SECT. I.] RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY. 215 



EXTRACT 



From the Third Report of the Commissioners appointed to 

 inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, 

 and into the various institutions at present established 

 for their relief, with a view to suggest such measures as 

 may appear requisite to ameliorate the condition of the 

 Irish poor. 



SECTION I. 



RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY. 



THE evidence annexed to our former Reports proves to 

 painful certainty that there is in all parts of Ireland much 

 and deep-seated distress. 



The official statements of the population of Ireland and 

 of Great Britain respectively present the following division 

 of families, according to the census of 1831 : 



Great Britain. Ireland. 



Families chiefly employed in agriculture 961,134- 884,339 

 Families employed otherwise than in agric. 2,453,041 500,727 



Total . . 3,414,175 1,385,066 



It thus appears that in every hundred families twenty- 

 eight live by agriculture in Great Britain and sixty-four 

 in Ireland, where the agricultural families constitute about 

 two-thirds of the whole population ; while in Great Britain 

 they constitute little more than one-fourth. 



