INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 83 



the number of exchanges between commercial 

 parties assuming that four-fifths of the 

 Labourers at present are paid their wages in 

 potatoes, an assumption which is probably not 

 far from the truth. Such a difference in the 

 monetary world would obviously silence the 

 present popular complaint, both in the Sister 

 Isle and the Highlands of Scotland relative to 

 the scarcity of money. 



That the principal amount of the increase of 

 wages of the labouring population of Ireland 

 and the Highlands of Scotland will find its way 

 into the pockets of our commercial and manu- 

 facturing classes of this country, for a time, 

 we think will readily be granted from what 

 has been said ; but that the whole, or eventually 

 the major part, will flow in this channel we 

 think very questionable, for the following, 

 among many other reasons. 



The effect which an advance of wages from 

 8d. to 2s. per day on the plan we propose, 

 would have upon the manufacturing industry 

 of Ireland, would be the erection of machinery. 

 This would become an unavoidable step on the 

 part of the manufacturer. In Ulster generally, 

 and in some parts of the south and westeru 

 G 2 



