, 1880-03-13
land I expect /. e 70 ind 4 still more i i. DONEGAL,

LIZ -AIIo AAO W
which many thousands of cabin homes are
reduced in a time like this is literally apppal-
ling. Nevertheless, | should regard it as
both miSchieyons and absurd to seek for
a remedy in a tOrcible determination of all
holdings below a certain minimum as, for
example five acres. What | believe would
be regarded by all CLASSES of the population
as the wiSeSt and most beneicent course
would, he, not, to force, but to facilitate the
removal and resettlement of tenants whose
difficulties make it hopeless for them to
continue i'll their FARMS without extraneOus
rehef. Men whose means are now exhaust
ed, who are driven to participate in public
charity, to send out their sca~ntily-clad
children nsthe cold for a dole OF the In
dian corn meal which has become almost
their only food, know that such relief can
not and will not be forthcoming to supple
Mcnt permanently the inadequate proceeds
OF their too poor and too %diminutive farms.
distressed and hopeless, they are prepared
to embrace any offer really promising to
place them in positions where labour and
penuriouS thrift might preserve them from
liability to such want as they now endure.
fhe class OF very poor tenantry reduced
to such eXtremltiCS are probably below the
class which might be tIanSplanted with
success to other portions of Ireland; and
II no extensive undertakings in land reela-
nation or drainage are promptly ~institut-
ed to engage them in wage-paid labour,
the kindeSt thing. to be done for them
would be to provide means for their cross
ing the Se&-and not entirely without
means OF subsistence when landing from
the emlgrant ship. 1t is argued that such
a course would be the least burden to the
puDllc IN the end, as compared with the
recurring charity which must be involved
III the retention of such a class i'll the
kingdom. That the embarkins of capital
III new or enlarged home enterprises should
require the industry of those thousands of
pauperized families is, of course, the rene
dy longed for. But, while we wait, sthe
cry is for speedy and liberal facilities for
emigration.
Now with regard to occupiers whom it is
wisdom as we'll as benevolence to aid in
tldlng over their present miStortunes The
consolidation of small holdingS-nOt to be
swallowed up in large grazing farms, but
united III farms a step higher in their
capacity for yielding a comfortable liveli-
hood Is slowly and gradually going on by
a Sclt-actlng process which the distreSStul
INES Will taSSuredly tend to hasten. In
the year 1901, Of the total number of hold
lngs III Ireland above one acre, the proper
ton not exceeding five acres was 10! per
cent. in the year 1878 the number was 125
per cent. Of the total number of holdings
over one acre, the proportion over five and
not exceeding 10 acres was in 1851 333 per
cent, and i'll 1878 it had fallen to 81 per
cent. The proportion of holdings, low.
ever, above 10 and not exceeding 80 acres
increased from 243 per cent. III 1852 to 20
per cent. i'll 1878, and the proportion Of
holdings above 80 acres increased from %
per cent. i'll 1851 to 304 per cent. in 1873.
Looking at some of the thickly populated
districts, it is observable that between the
years 1869 Snd 1873 there was a marked
Increase in the number of holdings over
80 and not exceeding 90 acres, silnultane-
OlslY with "a very considerable diminution
Of the number of holdings of lesser size.
Thus, in Mayo, the occupations above one
and not exceeding five acres fell from
5,435 to 1922, and holdings above five and
not exceeding Is acres fell from 6,045 to
1851 but the next larger class of hold
ings above 10 and not exceeding 80 acres
rose in number from S,472 in 1869 to
9,4e3 in 1878; and holdings above 30
and not exceeding 80 acres increased
from 2,4G6 to 2,532. In Roscom.
mon, the holdings above one and
not exceeding five acres decreased in the
same nine years from 3,044 to 1850 hold
ingS above five and not exceeding Is
acres scarcely changed-namely, from
S,5eS to 1868; but the class above Is and
not exceeding 80 acres increased from