40 BALANCE OF INDUSTRY. 



course be one-half the present amount, or 

 15,600,0007. ; and to the Connaught level of 

 6d. per day, one-fourth, or 7,800,0007. yearly. 

 Query. What influence would this have upon 

 our commerce ? Let commerce answer. 



2. In Ireland, there are not less than an 

 equal number of agricultural labourers, or 

 1,000,000. The extent of cultivated land is 

 rather more than one-third that of England 

 and the Lowlands of Scotland, but considerably 

 under one-half; the number of agricultural 

 labourers being about equal. We cannot, 

 however, estimate the average wages of the 

 four provinces of the Sister Isle at more than 

 one-third of what we allowed for England, or 

 8d. per day ; and hence the total amount of their 

 incomes would be 10,400,0007. yearly at present. 

 An advance of wages to the English level of 

 2s. per day, the expense of labour being the 

 same, or, in other words, an advance of the 

 daily quantity of labour performed to the 

 English level, then the advance of the yearly 

 incomes of the agricultural labourers of Ireland 

 would be 20,800,0007. The beneficial influence 

 of such an increase above the present demand 

 for manufactured goods will readily be appre- 



