REPORT ON RELIGION AND EDUCATION.
37 fraction of the entire number.
Two parishes, those, namely, of St.
Peter, in the county Paeochial and city of Dublin, and diocese of Dublin, and of Shankill, in the county of Antrim, -Population.
and diocese of Connor, which had between 10,000 and 20,000 Episcopalian Protestants in 1834, have disappeared from that class, and are now found in the higher class having-between 20,000 and 30,000.
As regards Roman Catholics, there was no parish in 1861 in which there was not Ckasifica-a member of the Roman Catholic religion.
The number of parishes in which Roman tion of Catholics did not exceed 20 was then eight; that in which they were between 20 and 50, ?ahes
as twenty-nine; and that in which they were between 50 and 100, sixty.
Summing the oltboHc"1 numbers in these three, they amount to 97, or one twenty-fifth, as nearly as possible, of population, the entire number of parishes in Ireland; those groups being the smallest in which the Roman Catholic population was least.
The number in each group increases from the first to the eighth inclusively—the eighth, or that to which belong parishes containing between 1,000 and 2,000 Roman Catholics, being the most numerous.
The ninth group, contain¬ ing those parishes, the Roman Catholic inhabitants of which were between 2,000 and 5,000, is smaller than the preceding, but larger than any of the others.
The number of parishes, the Roman Catholic inhabitants of which exceeded 5,000, is 170.
The sum of the three groups of parishes in which the Roman Catholic population ranged between 100 and 1,000 is 1,056, or more than two-fifths the entire number; while the sum of the groups in which parishes the Roman Catholics exceeded 1,000 is 1,275, or somewhat more than half the number of parishes in Ireland.
The six groups of parishes in which the number of Roman Catholic inhabitants was smallest in 1834, have each increased, owing, of course, to the depression of parishes from the higher steps in the scale of population.
Four of the groups having tho largest number of Roman Catholic inhabitants, (those between the limits of 1,000 and 20,000) have decreased since 1834;—the group between the limits of 20,000 and 30,000 remains stationary at three; and two groups, that between 30,000 and 40,000, and that exceeding 40,000, which were not represented in 183-*, were each represented by one for 1861.
The group of parishes (1,261) in which there was no Presbyterian popularon in 1861,was Classifica-he largest in relation to that body, being only 14 short of the number of those in which the ^on.of
Roman Catholics exceeded 1,000, and more than six times the number of parishes in which ^Presby-8 there were no members of the Established Church.
Deducting the number of parishes in terian which there were no Presbyterians from the total of parishes in Ireland, we have 1,167, or population, less than half, containing a Presbyterian population.
Of this last number, 688, or more than half, contained from 1 to 20 Presbyterian residents.
The next most numerous class, 94, of what, for shortness, may be called Presbyterian parishes, is that in which the Presbyterian population ranged between 20 and 50.
Parishes having a population of from 1,000 to 2,000 Presbyterians form the third most numerous class, 92.
Next is that in which the several parishes (63) have between 500 and 1,000.
Fifth in order are the parishes having between 2,000 and 5,000 Presbyterians, numbering 56, and conse¬ quently more numerous by three than the corresponding group of parishes in relation to the Established Church.
The class of parishes containing more than 5,000 Presby¬ terians amounted to 16, and is therefore six in excess of the corresponding class as regards the Established Church.
Large, however, as is the number of parishes having no Pres¬ byterian inhabitants, it is very much smaller than the number of parishes so circum¬ stanced in 1834,—the amount in that year having been 1,884, whereas in 1861 it was no more than 1,261.
The seven classes of parishes in which Presbyterians were fewest, ending with the limit of 2,000, have all increased considerably, while two of the classes iu which they were most numerous, thot-e between the limits of 2,000 and 10,000, have largely diminished.
In 1861, as in 1834, there was one parish with between 10,000 and 20,000 Presbyterian inhabitants.
In 1834 there was one parish with between 20,000 and 30,000 Presbyterian residents ; there was no such parish in 1861, but there is one parish in which the Presbyterian inhabitants exceed 40,000—viz, that of Shankill, in the diocese of Connor, and county of Antrim, remarkable as having the largest number of parishioners of the Established, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian Churches respectively, and as being the most populous in Ireland.
The number of parishes in 1861 in which there were no members of "Other Protestant Classifies Persuasions" amounted to 1,386, or much more than half the total number of parishes in p°*.
^ Ireland; leaving 1,042 parishes in which there existed some residents of other than the ^o^8 three foregoing religious denominations.
Of the last-mentioned number, 006, or much protestant more than a half, did not contain more than 20 members of "Other Protestant Persua-Persua¬ sions ;" and according as the number of residents increases, the number of parishes in the S10I1S* other groups diminishes, as far as the group "more than 2,000 and not more than 5,000;" of which class there was no parish containing "Other Protestant Dissenters."
The
