The territorial survey no...
The Times, 1824-09-25T00:00:00

'rhe territorial survey now about to commence in Ire- laiid is a most important measure. - While that country has rung with compTairts of phrty violence, of oppression from the rich, and of injiustice from the Magistrate, very little has been said of another mischief, more extensive in its operation than any of the former, and less open to remedy from its fixed andl prescriptive nature-we mean the par- tial and unequal manner in which the local taxes, viz. those xaised by the authority of Grand Juries and Vestrits, have pressed'upon the people of Ireland, owing to the imperfect measurement and vahlation of the soil, by which those financial burdens have been dlistributed. It often happens that among public grievances, the characteristies least ob- served upon, are in reality the most injurious. Irish tithe, in the aggregate, has beeti a perpetual subject of clamour; but the most oppressive and revolting circumstance in the tithe systeim was but rarely nioticed by those who cried out for relief. The abolition of the tithe of agistment thtew the support of the Protestant Clergy of Ireland on those who not only derived the smallest slhare of benefit from the Establislhed Church, but who, .from a regard to their poverty and inability, were entitled to thle utmost forbearance. The pasture-land being held mostly by gentlemen, wilele the tillage was, strange to say, carried on by the poor, tho effect of the abolition of the tithe of agistment was to relieve the rich, and to load the peasant to the full extent to which his more opulent neighi bours were exonerated. It was one of the objecta of the Tithe Composition Bill to redress this most wrongful a%d impolitic arrangement. The pasture-land is again made subject to the payment of tit1e wherever the act sllall be resorted to; the burden '6epon each former tithe-payer is lightened; and the security for the support of the Church extended, from a part to the whole acreable surface of the kingdom. An irregular geographical division, and a defective estimate of the seil, have produced, with regard to the in- equality of local assessment by Grand Juries, an injustice somewhat analogous to that which in the case of tithe liad sprung from unwise and selfish legislation. The cure afforded by the revival of the tithe of agistment in one in- stance, is forthwith to be provided in the other by an exact and scientific measurement, and a methodical valuation of the island, having for its express object "' a more equal " apportiornment of the local burdens collected in Ireland." Hence it cannot fail, we should presume, to be an highly popular undertaking, and one which must invite the active assistance of every native of the country w1eo may be able by labour of head or hand to promote it. The Committee appointed by Parliament to considler the most desirable made of effecting the proposed purpose, have examined a large bodv of evidenec, anti mnade a report to the House of Commons. They state, that und(er the pre- sentmnent laws, more than 750,0001. is annlually levied upon the nation ; that this sum is apportioned according to a vague and varying standard-in sbme places by the plough- land, elsewhere by the towntantl; both being assumed and| guessed at, whether as to size or value, instead of being properly defined ; that "' gneeves," " cartrons," " tates," and othier subdernominations, are recognizedt in certain parts of Ireland; and that the whole is a mass of clumsy partiality and injustice. The survey undertaken by Sir WILLIAM PETTY (ancestor of Lord LtNSDOWN) about the middle of the 17th century, appears to be at this hour the oIly accessible guiide. The survey by Lord STRAF- FOaD has been wlholly destroyed. The documents pro- duced by the PETTY-survey are not complete, even as copies: about one-third of th'e origina's were consume(d by fire. The surface of Ireland is said to contain near 20,000,000 of English acres. The new survey is recom- mended by the Committee to be more minute thani that carried on by the Board of Ordnance fot England, giving the separate townlands, in addition to the counties and parishes. The maps are to be executedl by officers of the Ordnance, and are to bc constructed on a scale of six inelhes to the English mile.' The Report concludes with the following passage, whichl we think worth insertion:- " In concluding this Report, your Committee must agr.in repeat " their recommendation, that the work may be proceeded 4on with as much despatch as is consistent with accuracy of execution. It is not uniworthy of remark, that all former surveys of Ireland ori. giniated in forfeitures, and violent transfers of property; the pre- " sent has for its object the relief which can be afforded to thc pre. prietors and occupiers of land froin unequal taxation. The gene- ral tranquillity of Ea,rope enables the State to devote the abilities "and exertions of a most valuable COrps of ofFicers to an undertak- ing, whicl, though not unimportant in a military point of view, " recommends itself more directly. as a civil measure. Your Com- " mittee trust that the survey will be carried on with cnergy, as well as With skill; and that it will, when completed, bc creditablc to the nation, and to the scientific acquirements of the present age. In that portion of the empire to wh.ich it more particularly ap. plies, it cannot but be received ais a proof of the disposition of the lIegislature to adopt all measures calculated to advance tihe " interests of Irclarnl..-Junc 21, 1824."