1827.] Third Report of the Emigration Committee. 567 



at heavy rents ; being idle one half of the year, and coming to England for harvest 

 work during the other|half.] 



" 2.502. Considering the average price of food in Westmeath, and the quality 

 of the provisions which are consumed by this lowest class of persons ; considering 

 the nature of their clothing, and all their expenses together, what is the lowest 

 sum per head at which you would estimate the maintenance of a family, consisting 

 of a man, a woman, and three children, in the lowest class which you have 

 described ? I dare say it would not be three pounds a piece. I do not think it 

 would take more than that, from the manner in which they live : in fact, they have 

 nothing but the potatoe." ^ 



Mr. David John Wilson, a proprietor in the county of Clare, confirms the state- 

 ments of the last witness, as to the misery of the peasantry, and the absence of 

 employment. He says that he can get labourers for sixpence a-day all the year 

 round ; and that the same men who work at that price will pay as high as from 

 Jive pounds to nine g tineas an acre for their potatoe-ground. (Q. 2660). The 

 rent is made by the sale of a pig, which is fed on the offal of the potatoe ground, 

 and which is bought " upon time;" that is, not paid for until the time of sale. 

 (Q. 2660). The food of these people is potatoes only, with a little milk in 

 summer. 



Mr. Leslie Foster states (Q. 3156), that, in some parts of Ireland, population 

 is at such an excess, that nearly the whole produce of the land is applied to the 

 maintenance of the tenantry leaving scarcely any available fund for the payment 

 of the landlord. This gentleman's evidence, as to the obstacles which the distribu- 

 tion of property in Ireland present to the reclamation of waste lands, is highly 

 luminous and interesting. 



Mr. Jerrard Strickland speaks to the state of one property, upon which, within 

 a space of 23,77 1 Irish acres, the population amounts to 18,535 individuals. 

 (Q. -3541). A great deal of this land is " grazing mountain," affording only some 

 pasture for cattle; and there are no towns upon it at all, or manufacture carried 

 on. The people hold small pieces of ground each, at extravagant rates of rent, 

 which they plant with potatoes or cabbage : and the rent which it would be 

 impossible to pay out of the produce of the land is made by the begging of the 

 family, or by the money which the owner comes over and earns in Scotland or 

 England. (Q. 353 1 , 5532, &c.) 



Mr. Markham Marshall says 



" Q. 4171 Where do you reside? In the county of Kerry. 



"4172. You have been resident on your property there for some years ? I 

 have. 



" 4173. Have you any particular means of ascertaining the state of the popula- 

 tion with regard to the demand for labour? I have observed that the population 

 very far exce d> the demand for labour. 



" 4173. Is considerable distress the consequence ? It is; I carried on exten- 

 sive works last year; and as soon as it was understood that the works had com- 

 menced, hundreds flocked in to obtain occupation. Many of them had not tasted 

 food for two days before, they assured me ; and when at work, my steward informed 

 me, that the generality of them were so weak, in consequence of the state of starva- 

 tion that seemed to prevail among them, that I should be necessitated to fc d 

 them ; which I did for six weeks, before they could execute men's work. 



" 4178. Did you find, after the period during which you say it was necessary 

 to nourish them, that they were very good labourers? Very good. 



" 4 179. Were they persons chiefly having families?-* I believe so. 



" 4180. So that there must be a great nun ber of persons beyond what you 

 employed dependent upon their work for support ? Undoubtedly ; they were 

 much more numerous than I could give emyloy merit to. 



" 4193. What were the wages you gave? Eightpence a day." 



The evidence of Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Vandeleur, Dr. Murphy, and Dr.Elmore is to 

 the same effect : the most important point in the e :?imination of the last of these 

 gentlemen the organized system of erni^ra;ion irom Ireland into England we 

 have already referred to. 



