No. 9. 



Agricultural Wages and Living in Ireland. 



287 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Agricultural Wages and Living in 

 Ireland. 



Sir, — I have not been so long from Ire- 

 land, but that my remembrance enables me 

 to bear testimony to the truth of the axiom 

 contained in the first paper of last month's 

 Cabinet, entitled " Cheap Land and Low 

 Wages." That account reminds me very 

 forcibly of the past and present state of that 

 grain and provision-exporting country, where 

 the inhabitants are oftentimes in a condition 

 of starvation, while the productions of the 

 land are sent abroad at a price so low as to 

 enable the exporters to undersell the English 

 markets! Nay more — it is a fact, that while 

 the contributions of charitable individuals 

 and institutions, " for the relief of the starv- 

 ing Irish," have been landing at one port, ex- 

 portations of the means of existence, in the 

 sliape of potatoes and beef and pork and but- 

 ter, have been going on at another, at tlio 

 same instant! 



I am not an Irishman by birth, but the ex- 

 perience obtained by a long residence on the 

 spot, and the means which I now enjoy of 

 contrasting that state of things with wliat I 

 Bee around me, convinces me that the Pre- 

 sident of the Philadelphia Agricultural So- 

 ciety was right, when he said, " Depend upon 

 it, there is no surer sign of national pros- 

 perity than high wages ;" and I join him, 

 most fervently, in the prayer " that God 

 would grant for many a long year, that it 

 may be the lot of the inhabitants of this 

 blessed country, who subsist by the labour of 

 tiieir hands, to work well, to be paid well, 

 and to live well." There is a picture of 

 Ireland, contained in the Journal of Agricul- 

 ture, which is so faithful and touching, and 

 withal so in unison with the article above 

 alluded to, that I cannot forego the tempta- 

 tion of copying it for publication in your 

 piges. Ireland has so long been wronged 

 that I fear it will require many years to 

 right her ; but I bless God that I have es- 

 caped from that spirit of bondage, and can 

 walk erect in a land of light and liberty. 

 Your subscriber, John Murray. 



Schiijilul! Co. 



"The rate of wages in Ireland varies from 

 a shilling to six pence a day (the Irish shilling 

 being twenty cents only) without food, and 

 from six pence to three pence with diet : in 

 tlie neighbourhood of towns, the labourer has 

 never less than ten pence per day without 

 food, but in other parts, eight pence per day 

 is the iiighest. Women and boys earn from 

 five pence to three pence per day, their em- 

 ployment being limited to particular seasons. 

 In the most favourable circumstances, the 

 labourer does not earn more than a dollar a 



week, without diet, or seventy-five cents tvilk 

 it; but when task work can be obtained, he 

 works zealously and at extra hours. 



The occupier of a cottage on a farm is 

 bound to work for the farmer at the rate of 

 four pence or five pence per day with diet, 

 whenever called upon by his employer, who 

 is of a class too often oppressive and exact- 

 inw : it may, however, be given as a general 

 rule, that three days' work in the week is the 

 term of the cottager's obligation for house 

 and cabbage garden. How tlien could the 

 labourer live o.t his actual wages without a 

 patch of land on which to raise potatoes'? 

 The secret of the matter is, he procures 

 from a rood to an acre for his manure, and in 

 such a case, without any cost or rent — and 

 under these circumstances it will be seen 

 that the substitution of bread lor potatoes is 

 quite impracticable. The walls of these cot- 

 tages are generally seven feet high, built of 

 well-cemented mud, rough-dashed outside, and 

 covered with thatch, the interior consisting of 

 two rooms, with a loft over. For any inferior 

 land given to an under-tenant, he is charged 

 at the rate of the best land, and with the 

 disadvantage of having a portion of road 

 measured against him, and is charged £ 1 

 sterling per acre for ploughing and working 

 his land and covering the seed. 



Their principal food is potatoes, with milk 

 in summer, and a single herring amongst an 

 entire family at the dinner meal by way of 

 condiment. They eat meat about three times 

 a year, and eggs but rarely, as these are sold 

 to purchase salt and soap. Oatmeal is fre- 

 quently used Ibr breakfast or supper during 

 the summer months, when the old crop be- 

 comes bad, and the new is unfit for use. 

 With the great mass of the agricultural 

 poor, their food in each year is entirely de- 

 pendent upon the production of that year, 

 and of course their distress is alv;ays pro- 

 portioned to the extent of a failure ; but 

 since grain, if well preserved, will remain 

 good for several years, the question, as to the 

 .substitution of it for potatoes, as a preventive 

 of the chances of starvation and disease from 

 a deficiency of the potato crop, is naturally 

 deserving serious consideration. 



Amidst all this difficulty and deprivation, 

 show him but a reasonable hope of obtctining 

 the object of his desire — a bit of good land 

 at a reasonable rent — and the Irish farm- 

 labourer will undergo labours and hardships 

 that would absolutely appal an Englishman : 

 it is no uncommon thing for such an one to 

 walk six or eight miles a day, to and from 

 the place of his employment, in the hope of 

 attracting the notice of the " gentleman" for 

 whom he labours, and obtaining from his 

 kindness the house and bit of land, the object 

 of his extra toil." 



