KUROPE I UNITED KINGDOM. 283 



Imports of paper, etc., into the United Kingdom in the year 1898. 



NOTE. Of the above imports, less than 2 per cent comes direct to Bristol from foreign countries. 



DUBLIN. 



The population of Ireland, according to the census of 1891, was 

 4,704,953. Of these, 71 per cent could read and write, n per cent 

 could read only, and 18 per cent could neither read nor write. The 

 present population is about 4,500,000. 



MANUFACTURE. 



A good deal of paper was formerly made in Ireland, the supply 

 of native rags having been abundant and of good quality. At one 

 time the culture of flax was widely diffused over Ireland, and almost 

 every farmer in the country grew a patch of flax, which was steeped, 

 scutched, and spun into yarn by the family to provide the various 

 linen fabrics for domestic use. The rags collected through the coun- 

 try were consequently chiefly linen rags of superior quality. How- 

 ever, machine-made cotton goods extinguished this family industry, 

 and the quality of rags deteriorated. This deterioration took place 

 at the time when paper making was being transformed by the intro- 

 duction of machiney; and the Irish mills being small, with little or 

 no capital, they could not adopt the new processes, and so gradually 

 went out of business. Now there are but nine mills, while in 1838 

 there were sixty. 



The nine companies engaged in the manufacture of paper are: 



The North of Ireland Paper Company, Ballyclare, County Antrim. 



J. & A. Boardman, Tallaght, County Dublin. 



Drimnagh Paper Mills, Crumlin, County Dublin. 



Killeen Paper Mills, Inchicore, Dublin. 



John McDonnell & Co., Saggart, DuL.in. 



John McDonough & Sons, Rathfarnham, Dublin. 



T. Hegarty, Cork. 



J. M. Ryan, Blarney, County Cork. 



The Leinster Paper Company, Clondalkin, Dublin. 



