The New York herald., 1879-12-18
IRELAND'S INDUSTRIES.
Cause OF the Depression in
Manufactures. 4
ENGLISH LEGISLATION.
Irish Skilled Labor Banished
to France.
From the London Pail Mall Gazette,


justify the often repeated assertion that that
The report Of the condition OF the Irish textile fab
RIGS at any rate is most discouraging. Where any
signs OF advance apparent in 1871, as was the
case in the flax and cotton manufactures that ad.
vance has been lost. Those industries which were
marked "nl in Ireland In previous returns for the
United Kingdom marked ":lil" in 1878; some
which were in . languishing condition seven years
ago havo fairly expired now. and q slight improve
ment in the woollen manufacture Of Munster seems
to be the only seof against the stagnaion or decline
apparent in the condition of the chief textile manu-
features Of the four provinces. In 1875 there were
under tho Factories Nnd workshops acts 6,ls9 fac
tories. employing 777.703 persons, in England ana
Wales; in Scotland. CTS factories. giving employ
ment to 1928 persons; and in Ireland. 241
factories. employing 6leso persons. OF these 24l
Irish factories DO fewer than l44 were engaged
in the manufacture Of linen. In this industry Ire
land is still enormously ahead Of England Wales
il not Of Scotland In the with the sister king
doms in other manufactures she may appear to her
own sons hopelessly weighted in this she has had
excellent start, which should have encouraged
her to distance still further her English and Scotch
competitors. 1t has not done 80. however. and the
apathy that has been displayed Of late years. both in
the growth and the manufacture Of fax, is the most
deporabe feature Of the present unprosperous state
of the Irish textile industries. The returns Of 1868
showed . considerable improvements over the re.
turns Of previous years. For example, in 1862 there
were 100 fax factories in Ireland employing 33 sos
persons These had increased in 1868 l43 factories
to l61 but the returns for 1873 giving IA :ac
tories with &C. $40 persons employed in the linen in
dustry, show that 1t has virtually gone back to the
position it occupied ten years ago.
FLAX CULTURE IN IRELAND.
That this falling of has really had very little to
do with the recent general depression trade may
be from glance the Irish agricultural returns
Never at any time has the supply Of fax grown in
the country been equal to the demands of the manu-.
facture. In 1869 the produce of the 229.178 acres
under FAX hardly supplied one-half of the raw ma
terial that the 100000 spindes consumed. Since
that year there has been almost regular decline
in the cultivation of the plant. In the current year
but 12S O04 have been with 1t, and though
this is slight increase on the growth OF 1873 it
ported. How easily this deficiency might be made
up were capital and energy to be thrown into fax
farming may be ut once seen from q comparison Of
229 252 planted in 1862 acres were in
Uster and of the 004 Of fax in the current
Ulster fact n ais wSs
Leinster, Munster and Connaught where the
soil and climate are equally favorable hardly
know tho plant. And that this is so every year
the returns clearly demonstrate; for. whereas in
1869 the three provinces grew 1874 of fax in
1879 they but acres 1t is true that fax in
Ireland somewhat precarious crop but, like hops
in England, one good return compromises for two
cess or failure have depended less on the season aud
the weather than on the skill Of the producer. In
this direction-she Improvement Of its cuitiYaton-
much has been done OF late years by government
sistance and more still by the admirable instruc-
tions of the Flax Extension Association. Prizes
scutched fax have been given by tho association,
and practical instructors in the growth and saving
Of fax have been supported by government grants.
The result is that whereas in 1859 the yield Of ax
per st tute acre ali over Ireland was 20 st. lbs.
in 1878 it had increased to 81 At. lbs.
per statute acre. That with this experience and
this PROMISE the acreage under fax this year should
be hardly than half what 1t was ton years ago
ls indeed disheartening
COTTON MANUFACTURES.
The cotton manufacture Is the most modern of
the important industries OF Ireland. Il did not
make its footing IN the country until 1777; but.
English Legislature. its early q tolerably
prosperous ono. In l77S Lord North's government
admitted Irish cotton goods duty free into Great
Britain. and the industry being protected by both
bounties and import duties for some time was able
to monopolize the home trade. The system Of pro-
lection was withdrawn in 1916 and the Irish cotton
decayed. During the last twenty years its
existence has been checkered one. some years max
ing little starts and bounds and then as rapidly
losing the ground that had been gained. As COM
pared with the manufacture in Great Britain its po
sition in 1878 follows:-In England and Wales
there 2579 cotton factories, driving 800
spindles. working 4S9960 power looms and employ
5l,bOS ScOt0nQ
ries. driving 1853 spndes. working 2.265 power
looms and employing 20 76 persons, and in Ireland
factories. driving 7S.52S spindles. working 2.6S6
power looms and giving employment to 620 persons.
Referring to previous returns, IL will be seen that
the present state Of the cotton industry Ireland
about the worst ever known. In 1862 It possessed
nine factories. employing 2.724 persons; in 1868
thirteen factories employing 4203 persons; In 1871
the number of factories had risen to fourteen since
manufacture has arrived Ut its present low cbb.
The hemp. jute horsehair and hosiery manufac-
h~~
to require notice. There are five hemp factories,
all in Ulster which give employment to 345 persons;
the oar Which employ ySa .wo
hair factories. both in Leinster. employing thirty
eight persons and one hosiery factory in Leinster.
ent moment, IL appears, shoddy, felt. elastic
lace making factories in the country.
THE MANUFACTURE OF wooLLEN GOODS.
In the wooilen industry the outlook is q little
more hopeful. and the progress made here has, on
the whole been pretty we'll sustained since il arst
began some twenty years ago. In 1862 there
forty wooen factories. in 1868 there fortyfve.
in 1871 sxty-one factories. driving spindes Of
all kinds working 2l power looms aud giving en-
ployment 10 1,i90 persons. male and female. while
the returns for 1873 show total of seventy-four
factories driving 4514 spindles working All power
looms and employing 1875 persons. This improve
ment, 1t should be remarkcd Is almost entirely to
DC iouna IN s. nm ,m won % province ,1ere s1 are
nearly three hundred persons more employed in the
woollen manufacture than in that year. To
Englishman, or even Scotchman, the actual con-
dition of the Irish woollen trade may ap-
pear ridiculous and Its late progress con-
teuptibIe. But 1t should be borne in mind
that this industry has arrived at mature
age In Great Britain after n costly education
and dclcately nurtursd child hood while in Ireland
its growth has bcen stuned by nearly three hundred
and fy years OF Legislative restrictions and prohibit
tory tariffs In the thirtythlrd year OF the reign Of
Elng Henry WILL, when ireland was beginning to
have thriving trade IN the MATERIAL an act of
Parliament was passed prohibiting it's importation
into England; and In the beginning OF tho seven
tcenth century. when the Irish cloth
commenced undcrselling the English manufacturers
In tho foreign markets, Wentworth. then Lord Dep
uty stopped the export from Ireland of wool any
form. This act appears to have been forgotten
have fallen into allowance In the years OF massacre
and revolution that followed for June 8, $685. we
find the English again resortng to Parlia-
ment for protection against tho Irish weavers.
ENGLISH ARBfrRAny LEGISLATION. l
In answer to their appeal tho English House Of
Lords adopted an address to William ILL., to the effect
that 'tne growing manufacture Of cloth in Ireland
Of material for making sll manner OF cloth. doth in
vite your subjects Of England with their families
aud servants. to leave their habtations to settle
there to the increase of the woolen manufacture In