Appendix (A.)
444 APPENDIX to FIRST REPORT from the COMMISSI ONERS for inquirin Able-bodied out 01?
Work.
Munstcr, County Cork.
Examinations taken by Thomas Martin, Esq.
John Lalor, Esq.
Parish St.
SSlultoze.
Town of Kinsale.
Bar.
Ki/7sale.
want of
con¬
fer anything further.
On this account, they are often in a most miserable state for clothes; the children of tradesmen are often without shoes ;
" [ have known case^ tinues the parish priest, " of men being unable to get work ; of women beino-unable t places as servants ; and of children (particularly those of widows) being unable to
° *f school for want of clothes."
_
=>° ° Sometimes women in the country, who are better off than these, are unable to so mass for the same reasons; 1 have known a case where there was but one cloak betw
° four or five females; and one would walk off a distance of three or four miles to first mtT and walk back to give her cloak to another to go to the second.
ss'
Flshci-men.
In the Hooker-Fishing there are about 300 men employed.
Although their weekly earnings vary greatly throughout the year, they arc always employed, from the nature of the agreement'between them and the boat-owners.
The boat-owners supply the boats and agree with the fishermen by the year.
They go out every clay, unless the weather is very bad; on an average they would be able to go out five days in the week.
Of tbe fish brought in, a certain proportional part (varying at different seasons of the year,) is given to the boat-owners, the remainder is the property of the men.
Very few weeks occur in the year, during which the earnings of the fishermen are not more than 2.s\
; and very few also occur in which they amount to 25 s.
or 20s.,
10, 11, 12.
On an average more than three-fourths of the fishermen earn Gs.
a week; 10 between 7s.
and 8 s.
a week; 11 between G s.
and 9 s.
a week.
"I kept an account of the earnings of my men, and taking the whole year round, and dividing by 12, I found it was between 8s.
and 9s."
The remainder of the fishers, who go out in inferior boats, earn, on an average, from 4s.
to 5s.
A few of the fishers are exceedingly decent and comfortable, but by far the greater number of them lead wretched lives.
When they get, a large payment, they go at once to the whiskey shop ; and when fish is scarce, and their weekly income little, they are some¬ times almost starving, pawning their very jackets to get food.
Their earnings,"at the very lowest average, are 7s.
Gd.
a week ; and out of that, they could very easily provide, not only for scarce seasons, but also for their widows and orphans ; but they make no provision for anything.
Their infatuation, in getting drunk, prevents them from earning near so much as they might.
" The earnings of each man of the crew of one of my boats (the William the Fourth) for the fortnight before Monday last, amount to 55s.,
50s.
in actual money and about 5s.
worth of fish."
That is, each man earned 27s.
Gd.
a week.
They were to sail again on Monday; the boat was ready, but the master ancl two of the men were absent; they went off to some dancing house in Kinsale, and got drunk ; 1 was obliged to get strange men; they went out and brought in 3 /.
worth of fish in the morning."
There is a custom of giving a bottle of spirits, or the price of one, with the money, for every batch of fish that is bought; of course it is in reality part of the price of the fish; this produces a great deal of drunkenness.
At present there is not one of them out of employment, that I am aware of.
The Seiners are another description of fishermen; there arc about 120 ; they fish in the harbour, and the season lasts from June till about Christmas or January.
They earn 4s.
or 5s.
a week, ancl have almost all of them potato gardens ; many of them work as labourers, during the early part of the year, and their wives go out to the country with pins and needles, tobacco, and other little things, and get more than their value in potatoes, in exchange.
The Drift-Net fishing employs about an equal number, and the men resemble the Seiners very much in their condition and habits.
Immediately before the fishing season commences, the Seiners are often in great distress; their potatoes are out, ancl their wives and children obliged to go out to the country to beg; but they suffer any privation, rather than beg; they go to the country with tobacco, and get potatoes in return, and though the potatoes are often given from charity, they are not regular beggars, so long as they give in exchange.
Parish Templetrine.
Bar.
Coureeys.
Perso7is who attended the Examination.
William Coneney, shoemaker and publican.—Mr.
William Connell, farmer.—Rev.
Joss Roger-son Cotter, rector—Daniel Crowley, labourer.—Edward
Farmer, grocer, and clerk to petty sessions.—James
Gibbons, esq.—John
M'Kennedy, labourer.—Jonas
Maurice Sealy esq.,
j.
p.—Dr.
Samuel Wood, dispensary surgeon.
During the first six months ofthe year there are a great many of the labourers,wo have only partial employment.
.About
30 labourers go to England in May, and m remain at least 120, who have not regular employment; these in summer, just before potatoes are out, or when they are exhausted, are obliged to do with fewer meals, gener y two ; sometimes one ; there arc at least 40 families so reduced every summer.
^ ^ Crowley says, " I have been obliged to do with one meal myself during the summ^Q an(j I was out of work; not for a whole week together; I could not do that; but for ^^
