IRISH PROSPERITY.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—For more than a century and three-quarters Ireland was looked upon by the people of England and Scotland as the great grazing-farm, from whence they imported their supplies of live- stock. The trade existed long before that period, but successive Kings of Britain bad, time after time, prohibited the export of Irish cattle, nor was it until after the accession of William III. that the English porta had been opened for the free introduction of live-stock and provisions from the Celtish side of St. George's Channel. Long before steam-vessels had been employed in the coasting traffic between the seaports of lower Ulster and Liver- pool and Glasgow, vast herds of cattle from the rich lands of Meath and the fertile plains of Roscommon were started from those grazing-lands for Belfast and Donaghadee. The road journey occupied more than a week, causing the loss to the graziers in consequence of some heavy bullocks and heifers, knocked up by fatigue with the long travel on the hard highway, and having to be disposed of to the nearest flesher at little more than half- value. Then the cross-Channel voyage by sailing-packets had its pains, perils, and penalties. About the same time, and down to 1841, Irish butter, bacon, and hams had all but a monopoly of the provision-trade in the leading cities and towns of Great Britain.
Sir Robert Peel got into power as Prime Minister when the cry of agricultural distress rang from Devon to Dumfries and from Cork to Carrickfergus. Session after session petitions were sent to Parliament praying for relief from the prevailing depression, and accredited Members of the highest order of Toryism bored the House with dreary tales of the distress in farming circles, the prices of grain were most unremunerative, and the rate of farm stock was low in the extreme. The Minister was one of the moat thoughtful of statesmen ; he had seen that under the patronage of Protection the very class whom it was intended to uphold had not prospered, and after careful consideration, Sir Robert determined to try the effect of a different line of policy. One of his first proposals was that of opening the ports for the free introduction of foreign cattle, and loudly did the self-dubbed friends of the Irish farmers denounce " the revolutionary scheme." Public meetings were held, at which speakers foretold the pro- stration of the English and Scotch graziers, and the workhouse as the final resting-place of the Irish agriculturist. The Tories were never famed as prophets, whether in their own country or any- where else. More than thirty years' experience of Free-trade in cattle has proved the absurdities of Protectionist soothsaying in 1842.
Now, in order to show the progress of stock-raising in Ireland during the last thirty-five years, I give the numbers of each variety as held in 1845, the first year in which the Census was taken, and the figures given in the last return :—
1841. 1876.
Home and mules ... 548,626 586,630 Asses ... 92,365 182,614 Cattle ... ... 1,868,116 4,113,693 Sheep 2,125,116 4,007,518 Swine ... 1,404,429 1,424,143 Poultry ..„ 8,600,000 18,582,782
The total value of stock held in Ireland at the former period was £21,105,218, but since then not only have there been great im- provements introduced into the breeds of all farm-yard denizens, from the ox to the barn-door fowl, but the relative value of each has risen enormously. In 1841 horses and mules were valued at 28 ; asses, Ll ; cattle, £6 10s. ; sheep, £1 2s. ; pigs, £1 5s. ; and poultry, 6d. each.
Taking a very low average of the present value of Ireland's farm stock, say, horses and mules at 212 ; asses, £1 10s. ; cattle, 210 ; sheep, £2; swine, £2 10s.; and poultry, ls. 6d. each, the total sum would amount to £58,561,680. Here we find that during
the period that intervened between 1841 and 1876 the value of Ireland's farm stock has been nearly trebled, and this, too, while Ireland's agriculturists were competing with nearly all other parts of the world. Facility of transit by sea and land are every year increasing the power of that competition. The Guion steamer Idaho,' in one of her recent runs from New York, brought over to Liverpool 100 tons of prime beef, consisting of large joints, which, on the refrigator principle of preservation, had been kept perfectly fresh and as sweet as if only a day old. But a still more remarkable evidence of the rapid progress of transport was shown a few days ago, in the case of the steamer ' Anchoria,' of the Anchor line. That vessel brought over a large number of fat cattle, which had been finished on the fields of the United States, and landed them in Glasgow in a condition much fresher than if they had been driven thence from Caithness: or Orkney. The marvels of modern transport are among those wonderful developments of mechanical science of which our ancestors could only have dreamed as something supernatural. Even to the people of the present day, the idea that fat cattle can be conveyed long journeys by rail from the pastures of the United States to New York, and thence by steamship a three-thousand miles run across the ocean, and landed in Glasgow with less loss- of condition than if they had been driven forty miles inland, seems perfectly astounding. It is quite evident, then, that one chief cause of the rise in the price of meat must be the great increase of consumption of animal food, and this especially in the ranks of the working-people. During the seven months ending July 31 about £4,000,000 of hard cash was paid for Continental stock landed in Great Britain, and for butter, bacon, and cheese about £12,000,000, and yet the Celtish farmer of this day obtains for such produce prices ranging from 10 to 300 per cent. above the rates ruling thirty-five years ago.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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