Of the holdings in 1918, 372,815 were owned and 199,170 rented. These 57I..985 holdings were held by 561,807 separate occupiers.
Agricultural Cooperation. On March 31 1920 there were, under the auspices of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society, 334 creameries, 101 auxiliary creameries, 371 agricultural societies, 136 credit societies, and 96 other societies. The total membership was 135,669, and the total turnover for the 686 societies for which figures were available was 11,158,583. This is approximately equal in value to 4,463,433 in 1914 in which year the actual turn- over was 3,666,724. The total quantity of milk received by the creameries had, however, fallen from 92,300,561 gal. in 1914 to 78,463,271 gal. in 1919.
Land Laws. Up to March 31 1921 the rents of 383,145 holdings, representing 11,394,275 ac., had been fixed for a first statutory term with an aggregate reduction of 20-7% on the old rents; 144,133 hold- ings representing 4,439,026 ac. for a second term with an aggregate reduction of 19-3%; and 6,123 holdings representing 198,364 ac. for a third term with an aggregate reduction of 9-1 %.
On the same date, under the Land Act of 1903, advances amount- ing to 63,030,264 had been made to 174,053 tenants for the pur- chase of their holdings on 6,937 estates; 1,005 estates with 33,066 tenants and a total purchase money of 8,594,952, were still pending ; and 3,685 applications for advances amounting to 1,247,127 had been refused. The Estates Commissioners had further purchased 909 estates direct from their owners for 8,483,941, and 17 estates, whose purchase money was estimated at 69,720, were under con- sideration. The Congested Districts Board had purchased 283 estates for 2,920,197, and four estates estimated at 25,990 were under their consideration.
In 1907 an Evicted Tenants' Act was passed to enable the Estates Commissioners to acquire untenanted land compulsorily for the purpose of providing holdings for tenants who or whose predecessors had been evicted from their holdings since 1878. Over 13,000 persons applied for reinstatement, of whom over 3,500 were reinstated, and the remainder rejected after inquiry into their claims.
The Irish Land Act of 1909 relieved Irish ratepayers of the liability of making good the loss caused by the flotation of stock to finance the 1903 Act at a discount. It substituted a graduated bonus varying inversely with the number of years' purchase of the tenant's holdings for the fixed bonus of the 1903 Act, payment of future pur- chase agreements in 3 % stock for the cash payment of the previous Act, and offered extra facilities to vendors who were willing to ac- cept 2f % stock in total or partial payment of their claims in respect of pending purchase agreements.
Under this Act, up to March 31 1921, advances amounting to 4,870,788 stock were made to 17,375 tenants for the purchase of their holdings on 2,050 estates, and applications from 5,550 tenants for 1,117,016 stock to purchase their holdings on 414 estates re- mained outstanding. The Estates Commissioners had further purchased 245 estates for 813,481 stock and 92,723 cash, and 83 estates estimated at 398,735 stock and 182,487 cash were under consideration. The Congested Districts Board had purchased 446 estates for 2,154,417 stock and 2,457,046 cash, and had under consideration 2 14 estates estimated at 1,603,892 stock, and 114,185 cash. On lands purchased by the Estates Commissioners under the Irish Land Acts 1903-9, up to March 31 1921 25,325 tenants had holdings vested in them and were paying annuities on a total pur- chase money of 7,861,528. On lands purchased by the Congested Districts Board, 9,227 holdings had been vested for a total purchase money of 1,872,515.
- In all, unaer these Acts, a sum of 74,004,992 had been advanced
in cash, 10,057,975 in 2f% stock, and 7,976,435 in 3% stock.
In Nov. 1920 a bill was introduced into the House of Commons to complete the operation of land purchase in Ireland. It made pro- vision for fixing an appointed day not less than two and a half years and not more than three years from the passing of the Act. Up to that date landlords would be at liberty to enter into agreements for sale to their tenants as under the Acts of 1903 and 1909. On the appointed day, all tenanted agricultural land, with certain specified exceptions, was to vest in the Congested Districts Board or the Land Commission, according to the area in which it is situated. The land was to be resold to the tenants at a standard price fixed at such a figure that the annuities on it calculated at 5J % would give the tenants in each county the same average reduction of their judicial rents (or, on non-judicial holdings, of rents calculated on the same principle as judicial rents) as had been enjoyed by other tenants in the same county who had purchased their holdings under the Act of 1903. The purchase money of all sales was to be paid in 5 % bonds. To this was to be added a sliding-scale bonus, varying inversely with the number of years' purchase of the holdings; and where agree- ments were made between the passing of the Act and the appointed day, this bonus might be increased by I %. Untenanted land in Congested Districts Counties was to vest in the Congested Districts Board at a price fixed by that body subject to a right of appeal to the Judicial Commissioner. This measure did not reach the Statute Book; but it was understood that a bill, substantially identical with it, would be introduced at a later date.
Textiles. In 1907 (the last statistics available in 1921) the linen industry employed 75,692 operatives. In 1919 the number of spin- dles was 955,171 and the number of power Iooms37,6oi. There are
some twenty hosiery factories and as many tweed mills working in the country; the export of wool in 1919 decreased to 11,595,808 Ib. The poplin trade is still practically confined to Dublin, the value of exports for 1920 being estimated at 20,000.
Fisheries. In 1918 17,502 men were engaged in the fishing in- dustry, the number of vessels in use being 4,717. The total capture of sea fish, excluding salmon, was 760,986 cwt., valued at 993,421. Shellfish was also taken to the value of 64,815; 12,006 persons were engaged in the salmon industry.
Other Industries. In 1910 the number of gal. of spirits distilled in Ireland was 10,758,965, in 1915 10,249,436, and in 1919 11,076,516. The number of bar. of beer produced in Ireland in 1910 was 3,059,- 210, in 1915 3,412,520, and in 1919 1,806,046.
There has been little change in the mining industry. In 1918, 30,548 tons of iron ore were taken from the Antrim mines, and 92,001 tons of coal were extracted, valued at the pit mouth at 99,051. In 1917 5 tons of zinc were produced from zinc ore for the first time in Ireland, and in 1918 the production was 18 tons.
The export of biscuits for the 12 months ending Jan. 1921 was 10,990 tons against a pre-war average of 16,466 tons; of butter, 26,- 441 tons as against 36,110; of cheese, 5,832 tons as against 301 ; of bacon and ham 37,698 tons as against 55,232; of eggs, 8,986,268 great hundreds as against the pre-war average of 6,358,171 great hundreds; of condensed milk 7,813 tons as against 13,388; of mar- garine 3,592 as against 3,319; of stout, beer and porter, 376,332 tons against 214,717; of home-made spirits (including industrial spirit) 36,971 tons as against 33,399 tons.
Shipbuilding. In 1920, 33 vessels were built in Ireland of an aggregate tonnage of 147,695, as compared with the 1919 tonnage of 222,955. Of these, 21 vessels of a tonnageof 116,543, were builtat Belfast. The total tonnage in 1911 was 183,390, in 1912 163,481, in 1913 130,899 and in 1914 256,547. In 1915, 1916, and 1917 the tonnages were 38,095, 10,900 and 78,936 respectively, exclusive of Government vessels. In 1918 the total tonnage was 182,356.
Commerce and Shipping. The most important part of the cross- Channel trade is still the export of cattle and other animals, par- ticulars of which are given in Table 4. In 1918 the number of vessels registered at Irish ports was 809, tonnage 325,491. In the same year the vessels entering and clearing with cargoes in the colonial and foreign trade numbered 212 with a tonnage of about 444,000, and the vessels entering and clearing in the trade between Great Britain and Ireland numbered 30,522, tonnage over 9,350,000.
TABLE 4. Exports of Animals
Year
Cattle
Sheep
Swine
Total
1909^13* 1919 1920
812,688
765,251 926,836
708,280
507,145 591,816
276,525 192,540 158,877
1,797,493 1,464,936
1,677,529
- Average of five years.
Table 5 shows the value of the direct foreign imports and exports (i.e. without transhipment at a port in Great Britain) for the last two pre-war years, and for the two years after the war. Table 6 shows the total trade.
TABLE 5. Imports and Exports
Year
Imports
Exports
1912
17,088,219
1,338,340
1913
17,332,408
2,119,383
1919
26,341,725
1,936,710
1920
42,5<)o,409
1,555,862
TABLE 6. Total Irish Import and
Export Trade
Imports
Exports
Value at
Value at
Value at
Value at
Year
prices in the year of importation
1904 prices
prices in the year of exportation
19.04 prices
i,ooo
i,ooo
I
,ooo
i,ooo
1904
55,345
55,345
49,815
49,815
1905
57,009
57,095
5L423
50,863
1906
58,794
57,523
56,035
53,445
1907
63,022
59,075
59,190
54,522
1908
60,190
56,829
57,445
53,732
1909
65,155
59,486
60,959
54,792
1910
66,431
59,624
65,896
56,966
1911
67,610
60,322
65,071
56,323
1912
73,953
63,221
67,168
56,708
1913
74,467
62,986
73,877
60,627
1914
74,125
61,176
77.3"
63,243
1915
87,257
59,124
84,463
58,372
1916
104,517
56,619
107,171
58,716
1917
119,181
49,785
133,805
56,715
1918
126,016
44-167
152,931
50,569
1919
158,716
50,081
176,032
51,175
