Englishmen. When it is stated that the whole navy is disorganized and mismanaged, England should heed the counsel of those armed with knowledge. The thanks of the nation are due to Lord Charles Beresford for his timely advice, and the future glory and perma- FISHERIES. 187 nence of the empire must be maintained on the open sea. The words of our legislators should be, "Let us have walls of seamen." Fishermen are certainly not seamen, in the proper sense of the word, but they form the materiel of seamanship. The west coast of Ireland might be made a great training establishment, both for sailors and fishermen, if only some of the ships of the Royal Navy, now rotting in the dockyards of England, were applied to this purpose; the cost of the experiment would be contemptible. Trained sailors and thoroughly equipped smaller craft, not unwieldy machines, will secure the empire of the sea. The fishing industry is the most primitive and the one most calculated to ennoble and strengthen a nation, owing to the habits of patience, courage and endurance which it inculcates. Holland, by means of her fisheries, was for ages the cereal store-house of Europe. In i66o, a fifth of the population of the seven United States of America were mainly dependent on the fisheries for support. Amsterdam was built on herring bones. The fisher-folk of Norway numbered per cent. of the population, and to this day 8o,oo000 of her people are employed in gathering the harvest of the sea. From the earliest period, abundance of fish has haunted the Irish coast, making it a subject of frequent legislation. In the fifth year of the reign of Edward IV., by a special Act, provision was made that no foreign vessel should fish on the banks near the Irish coast, unless on payment of an annual duty of 13s. 4d., no small sum in those days, while Philip II. of Spain paid an annual, sum of ii I88 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. £I,ooo, for licence to fish on the northern coast of Ireland, for 21 years. The Dutch purchased a similar privilege in the reign of Charles I., for which this thrifty and shrewd people thought £30,000 not too high a price. Indeed, they must have had a great partiality for Irish and English coast fishing, for, according to Sir Walter Raleigh, they employed 3,000 vessels and 50,000 men on the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, the result of which enabled them to export 30,000 tons of salt fish, worth f2,500,000. In I640, the Swedish Govern- ment, in return for certain services, were allowed to send a stated number of ships to fish in Irish waters. There is still to be seen in Cork the remains of what were called fish palaces, where the Dutch used to cure the Down to a recent period, fish taken off the coast. Government discouraged the Irish fisheries, and the Cromwellian Parliament was inundated with petitions that the Irish fishermen might be suppressed, in consequence of competition with the English. Many of the fishermen were banished to Connaught, and others transplanted to the West Indian Islands. A story is told of a poor Irishman being struck with horror on landing from a transport ship when he was saluted in the truest Dublin vernacular by a party of half-naked blacks, "Mother of God !" "Arrah, Paddy, how are ye?" he ejaculated, "have ye become black already?" He forgot that several shiploads of his countrymen had been imported before him, from whom the natives had acquired the words and very accent, which sounded in the poor fellow's ears like an L~olian harp across the bog of Allen. FISHERIES. 189 Ireland has a strong claim on Imperial assistance, for the purpose of forwarding the long repressed fisheries. was made by the Treasury, In i8oi, a grant of £6,00o in the furtherance of an abortive scheme for supplying London with fresh fish from the Nymph Bank, off the coast of Waterford, which was represented as capable of yielding an inexhaustible supply of round fish. Most of this money was recklessly squandered by corrupt officials, and nothing further was done till the year 1819, when the Irish Fishery Board was established, to encourage the industry which, at the time, was almost dead; a system of bounties being established to resuscitate the trade. Then it began to prosper and show symptoms of becoming one of the staple industries of the country; the Parliament swept away the bounties in as peremptory a manner as they had been introduced. The Scotch fisheries were treated differently. The bounty system was extended to them from 1809 to 1830, whereas the Irish fisheries got no advantage from the bounties till the year 1819, and were deprived of them at the same time as the Scotch. The growth of the Irish fisheries was thus arrested and left in a paralyzed state till 1830. About this time, a course of infamous jobbery began, and harbours were constructed, but not in the right places. On the west coast, from the north of the Shannon to Galway Bay, not a single pier or harbour was constructed. There is no chart with the fishing banks laid down, since the first survey in the beginning of the Towards Scotland the Government showed century. more liberality; they have since then supplied sailing and steam cruisers for the use of the fisheries. Ireland g19 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. has in vain made frequent application for similar assistance. During the period of the bounty system, when the Scotch fisheries improved, important societies sprung up, such as the British Fisheries Society; these built harbours on the east coast of Scotland and materially helped Scotch fishermen. Ireland came in for none of these benefits; the grant of bounties was a mistaken attempt, made to atone for past transgression and injudicious government. It has been shown how disastrous this method proved in the poplin trade; the fisheries were no exception. It would be a waste of time to expatiate on the unsoundness of the principle on which the bounty system rests. Still it has its fascination to many in our own day. There exists in every government a tendency to suffer portions of the public money to slip into the pockets of favoured individuals, under the specious plea of promoting the public good. If the press were silent for a week, the whole corrupt machinery would be brought into use again. It is not patronage Ireland wants, but fair play and no restrictions. An industry worth having must be one which takes root and grows by its own efforts. All that fishermen need is the encouragement of traffic, reduced rates of tariff, the construction of harbours and piers to facilitate their intercourse, and technical training in those trades which pertain to their craft, such as boat building, net and sail making, fish curing, and cooperage. If our Government will see its way to afford support to Ireland, similar to that given by the United States of America, Canada, or that of France and Austria, there will be no occasion for bounties or private benevolence. FISHERIES. 191 It is not the intention of the present writer to underrate the generosity of Lady Burdett-Coutts, who by a system of loans has developed a thriving fishing station in the little port of Baltimore, in the county of Cork. We protest, however, emphatically against the system of alms-giving, as degrading to the people and likely to do more permanent harm than good. A better method of raising the necessary funds for such undertakings will be shown in another place. Private benevolence can never take the place of Government action, and Ireland has a lawful claim for support on the Government of England. No undertaking to establish and develop the fisheries can be successful, unless worked on commercial principles, uniting all branches of the fishing with curing and its accompanying trades. From time to time companies have sprung up to develop this resource, and have proved disastrous failures. It is high time that there should be an end of those abortive schemes, which richly deserved to fail. The worst of all such attempts is, that they give a false impression of the country and its inhabitants. The Irish fisheries are said to have failed, in consequence of the tempestuous weather which beats on the western coast. This is an erroneous opinion; the fish have never deserted the Irish waters, and the gale that blows from the German Ocean on Yarmouth coast is more unbearable than the fury of the Atlantic on the Irish coast, yet Yarmouth has been a successful fishing station since the fifth century of Christianity; it was off Yarmouth that the first herring was ever captured. That thriving colony, with its boat-building and fish-curing stations, is likely to continue and prosper when quasi 192 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. philosophers and joint stock companies shall have disappeared. Fishermen should not depend on charity, and if there is any lesson to be learned from history, it is that all such attempts have proved gigantic failures. Ireland, so favoured by Nature, is intended to be the greatest fish producing and fish exporting country on the face of the globe; it ought to furnish an ample stock of fish for domestic consumption and also a superabundance, adequate to meet the demands of the United Kingdom. Now the fact is the reverse. Instead of contributing anything towards foreign consumption, the supply falls short of the wants of the home population, who are starving in the midst of plenty, and who, in the matter of fish supply, are indebted to the industry and sagacity of Scotch neighbours. It may be asked, how is it that Scotland is more successful? And the answer is that, at the Union, Scotland made better terms and procured besides a measure of education and larger concessions than were granted to the corrupt tricksters who sold their country and had the effrontery to thank God that they had a country to sell. Neither should it be omitted that the sterling, independent Scot has never stooped to whine and beg for what he could win.by his own strong arm and frugal habits. Scotchmen have all along stood shoulder to shoulder, helping and supporting each other through every phase of their national history. Irish leaders of the past and present regard each other with jealousy ; this absence of kinship among the Irish has retarded their growth and prosperity. Maclise, the great Irish painter, when solicited by a starving countryman, asked coldly, "Why have you FISHERIES. 193 appealed to me ? " " I am come from the same town of Cork which gave you birth," was the answer. "Where is Cork ?" was the supercilious reply. In Scotland and the north of England, accommodation in the shape of State-aided harbours and piers has been effected, but in Ireland there is no end of red tapeism and vexatious delay, which practically nullified the attenuated support given. The consequences are that the best fishermen leave the country. It was in 1712, that the Irish, in imitation of the Dutch example, first exported fish to the London market in vessels with wells. Thirty boats were fitted out for this purpose in Harwich, and entered the trade with good prospects of success, till the war with France in 1744 put a stop to it; the fishermen were, in consequence, obliged to land their boats or sell them. In 1780, the Dutch privateers captured several of the English fishing boats, discontinuing the trade till the peace of 1783. The war with France, ten years later, checked the trade and cut off the supply of fish to the London market. Before the salt duties, there were refineries for rock salt, not only at Wexford, but almost in every village along the Irish coast. In 1820, they became a monopoly in the hands of a few Dublin and Waterford merchants, who were as devoid of conscience as a body of railway directors. The salt duties have been repealed, and therefore the evil is no longer felt, but the ulcer does not heal immediately on the removal of the cause of irritation. Blood letting is useful, but it is possible to bleed the patient on the Sangredo system, until the animal functions are so exhausted as to paralyze the principle 13 I94 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. of vitality and the unhappy victim may die of exhaustion. This has been much the condition of Ireland. The fisher folk of that country, like those of others devoted to the piscatorial art, are dreamy and superstitious, active and lazy by turns, given to gossip and lying on their backs when the sun is warm. The old time honoured record alludes to the strange sights witnessed by those who go down to the sea in ships. This may' account for their peculiarities, for the sea is a mighty world of mystery, its denizens are strange in form, curious in their habits, dwelling in regions of beauty, where mountain ranges, deep valleys and gigantic plains covered with sea forest, give an unknown splendour to their speechless life. A brief sketch of the appearance and habits of a few of the well-known inhabitants of the deep, will explain and perhaps give colour to the fantastic legends woven about them, many of which are still retailed in yarns and fireside stories. The herring, for example, is found in great abundance in northern latitudes; in those inaccessible seas, covered with ice for the greater portion of the year. Here the herring and the pilchard find a safe retreat. Man, or their most destructive enemy, the fen fish, never dares to pursue them beyond the threshold of their ice kingdom. In those Polar regions they live at ease and multiply, fed on the insect food which abounds. Never would they quit their Polar kingdom, were it not that their numbers render emigration imperative. About the middle of winter they are compelled to seek other retreats. The fecundity of the herring outstrips all calculation. A single fish, if unmolested, would in 20 years FISHERIES. 195 show a progeny greater in bulk than ten such globes as that on which we live. For this reason, a mighty colony leave the Arctic sea in such numbers that, if all the world were to be loaded with herrings, they would be unable to carry a thousandth part away. But no sooner do they leave their home than their troubles begin. Millions of enemies appear in squadrons and pursue them to the death. The fen fish swallows barrels at a gulp, the porpoise, grampus, shark, and whole tribes of dog fish are ever on their track, and find them an easy prey. Besides, all the sea fowl of the Polar regions watch the emigration and spread extensive ruin. The defenceless emigrants, like sheep when frightened, run together in a body, each finding some protection by being one of the many equally liable to invasion. This mighty host of herring-the Anglo-Saxon "haring" meaning an armyseparate into shoals, one body of which moves to the west and pours down the coast of America as far as Carolina, and seldom further. They inundate the Chesapeake Bay, until the shores are lined with fish. Some, to escape their merciless pursuers, come down towards Europe and approach the first shore they can find. In March, they touch the coast of Iceland; their numbers seem inexhaustible in extent, depth and closeness. In April, they arrive off the Shetland Islands and are warmly greeted by the shark and porpoise. When the main body is approaching, its breadth and depth is such as to alter the very appearance of the ocean. It is divided into columns of five or six miles in length and three or four broad, while the water before it curls up as if forced out of its bed. Naturalists fail to discover the 13-2 196 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. ears of a herring, but at the report of a gun they will sink for a few minutes and then rise again to the surface, particularly in fine weather, reflecting a variety of splendid colours and looking like an immense plain bespangled with green, gold and azure. Only a small portion of this mighty shoal comes in from the deep sea. The colour of the herring is rich green along the back, lighter at the sides and beneath, where it is shottedwith purple, blue and gold hues. The herring is the most profitable of all fish. It is also a clean feeder; in its northern home it mostly subsists on small crustacea and insects. The cod is foremost of the wandering tribe of fish and is found, when at home, in the northern parts of the world. Its chief resort is on the banks of Newfoundland That and other landbanks that lie off Cape Breton. extensive flat seems to be no other than the broad top of a range of mountains extending from 5o0 to i,ooo miles ; down its steep sides are immense valleys where Hither the cod the sea is of unfathomable depth. annually repairs, in numbers beyond the power of ordinary calculation, to feed on the quantity of worms All along the Newfoundland on the sandy bottom. shore there are establishments for salting and drying. cod is captured with hook and line, and the immense number annually taken has hardly diminished them. When the season for propagation returns, they go off to the Polar seas. Buffon says that a single cod produces, at a birth, as many young ones as there are inhabitants in all Great Britain. The family of a flounder .The exceeds a million, and that of a mackerel 500,000. FISHERIES. 197 Belonging to the latter order is the pilot fish, not larger than the ordinary mackerel and beautifully marked. He has procured this name from associating with the shark. It is asserted that he swims before him and guides him to his prey. The partnership, however, between the two fishes is not always to the advantage of the shark, as the pilot has frequently been known to entice his bulky companion to swallow a baited hook which he otherwise would not have noticed. This, however, may be only a sample of the pilot's practical jokes. One of those intelligent fishes was known to have accompanied a sailing ship during a voyage of 8o days between Alexandria and Dartmouth, and on its arrival was so tame that it allowed itself to be caught, and, as a matter of regret, killed and eaten. There is no stranger denizen of the deep than the lobster; he keeps close to the coast, where he finds shelter among the rocks. He has so extraordinary and complicated an appearance that those who see him first are apt to mistake his head for his tail. The lobster is covered with a coat of scaled armour, and some assert that he is provided with more than one mouth. His spinal marrow is found in his breast bone, and he carries two long horns or feelers that seem to correct the dimness of his sight and apprize the animal of his danger or his prey. His tail is the grand instrument of motion by which he can raise himself in the water, and underneath which he carries his young. A certain class of lobster is hermaphrodite and is supposed to be selfimpregnated. The spawn is cast off, when furnished with limbs; they immediately look for shelter in the 198 GLIMPSES .OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. small clefts of the rocks or crevices at the bottom of the sea, where the entrance is small and the opening easily.defended. Without seeming to take food, they grow large in a few weeks from the accidental substances which drift to their retreat. When they acquire strength and a defensive armour, they issue from their fortresses and creep along;the bottom in search of plunder. The spawn of fish and worms that keep at the bottom of the sea supply them with food. They can scratch the sand in search of worms with their claws and brandish the same with anger at an enemy. They.are in no danger except from their own order. The lobster is devoid of friendship, and is seemingly at war with his species of every kind. The shell is unalterable and he soon becomes too large for his habitation. The young: change their covering oftener than the old. When full grown they remain in the same shell for two years together. The change is not only painful but dangerous. Just before casting the shell, they lie on their backs trembling, the feelers agitated and the whole body in violent commotion. The animal then swells itself until the shell is seen to divide at the joints ; slowly and painfully it draws It seems, itself by its little wrists out of its claws. before the process is complete, to turn itself inside out, parting with its stomach along with its shell. One by one it disengages itself of its claws, the joints opening: at last it casts off the entire sheath as a man would kick off an old boot that was too big for him. In this way the wonderful creature finds its liberty, and after the effort, sinks torpid and motionless for hours. During this process they take no food nor venture from their FISHERIES. 199 retreats. At this stage they are the prey of every animal of the deep which comes their way. The cod, the ray, and the dog-fish devour hundreds. This defenceless condition is of short duration. In two days their skin has grown hard; the animal appetite returns and the first object of his gluttony is his own stomach from which he has so lately disengaged himself. This he devours with great eagerness and sometimes makes a second course of his old shell. Endowed with strength and courage and a perfect suit of scaled armour, he dashes bravely among the animals at the bottom, and not a day passes that, in his combats, he does not suffer some mutilation, a joint or even a whole claw being sometimes snapped off in those fierce encounters. Lobsters never meet any of their own class without a severe tussle, which results in the loss of a leg or a claw, the absence of which, however, seems no calamity. He ingeniously puts himself in repairs, and, from the place where the joint or claw was cut off, a new one sprouts which, after some time, is as large and as powerful as the old one. This is why the claws of a lobster are of unequal magnitude. It would seem that the large claws of both lobster and crab are provided for combative purposes; the former well sustains the title of brigand of the deep. Akin to the lobster, in its combative or distinctive character, is the devil-fish. This creature seems to be fitted by Nature to go a step further than the If man, from the accomplished Stock Exlobster. change swindler to the petty tradesman in the street, preys on his fellow-man, we find the same game of 200 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. deceit and treachery in full swing at the depth of the sea. Among the different varieties of the fish tribe, one In America it is said and all devour each other. that one of every three men is endeavouring to insure the lives of the others. The devil-fish is endowed by Nature, not only with the power to take by force, but to use stratagem for the purpose of attack. Nature is not on the side of honesty. This fish is flat, wider than a round table. At first sight it appears to have no legs, but on closer examination is found to be provided with small feet which it can tuck up or let down as it pleases. When tucked up, the fish can lie flat at the bottom, but he can put out his feet and run along when he wishes. He is provided with a mouth as wide as his body, and just before his head, are two long rods which he can elevate or lay flat on his back. When erect, these shake like two fishing-rods planted in the current of a stream ; at the end of each are little nobs which look like bait. The devil-fish lies at the bottom, his large flat body extended so as to appear unnoticeable; a roaming fish in quest of food is attracted by the vibrating rods and comes up to investigate them; the devilfish opens his capacious mouth and swallows the curious one before he can have time to get out of the way. In this manner Nature has assisted the monster in securing his prey, without any effort on his part. A modern highwayman, with a mask and a case of pistols, could not be better equipped for his purpose than the devil-fish. All flat fish have a distinctive character, their grotesque facial arrangements suggesting superciliousness and a general kind of wry-mouthed ill-nature. Fishermen say FISHERIES. 201 that the fluke gets his mouth twisted round for sneering at the coronation of the herring, the king of the sea; all flat fish were flattened out for being disagreeable. The conger eel is another monster which hovers about the bottom. Much of the famous turtle soup is made from this sea reptile. Epicures say that the odour of a cooking conger is so divine that it would make a dead man sniff. The conger is found in great abundance off the Irish coast. Few of the creatures of the deep are The whale, who can without their specific history. swim round the world in a fortnight, is said to be an animal of good intentions; according to the Arabic legend, the whale who swallowed Jonah did so in a benevolent manner; he swam to shore with his mouth above the water, for the greater convenience of the prophet's breathing: the good taste of such behaviour is undeniable. Ever since, the whale has been considered blessed, and its visit to any place is esteemed a lucky omen. The salmon is also highly valued, not so much for his delicious flavour, as for the traditions which are linked According to the Norse legend, the with his name. devils, on one occasion, set fire to Heaven, the angels flung the flames into the sea and the salmon was the only fish who desired to obliterate the indications of this sacrilege by immediately swallowing the blazing fire. The gods, in return, endowed the salmon with a rich flavour and a beautiful tail, and transformed its flesh into a ruddy colour in return for this meritorious proceeding. In the heathen mythology, the salmon symbolizes fire. The haddock is another fish connected 2o2 GLIIPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. with superstitious observances. It is supposed that the haddock alone of all the finny tribe, proved himself so agreeable as to bring the gold piece to St. Peter when the apostle, like the largest half of humanity, was in money difficulties. The Norsemen, however, give a different version of the story, not so creditable to the character of the haddock. They say that a number of fishermen were building a bridge near the sea, the erection of which was displeasing to King Odin; one of the workmen having dropped his hammer, a haddock tried to make off with it, but Satan was too quick Sand gave him a pinch on the shoulder, the mark of which remains on all his descendants. The stickleback is the only fish who builds a nest. This is a judgment and punishment for an ancient misdeed. During the period of the Deluge, the stickleback, prompted by insatiable curiosity and love of mischief, pulled the tow out of the bilge-hole of the ark, and had it not been for the hedgehog, who at the imminent risk of his life plugged up the hole with his body, Noah, the first naval officer of his day, would have had a busy time of it in baling out his mammoth boat. The stickleback of the water and the magpie of the land are both unholy ; the latter was the only bird who declined to enter the ark, preferring to perch on the roof and chatter in an unseemly manner at the floating bodies which drifted by. FISHiERIE8. 203 CHAPTER XII. Decline of Irish Fisheries.--Value of Herrings.-Vast Hauls of Fish.-Waste of Turbot.-A Hamper full of Sprats in one Dip.Inedible Fish.--Their Uses.-Difficulties of Transportation.Prohibitive Charges.-Examples.-Fish Dep6t on the Galway Coast.-Live Cod.--Remarkable Instance of Railway Charges. -Ruin of Fishing Fleets.-Herring-Curing Trade in Scotland.Water Carriage of Fish.-Suicidal Policy.-Railway Monopoly. -- Necessary Improvements.--What is done in America.-An Ambitious Fish.-The Old Puritan and the King.-Testimony of Fisheries' Inspector.--Want of Boats.-A Fragment of the Past.-English Firm at Dungarvan. -Funds voted by Government.-Fishery Boards.--Sir Thomas Brady. THE agricultural population of the interior of Ireland is separated from that of the coast by nearly continuous and lofty chains of mountains, within whose valleys, or near whose base, the towns are few and scattered. Yet no individual, let him locate himself as centrally as he will, can be more than fifty miles distant from the coast, so that the produce of the ocean can be served up to his table as healthily as he could enjoy it on the coast, with all the advantages we possess in days of railways, steamships and telegraphs. All authorities unite in proclaiming that the Irish coast continues still the resort of vast shoals of fish. For the last thirty years, the history of the Irish Fisheries is a record of almost continuous decline in the number of boats and crew. In the Isle of Man, with its small population, one out of every 204 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. nineteen is a fisherman, while, in Ireland, there is only one in every two hundred of the population. The decline is not due to the scarcity of the fish. Herrings regularly visit the eastern and other sides of the island; mackerel are found in the south, and the waters of the west coast abound with cod, turbot, haddocks, soles, dorys, brill, skate, conger, oysters, lobsters, shrimps and nearly every sea fish which is edible. In 1855, the price of herrings in Galway was from 14S. to 17S. per thousand. These were as large as bream or mullet, 14 of which weighed one stone. They appear in December and generally remain about ten weeks; herrings will not come into shallow water till August; and much of this important fishing is lost, as the fishermen's nets are not suitable for deep water. The winter herrings are the most valuable on this coast. They sell in Dublin and England from 6s. to 7s. per hundred, for bouting, which means drying by smoke without being cut open. Cornish, Scotch, Manx and French boats habitually visit the Irish coast, while the native boats are not 29 per cent. of those at work in purely Irish waters.. The best stations are Howth, Ardglas and Kinsale. At Ardglas station, the Irish boats are less than 14 per cent., and in the mackerel fishing at Kinsale, only a small proportion of the total number of craft which come from the various ports and share the spoil are Irish. Kinsale, once famous for its line fishing, is now the great station for mackerel. This begins in March and ends in June, and, as in the case of the herring fishery on the east coast, the strange boats from Scotland, Cornwall, .France and the Isle of Man take the largest proportion FISHERIES. 205 of the fish. Dublin is the headquarters of the deep sea trawling; about 50 smacks, from 30 to 40 tons burthen, work this station all the year round. The most important and profitable fishing is that of herrings. The season opens in June and continues till October. A little curing is done at Howth, but most of the herrings caught on the east coast are shipped by steamer to English and Scotch ports, as a better market can be obtained on the English side of the channel than at Dublin and the inland towns. At Arklow, oyster fishing gives some employment to a number of men and boats. Between Waterford and Kinsale, various kinds of fishing are practised. There is also- excellent line fishing in Dingle Bay. Kinsale is the most important of the southern stations. In 1875, there were no less than seven steamers employed in transporting fish to England. Mackerel are packed in boxes holding I20 fish, with layers of ice between; 121,533 boxes were sold at Kinsale, the pro- duce of one year's fishing. The prices of the boxes ranged from £3 ios. to 2s. at the end of the season; the total realized by the various fishermen who landed this fish at Kinsale being £73,523. Great swarms of herrings haunt Bantry and Berehaven. If the Irish fisheries were properly organized and efficiently worked, they would rival Scotland in their annual take. In 1886, the value of the Scotch fisheries was estimated at ;1,510,634, giving employment to over ioo,ooo people; owing to the decline of the Irish fisheries, her annual loss cannot be less than two millions sterling. Cod and ling may be caught during ten months of the year in Ireland, 206 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. in the early season near the shore and later on in the deep sea. Ling is very plentiful; a row boat with eight men was known to take 50 dozen in nine days and several other fish besides. Large vessels, in one shot of their long lines, often take as much as two tons of fish. In the season of I885, a single canoe took as many as three tons of fish. Turbot, the epicure fish, which fetches a high price at Billingsgate, is so abundant that the fishermen often cut them up to bait their long lines; an extravagant waste, enough to make an alderman's eyes weep and his teeth water. The practice is mainly owing to the impossibility of getting a price for the fish on the spot. As it is, turbot is so plentiful that forty large ones will hardly fetch 23s. A good deal of haddock can be captured on the west coast, off the island of Boffin, where they grow to a great size;the Dublin Bay haddock is also much prized. With well boats, these might be kept alive and transported to London in prime condition, where they would fetch a good price. In the same locality black soles are plentiful, while hake and plaice are so numerous as scarcely to meet with a sale. Between August and Christmas, sprats congregate in some of the southern and western: harbours in such numbers that people take them up in hampers, which they fill at one dip. Along the indented coast of the west and also in the south, lobsters are found in great perfection; io,ooo a week could be shipped for from 4s. to 6s. a dozen. In the Midland and Great Western Railway transported over tons of lobsters; crabs are literally thrown away, and prawns and shrimps are rarely noticed. 1854, ioo FISHERIES.2 207 If a large fish dep6t was established in Galway, in connection with the railway line to Dublin, the cargo could be rapidly transferred to the London market, in 24 hours from the time when the fish were actually swimming in the water. In such places as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham the supply would arrive sooner. There is every reason to believe that the supply of fish to the provincial towns is less than the demand. In 1839, five tons of fish a week was sold in Birmingham. In 1852, it was increased to 25 tons; the amount of fish consumed since has increased with the growth of the popu lation, but the supply is infinitely below the demand. To London, however, the great bulk of fish would be sent, being the most certain of a return. Galway possesses special advantages for becoming the headquarters of the fishing trade on the west coast. It has a fine bay, 30 miles long and seven broad; here, every kind of fishing might be carried on throughout the year, in its respective season. There are capacious docks with any amount of storage and buildings for curing houses; a cheap market for provisions and a railway within six hours of Dublin, 18 of Birmingham and 20 of London. Mention has only been made of the edible fish on the Irish coast, but, besides that, there is a source of immense profit from inedible fish, which must not be omitted. A vast quantity of oil and gelatine for fish glue can be acquired from certain descriptions of fish, now useless. The sun-fish, or basking shark, is found every year in great numbers on the distant banks along the west coast; they may be seen in packs of 35 or 40, often close to the shore in fine weather. A sun-fish is 25 feet long and i8 in circumference; the 208. GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. liver .weighs 30 cwt. and contains I20 gallons of fine oil, second in quality to sperm. The carcass contains 4 or 5 tons of gelatinous matter, no doubt of some use, but now thrown away. This creature does not require much skill to capture, being of a sluggish nature and presenting its most vulnerable part to the harpoon. Sprats also afford much oil and are to be had in great abundance. The supply of coarse fish is immense and their size so large as to make an important item in the formation of guano. According to the calculation of an eminent French chemist, fish guano can be procured at a standard price of less than 30 per cent. of the amount paid for that which comes from the islands of the South Pacific, so eminently serviceable for agriculture. Ireland's greatest difficulty is in bringing the fish which might be caught, to the English market. The charges made by the respective railway companies are so exorbitant that they have proved entirely fatal to the public interest. The following examples speak for themselves. The carriage of mackerel, from the west of Ireland to London, is /5 a ton, and sometimes the fish is sold for less than the railway carriage. The cost of a hundredweight of mackerel was los. and has been sold as low as 8s. The ordinary rate from the North Wall to London is 7s. per cwt. and the amount of delay incurred in the transit has given rise to serious complaints. And yet, the Great Western Railway Company has admitted receiving as much as £20,000ooo in three months for the traffic, during the run of the mackerel fishing. In consequence of the delay referred to, a large portion of the FISHERIES. 20 9 supply now goes to Liverpool and other towns in the North of England, and not to London. A haul of mackerel in one day is no unusual occurrence in the south of Ireland; for this supply there is no market outside the vicinity. If the approaches to the English markets were widened and the railway rates reduced, so as to allow of a reasonable margin for profit, three times the quantity of fish could be sent to the London market. On one occasion, a few boxes of lobsters were sent from the west coast by private speculation; the charge, how. ever, for road, rail and water carriage left only a return of 2d. to the fishermen. The best lobsters may be had from ios. to 12s. a dozen, and crabs for 3s. a dozen. An enterprising English firm, possessing shell fish dep6ts in Norway and Normandy, has lately established another at Finvarra, on the Galway coast. A little cove is walled in with concrete, having holes to admit spring and high tides, thus a dock for storing and feeding crabs and lobsters is formed, into which no fresh water trickles. A sharp cutter sails round the coast and collects the fish at the various places and carries them to the feeding station. This dock can be emptied at low tide and the fish packed off to market. The object of this store is to prevent glutting the English market. This is only a recent venture; it is to be hoped that it will lead to further imitation, as the supply of crustacea is abundant. The herrings caught off the Irish coast are of an oily character, the very class which, if exported, would find a ready market in Germany and Russia. At present, Irish herrings are sent to Liverpool to be cured and then sent back to Ireland. The people of Dublin will not believe 14 30,000 21o GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. It not unfrequently happens in Irish-cured herrings. that fresh herrings are sold in Cork for a shilling a hundred, while smoked herrings, imported, are sold at the rate of sixpence per pound. The finest live cod can also be obtained during the season, for the sum of 6s. to 9s. a dozen. What prevents this nutritious food from being placed before the London public, is the heavy charge for carriage. If a reduction could be accomplished, the poor would be able to obtain as much sustenance for 2d. as they can now get for 2s. The Great Western Railway Company charges 65s. a ton for fish and 8s. 4d. a ton for coals, 30s. for potatoes and 75s . for sprats and herrings; the transport of herrings and mackerel from Cork being 85s. a ton. Here is a A strange fact and one worthy of public attention. miles north of California, barrel of salmon, from i,ooo was delivered in London at /i a barrel. When such is the case, it is monstrous that a barrel of herrings from Glasgow to London should cost 7s. 8d. The carriage for fish is 30 per cent. more than for vegetables and A Yarmouth fish merchant equally perishable food. stated that, during a period of 30 years, he had seen several fishing fleets in the North Sea break up, owing to the excessive rates charged by the railway companies. In 1882, the number of men engaged in fishing were as follows: 43,000 in England, 52,000 in Scotland and 27,000 in Ireland. A large proportion of the boats in which fishermen pursue their calling are miserably deficient in size. In England and Scotland, three-fifths, and in Ireland nine-tenths of the boats are from one to four tons burthen. If the herring fisheries of Aberdeen- FISHERIES. 211 shire have yielded more than the total agricultural land of the country, in i88o producing 900,000o worth of herrings, the Irish coast fishing ought to be equally productive. In Scotland there are about 500 firms engaged in the herring curing trade on the east coast, including Orkney, Shetland, and Barra and Lewis. The capital invested is from £720,000 to £i,ooo,ooo. In Ireland the curing trade is almost nil. The carriage of fish from the North Sea to Billingsgate, by steamer, is about i a ton, while fish conveyed by land and steamer from Ireland costs about £4 to £5 a ton. For the same sum, goods could be forwarded to Australia and sent back again, and then leave a surplus. The consequences are serious to the suffering poor of London and the provinces. From Stornoway, every year, ship-load after ship-load of fish goes to the Continent, nearly all of which would come to London if the rates of carriage were lower. The Scotch find that the s. cost of bringing herrings to London is 5 to ios. a barrel if sent by rail, while they can ship to Hamburg or any of the German ports for is. 6d. a barrel. They therefore send to the Continent every year ten tons of fish to every six which they send to the inland markets. About 90,000 tons of fish reach Billingsgate every year by land, while about 42,000 comes by water. Those transported by water are in a better condition than those by land, and the carriage rate is considerably less. Here is an excellent opportunity for promoting a healthy competition between the water and land carriage of fish. That from the north of Scotland is heavier still; the charge is from £ 9 to £zo a ton ; for nearer distances 14-2 212 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. £2 Ios. a ton. The first charge equals a penny in every pound of fish whichreaches the market, and the second rate equals a farthing in the pound. The policy of the railways is suicidal, when it is considered how valuable fish has become as the food of-the nation. The quantity consumed by the United States of America, in one year, is valued at twelve millions; in England at eight millions; Scotland three millions and Ireland half a million. Surely such valuable food should be carried at the lowest rate. Fish food is most sustaining; the midday meal of a German soldier on duty often consists of only three salt herrings. There are two railway companies which hold a monopoly of traffic from the Irish fisheries and charge what they like. Government interference in the conduct of private enterprises is not desirable as a rule, but there are exceptional cases when non-interference is to be deplored. It is positively criminal of the authorities to allow a railway monopoly to increase the price of the people's food, especially when every winter thousands are out of employment, and the pressure of the nation on its food supply is every year becoming more burdensome. If the Government will take steps to remove the barrier to the development of the Irish fisheries, it will undoubtedly increase the food supply of the United Kingdom, and help to check the turbulent feelings of revolt which are smouldering in the breasts of millions now living on the brink of starvation. Money could not be, better spent than in developing an industry which has been proved to be of the greatest value. What are FISHERIES. 213 wanted are steam fishing boats, improved carriers, moderate railway rates, sufficient harbour and pier accommodation and, above all, State-aided technical education in those branches of the craft and trade connected with net-making, boat-building and the curing and preserving of fish. In asking the attention of the Government to the development of Irish fisheries, nothing unusual is demanded. The Congress of America does not allow the cultivation of fish to be left in the hands of private enterprise. In support of this industry they have voted a sum of 1,000,000 dollars. They also import carp from Germany and stock the waters of their lakes and rivers, as well as a large number of fish-ponds. In America, there have been 500,000,000 white fish collected and hatched at one station, for a sum of £300. These are kept in ponds and artificially propagated to supply a sufficient quantity to stock the smaller waters of the interior. At the close of 1882, carp had been introduced in over i8,ooo different localities, scattered over all parts of the United States. It is interesting to learn that the carp, feeling probably that, being in a large country he is expected to advance, has accordingly risen to the occasion, and increased his size in the waters of Florida in i8 months, more than in the sluggish German element in four years. Fish culture was an early industry of America, and a reply of an old Puritan to King James showed the spirit in which it was undertaken : "So God have my soul, 'tis an honest trade, 'twas the Apostles' own calling." In France they also stock their waters; they possess about 4,600 miles of lakes and ponds; in Austria, 214 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. also, artificial fish culture is not neglected, and lately the Australian rivers have been stocked. The inland waters of the 32 counties of Ireland cover an area of 574,887 acres, and their present products are confined to comparatively a few tons of salmon and eels. There is thus in Ireland a portion of water which might yield a harvest in value over f8oo,ooo annually. The amount of State aid administered is not commensurate with the importance of the subject, but when help has been given, the results have justified the experiment. In 1883, 900 was allowed the county Cork; not an excessive sum, when that county alone shipped to England in fourteen weeks no less than a quarter of a million pounds of fish for food. That Irish fisher-folk are handicapped by excessive charges in the transportation of fish may be gathered from the testimony of the Inspectors of Fisheries. In June, i881, two consignments, consisting respectively of 19 and 30 boxes of mackerel (each box contained 12o fish) were sent from the county of Cork to Dublin, at a charge of £5 2s. Id. and £7 i4s. respectively, and the balances remitted to the senders were in the other, making a uis. iid. in one case and is. total of iid. for 5,88o fish, or about three of these fine fish for a farthing. This is how the Irish fisheries decline. Since 1846, the number of boats and men has steadily diminished. In 1856, the former numbered 11,069, the crew 48,774. In 1866, boats 9,444, crew 40,663. In 1876 the reduction was more marked, the number of the crew did not exceed 23,693. In 1882; the estimated value of the Irish salmon take was considerably above half a million sterling, a great 6d. 17s. FISHERIES. 215 advance on Scotland. The herring fishery of the latter country, however, exceeds two millions a year. It would be as correct to state that the prairies of Texas are cultivated, because a few Indians hunt across those immense plains, as that there are fishermen on the Irish coast, because a few miserably equipped boats creep along the shores. What makes this more sad is, that the Irish herring is much better in quality and fetches a higher price than the Scotch herring. Of all class of fish the herring is the most remunerative. None of the fishermen on the Donegal coast attempt to fish for herring in the deep sea, for want of proper boats. The great fishing banks from the north to the south lie about 14 to 20 miles beyond the coast, and have rarely been touched by the Irish boats. The Claddagh fishermen are the most active and energetic on the west coast. The language and manners of this singular colony have undergone no change since the days of St. Endius, now 1,400 years ago. They remain an isolated fragment of the past, carried to the present on the current of time. The craft they now employ on the waters is actually inferior in construction to the "currach "used 2,000 years ago. Timber and hides are superseded by osiers and canvas, while the mast has altogether disappeared. Ireland has shown great want of enterprise in the development of her fisheries, while golden opportunities have been presented. Latterly there has arisen a great demand for cured mackerel in the American markets; the supply at present is monopolized by two English firms. A sum of I116,8o4 was paid for fresh 216 GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. mackerel caught along the south coast. Scotland has cultivated the herring fisheries to such an extent as The Scotch herring largely to add to her prosperity. fishery is superior to that of England and Norway, but the Irish is superior to both; its advantages have, however, not been utilized. The herring sets earlier in Ireland, and the fish is in better condition. If Irishmen only cured their own fish on the Scotch system, they could easily ship them to Hamburg and the German ports, where they would fetch the best prices. In this they could compete with the Scotch through the season, For the last as the Irish herring is larger and well fed. ten years the Scotch herring has been small and poor, and the reckless system of curing has brought it into ill esteem in the German markets. This fish can also be disposed of in the Mediterranean ports at even greater profit. Instead of exporting, Ireland at present sends nearly a quarter of a million sterling abroad every year for cured fish. This takes place while enormous quantities of herrings are thrown overboard for want of a market. To show how profitable curing might become, an English firm set up a station at Dungarvan and the profits of a week's work more than covered five weeks' expenses. The resources of the Irish seas are not confined to herrings, a profitable trade may be done in pilchards, which visit the coast in great abundance. Youghal is doing a good trade in sardines, and the little port of Baltimore cured in the Cornish fashion 54 hogsheads of pilchards, which were sold in Geneva at the rate of 4 14s. per hogshead. There is no trusting the Government for support; the FISHERIES. 217 Royal Commission on Public Works recommended that it should grant £400,000 to build fishing piers round the coast. At present, we have over 8o piers, built from public funds from time to time; many of them are practically useless and only demonstrate the worthlessness of Government contracts ; nearly £8o,ooo has been literally wasted on the Donegal coast alone. There are two funds in the hands of the Board of Works from which assistance can be obtained. There are the Productive Loan Fund and the Sea and Coast Fisheries Fund, money left over from the Famine Relief Funds of 1822. From these sources sums were administered for 30 or 40 years, some for the whole of Ireland and others for certain parts to which they were previously allotted. Scandalous jobbery was the rule. Since 1883, a step in advance has been taken by the Government; a bill was passed, voting £250,000 from the funds of the Dis- established Church, and giving the Inspectors of Fisheries power to administer the funds in existence. The laws supposed to regulate the fisheries are in a very unsatisfactory condition. There are three Fishery Boards at work for the United Kingdom, each framing laws to suit its particular wants, and totally ignorant as to what effect its special regulations may have on the whole kingdom. In Ireland, the supervision, since i868, has been transferred to the Lord Lieutenant and carried out by means of three inspectors, to each of whom the supervision of a district is entrusted. There is no organized statistical department; returns are made by collectors of customs and coastguard officers which invariably contradict each other. This is highly unsatis- GLIMPSES OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. 218 factory, but it is all the inspectors have on which to base the statistics given in their annual reports. A single Fishery Board should be established for the whole king dom, separate from the Board of Trade. a huge octopus, tenticles, has seized too The latter, like many works in its invariably giving scant satisfaction to any. The Fishery Board should be allowed to make its own laws, grant advances of money, have supervision of harbours and piers, and report doings to Parliament, without the interference of the Board of Trade, which has not on its staff a single practical fisherman or any one who knows the common rudiments of the craft. The present Fishery Board has the advantage of possess ing the services of one inspector, Sir Thomas Brady, who knows every rope in the concern; an active, energetic public servant, an Irishman who understands the people and is warmly inerested in their welfare. Officers of this stamp, if opportunity is granted them, can raise and improve the fisheries, and not allow this magnificent resource to be monopolized by other countries. It is to be hoped that the grants and loans now at their disposal may be wisely administered and that the press of the country will give due publicity to their actions. The suggestion of T. A. McKey, a thoughtful writer in the Southern Industry, is worth attention on the question of reviving this industry. He advises that local committees of business men should deal with this subject, by forming companies and employing the vast amount of money lying idle in the Irish banks; that Irish people should pilot the movement and not depend on English enterprise. If strong committees were formed, securing the FISHERIES. 21 9 confidence of the people, abundance of means would be forthcoming; capital can be procured by combination of practical men. From small efforts, the industry would advance and expand. It must, however, be clearly understood before any such action can be undertaken, the question of land and sea carriage must be definitely settled; without this every attempt must prove a failure. If this industry fails, it is due to the want of enterprise of Irishmen, and particularly those who possess capital. The fishing industry is more easily developed than any other, as no large plant is necessary, there are no customers to solicit, no connection to make. The wealth is all at our own doors; the foreigner has hitherto come and gathered the harvest, while Ireland looks on unmoved. It is high time that the country should wake up to its opportunities and drop for ever the beggar's whine. THE END. PRINTED BY KELLY AND CO., MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES; AND GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. [JULY URD 15, 1889.0 &r DOW ' CATALOGU E;1 *** MESSRS. WARD & DOWNEY'S Illustrated Catalogue contains Portraits of the A uthor of "Alehalah," the Author of "'Molly Bawn," G. W. Afpleton, Frank Barrett, Robert Buchanan, Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Mabel Collins, Mrs. B. l. Croker,,7. D. Delille, Richard Dowling, Charles Te Val, B. L. 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