92 REPORT—1843. 
years, which is only five per cent., whereas during the former ten years it was stated 
to have been fourteen per cent. There are some grounds for supposing that it was 
not really so great as fourteen per cent. between 1821 and 1831, and when due 
allowances are made for emigration and other draughts on the Irish population, 
especially to more profitable labour in England than their own country afforded, the 
real increase between 1821 and 1831 appears to have been twelve per cent., though 
only five per cent. remained in Ireland on the 5th of June 1841. The number of 
persons of Irish birth dwelling in Great Britain is 419,256, being 1 in 54 of the 
population of these parts of the empire, while of the natives of Great Britain dwelling 
in Ireland there are but 30,137, or 1 in 271 of its population. It ought to be stated 
in connexion with education, that the number of children at school was, at the time 
the census was taken, 502,950 of both sexes. It is difficult to find any document 
with which to compare these numbers, as all the returns give the number of “ children 
on the poll,” instead of the number actually attending, and the only documents which 
even with this defect embrace the schools of the whole kingdom are the census of 
1821— 
Which gave. <.csscscrercenses see dentanaeanen ee Saeeesdensers ab sel ee cocsseee 394,813 
Return of 1824, Commission of Inquiry for general instruction... 509,150 
Census of 1834, by Commission for religious and public instruction 681,000 
GCencusiot d84 le) teasesechcedesce dacesscns coe sdecdesns Seep sce at eciee sora 502,950 
and of these the second and third are professedly of children on the poll. Thus the 
number in 1841 was only about one quarter of the children who were at that time 
between the ages of five and fifteen. It is true that this proportion is altogether very 
small, ‘but as the time that the children of the humbler classes remain at school is 
very short, it is not impossible but that even with this small number at one time, all 
may, during some portion of the long period of ten years, be receiving elementary 
instruction. 
On certain Public Conveyances established in Ireland. By Mr. B1ancont. 
Up to the year 1815, the public accommodation for the conveyance of passengers 
in Ireland was confined to a few mail and day coaches on the great lines of road. 
From my peculiar position in the country, I had ample opportunities of reflecting on 
many things, and nothing struck me more forcibly than the great vacuum that existed 
in travelling accommodation between the different orders of society. The incon- 
venience felt for the want of a more extended means of intercourse, particularly from 
the interior of the country to the different market towns, gave great advantage to a 
few at the expense of the many, and above all, occasioned a great loss of time; for 
instance, a farmer living twenty or thirty miles from his market town, spent the day 
in riding to it, a second day doing his business, and a third day returning. In July 
1815, I started a car for the conveyance of passengers from Clonmel to Cahir, which 
I subsequently extended to Tipperary and Limerick. At the end of the same year I 
started similar cars from Clonmel to Cashel and Thurles, and from Clonmel to Carrick 
and Waterford; and I have since extended this establishment so as to include the 
most isolated localities, namely, from Longford to Ballina and Bellmullet, which is 
201 miles north-west of Dublin; from Athlone to Galway and Clifden, 183 miles 
due west of Dublin; from Limerick to Tralee and Cahirciveen, 233 miles south-west 
of Dublin; and numbering 110 vehicles, including mail coaches and different-sized 
cars, capable of carrying from four to twenty passengers each, and travelling eight to 
‘nine miles per hour, at an ayerage fare of one penny farthing per mile for each passenger, 
and performing daily 3800 miles, passing through more than 140 stations for the 
change of horses; consuming 3000 to 4000 tons of hay, and from 30,000 to 40,000 bar- 
rels of oats annually ; all of which are purchased in their respective localities. These 
vehicles do not travel on Sundays, unless such portions of them as are in connexion 
with the post-office or canals, for the following reasons: first, the Irish being a reli- 
gious people will not travel on business on Sundays; and secondly, experience teaches 
me that I can work a horse eight miles per day for six days in the week, much better 
than I can six miles for seven days. The advantages derived by the country from 
this establishment are almost incalculable; for instance, the farmer who formerly 
rode and spent three days in making his market, can now do so in one for a few 
shillings, thereby saving two clear days, and the expense and use of his horse. The 

