50 THE IRISH AGRARIAN PROBLEM. 



are too small to support, even according to the 

 low Irish standard of life, the families living on 

 them, and to supply them with food, clothing, 

 education and occupation.^ 



The worst of these deficit holdings, as I have 

 called them in another place, are to be found in 

 the so-called " congested districts." For the 

 purposes of Local Government Ireland is divided 

 into 159 unions. These unions are sub-divided 

 for election purposes into " electoral divisions," 

 of which there are 3751 in the whole of Ireland. 

 By section 36 of the Land Act of i8gi the 

 Congested Districts Board was created, an 

 authority whose duty it is to promote the lasting 

 improvement of the backward districts in the 

 West, and it received for this purpose an annual 

 income of ;^55,ooo.^ The districts subject to 

 it are selected according to the following rule : 

 Where more than 20 per cent of the population of 

 a county live in electoral divisions of which the 

 rateable value gives a sum of less than 30 

 shillings per head of the population, these 

 electoral divisions are deemed to be so-called 

 "congested district counties." Such electoral 

 divisions are to be found in the counties of 

 Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Clare, 

 Mayo, Galway, Cork (West Riding), and Kerry; 

 altogether 9 counties with a total of 1,264 

 electoral divisions. Of these 835 are not 



' Journal Dept. Agric, December, 1903, p. 99. 

 ^ " Ireland, Agric. and Ind.," p. 258. 



