TO INQUIRE INTO THE OCCUPATION OF LAND IN IRELAND.
959 27.
Are the small holders of land improving ?__Very
little.
10th Sept.,
1844.
28.
Are the labourers improving in their condition ?—There
is a part of the parish where —
{be labourers are employed in mining works and quarries, and those who have the good R
Â¥1^* fortune to be taken on there are doing well; those who work under the farmers are
b y' miserable.
I should say that the agricultural labourers in my parish have nothing but potatoes to support them ; they have abundance of fuel.
29.
What mining works are going on ?—There
have been several attempts at mimng works, but one is flourishing apparently, and that is a copper mine.
30.
Do you know the rate of wages given ?—There
are some miners, some labourers, and some women, employed at the lower part of the works, merely preparing the copper.
The miner generally contracts at so much for the square yard, or for the ton of copper raised.
31.
Are the miners principally natives of this district?—Yes,
principally they are.
There are some natives of England.
32.
What can they make by the week ?—They
generally make Is.
a day.
If, one week with another, or one month with another, they make that, they are satisfied.
33.
What is the rate of wages to the labourers ?—It
is not so high as Is.
a day.
34.
What is the rate of wages to the agricultural labourers ?—It
is 8d.
without diet, and 6d.
with it.
35.
Have there been any agrarian outrages in your district ?—Yes,
there have been some.
36.
Lately?—No,
not lately.
Within the last twelve months some corn was burnt belonging to one person; but the general suspicion is, that the person burnt it In order to raise money from the grand jury.
37.
Have you any suggestion to make ?—I
think it unfair to make the tenant-at-will, who has no certainty of his ground, pay the entire expense of the new roads, and other works carried on at the baronial charges; and that the landlord, who really derives the benefit of it, pays nothing.
I consider that a great grievance.
I consider it also a great grievance when a new road is made, however much of the tenant's land is cut up, he gets no allowance for it.
I would suggest that the landlord should set an example of agricultural improve¬ ments by a model farm, or sending an agricultural steward to intruct the tenants in the system of green crops.
I would also suggest that a short lease is of no great advantage.
I have seen the tenantry holding for nineteen years, and twenty-one years, and thirty-one years even, and they are very little better than tenants from year to year.
For, after making some improvements in the ground, the leases are expiring, and it makes them reckless of the use they make of the ground, knowing they have a very precarious chance of gettmg the ground again.
38.
What should you think a sufficient lease ?—Three
lives, or one Hfe and twenty-one years afterwards.
39.
Have you seen any case of a farm after a lease for three lives expired ?—Yes,
I know one where the three lives are nearly out.
40.
Do you see any greater improvement in that case compared to a lease for twenty-one or tMrty-one years ?—Yes;
I have very little hesitation in saying that their condition is much better than where they have any fixed number of years without the lives.
If there could be any public works carried on that would take off the attention of the labourers from the ground, it would improve the country a good deal,—such as roads, or manufactures, or felling.
If they were encouraged to go out fishing—for all my district is on the sea-coast— it would be a benefit.
41.
Do they follow fishmg much in your district?—Very
little.
42.
Is the fish abundant ?—Yes,
as much as upon any other part of the coast of Ireland.
43.
Wrhat is it prevents them ?—Want
of means of getting the apparatus.
They are scarcely able to retain their farms, even those who may have means.
Their rents are so very heavy, they have nothing to spare.
The land is the only resource they have, except when the company was established which works this mine.
* 44.
Do you tMnk that the people would be willing to emigrate, if the means were provided ?—There
are many people who do emigrate, who sell off their interest in the land they hold, thinking they may do better in America.
45.
What are the accounts received from them ?—In
general, they are very good.
46.
If locations were provided for them in the colonies, do you think there would be an extensive emigration from this country ?—Yes,
I think there would, for I am m the habit of receiving letters from the parties there.
When they write home, the friends come to me to read them.
The accounts are very flattering.
The general observation they make in the letters to friends is, that there is no tyranny, no oppression from landlords, and no taxes.
In the village I live in there has been a ship or two freighted every year, for the last four or five years, and if the ship was larger, she would get enough to make up her complement.
47.
Where does she go from ?—From
BaUydehough, a smaU mlet from Baltimore Bay.
[The witness withdrew.]
Mr.
Daniel McCarthy, sworn and examined.
-718.
1.
Where do you reside ?—In
Skibbereen in the winter.
I am now living at Lough Ine.
Mr'D-M<Cftr%« 2-What is your occupation ?—Brewer
and malster, and vice-chairman of the board of guardians.
3; What is the district with which you are so well acquamted as to be able to give mfor« B-ation to the commissioners ?—-About
one-tliird of the union.
