have been so eagerly received by our people, and should have spread so rapidly amongst them, seems little short of miraculous. Many fingers which never knew what it was to handle a needle, even for the purpose of mending their own clothes fingers often stiff with age or coarse with field labour -have now learned to apply it to this beautiful and delicate fabric. Here, again, the self-same lesson is repeated; here, again, have we impressed upon us the capabilities of our country, and the lack of enterprise of those who for their own sakes ought to have developed it. In so far as this hidden mine of industrial wealth has been developed by commercial enterprise, it has, with some few exceptions, been the commercial enterprise, not of Irish, but of English and Scotch capitalists, who, through their agents, send over the material, have the patterns drawn, then distribute, and re-collect it, when worked, throughout the country. We have said that this is the case in so far as this industry has been developed by commercial enterprise; for it is a remarkable feature in connexion with this subject, that the sewed muslin trade of Ireland owes, if not its origin, at least its recent extension, very much to the energetic benevolence of a few individuals. The dreadful sufferings occasioned by the famine of 1846 and 1847, set several considerate persons to work, to see how this could best be mitigated. In this honourable enterprise several ladies engaged; they procured teachers for the girls, they provided the materials, and found a market for the work, until the pupils and trade were so far advanced that it became worth while for the English or Scotch capitalist to take it up as a commercial speculation. Amongst many instances given by Mr. Maguire, that of the Cork Embroidery School is not the least remarkable. It owes its existence nay, not this only, but its continued support to the exertion of two ladies, Mrs. Sainthill and Mrs. M'Swiney, the former, by the way, an English lady. By them it was established, at the close of the year 1846; under their daily supervision it has since been exclusively conducted; and by their sole exertions it is still maintained. The following statement given by Mr. Maguire, of pay "Perhaps figures," says Mr. Maguire, "may best represent the generous interest which strangers have taken in the prosperity of this school, as contrasted with the utter indifference of those who should have been its earnest supporters. The amount of work disposed of during the year 1852, was £1,058 16s. 8d.; and of this amount, not more than the one-twentieth, or the odd £58, was purchased by the ladies of Cork and its vicinity! As a further illustration of the interest taken in the school by strangers to the country, I may mention that, during the past year, one English lady forwarded to the Society, for work which she had disposed of, £117- another £109another £88 another £23 — and several other ladies disposed of work, to smaller amounts. These English sales were made principally by friends of the secretaries, Mrs. Sainthill and Mrs. M'Swiney, and through the exertions of some few members of the Committee."-p. 202. We pass over various other branches of trade, of minor importance, which our space makes it impossible for us to notice, and come to a branch of manufacture which is new to this country, but which it is most earnestly to be hoped may be successful. We allude to beet-sugar manufacture. Samples of this manufacture, in all its stages, from the raw vegetable product to the refined sugar, were exhibited, being the product of the manufactory at Mountmellick. It is well known that the introduction of this manufacture into Europe dates from the issuing of the famous Milan and Berlin decrees, which closed the Continent to the produce of our colonies; but, probably, the rate at which this manufacture is extending in Europe is not so generally known. In Bel gium, the Zolverein, and Austria, the quantity of beet-root sugar produced has doubled within the last five years. In Russia and in France the factories are rapidly increasing; in the former, out of about 85,000 tons of sugar annually consumed, 35,000 tons are made from beet; and in the latter, the manufacture in 1850 amounted to 60,000 tons, being one-half of the total quantity of sugar used in the country. Now, when all the principal countries of Europe find it for their interest to engage in this manufacture at the present time, when they might import their sugar from foreign countries, if they thought it desirable so to do. it surely is worth while inquiring why Ireland should be an exception. We can understand that in England the labourer may be better engaged. He may have his sugar cheaper by getting it indirectly in exchange for his pottery, his calico, or his hardware, than if he were to produce it himself. We know not how this may be, but in Ireland the case is otherwise. A vast amount of labour here is but partially employed, and in no case is it so highly paid as in England. A great amount of land is at present very imperfectly cultivated, and is at the same time admirably adapted for the produce of the beet-root. With the cheapness of labour, and the facility of rearing the beet, why should not the manufacture be successful? Why should it not be the case, in this instance, as it is with the linen trade, that agriculture and manufacture should advance together, each conferring mutual benefit on the other? The company which has been formed for the purpose of trying this experiment, have, as yet, but one factory-that at Mountmellick; and, allowing for the many disadvantages under which they started, the undertaking has so far given every indication of success. Mr. Maguire attaches to this manufacture the importance to which it is deservedly entitled; and goes, at considerable length, and with much care, into its several details. He also publishes a communication from Dr. William Sullivan, Chemist to the Museum of Irish Industry, who, by his various publications, has done more to promote and support this enterprise than, perhaps, any other man in the country. It appears that the undertaking has had much to contend against; and that if it has not been so encouraging in its results as its more sanguine supporters might have hoped for, this is attributable solely to the blundering management under which it was started. It seems that the fitting up of the machinery and arrangement of the building was committed to engineers who had never fitted up a sugar-factory before; that, consequently, all had to be remodelled; that they had no stores for the roots, whereby a great quantity was seriously deteriorated; that in the first season, they did not commence until the season was nearly over; and that in the last half, the best working months of the year the period from the first of August to the middle of October, during which the root contains the greatest amount of sugar, and yields it most readily-were lost. Such gross mismanagement, we may hope, is not likely to be repeated. Yet, notwithstanding all, Dr. Sullivan declares that he can say, from a knowledge of the raw beet sugars of the Continent, that he has seen none which at all equalled that at Mountmellick; and the company have been enabled to declare a dividend offour per cent. on the half-year. This latter result, no doubt, is, in a great measure, attributable to the fancy price which the sugar brought, as being Irish; still, however, enough appeared to give full warrant of success, if reasonable diligence be but exercised. The average yield of the season was above five per cent. of sugar, being one per cent. more, as Dr. Sullivan informs us, than was obtained in Germany or Belgium, when the manufacture was first established; and, at the same time, one and a-half per cent. less than would have been produced had the factory worked during the first three months of the regular season. The cost of producing a ton of sugar was about £23-this for the mere working expenses. He does not include, on the one hand, the value of the pulp, scum (or manure), and mo lasses; nor does he charge, on the other, the cost of management, rent, and the interest on capital. He sets these several items off one against the other; which, we would presume, is reasonable enough, provided the former could readily be sold. He, however, arrives at the conclusion, that if the full season of six months had been worked out, the cost of producing one ton of sugar would have been but £20, or even £18; adding to the former sum the duty, would bring it to £30 a ton, or 30s. per cwt.-a price, certainly, which, if the quality be at all good, ought to enable it to realise a considerable profit. Mr. Maguire illustrates the extent to which the agricultural interests of the country may be affected by the success of this manufacture, in the following manner. He assumes, of course, only for the purpose of the statement, that the same proportion of beet-root sugar might be consumed with us as is consumed in the countries of the Continent-that is, one-half, and proceeds thus: "This half would be 25,000 tons, and might be valued at £1,000,000. To produce this 25,000 tons of sugar, it would require 400,000 tons of beet, or the produce of 16,000 acres of land, allowing the fair and moderate average of 25 tons to every acre. Taking each ton of beet at 15s.-the price now paid for it at the factory in Mountmellick-the total amount paid to the growers of this crop would be £300,000. A well-conducted factory would be capable of producing 500 tons of sugar in the year, and would therefore require 8,000 tons of beetor sixteen tons of beet to one ton of sugar. Now, to supply half the quantity of sugar consumed in this country, fifty factories would be necessary. As each factory gives employment to 200 persons-that of Mountmellick already does so-fifty factories would afford employment to 10,000 persons; and as each person so employed may on the average be said to represent four more, that number would represent 50,000 in all."— p. 384. When we turn, however, to that which is pre-eminently the manufacture of Ireland its agriculture- we have every reason to rejoice in the result. We find, in the first place, that farms are becoming consolidated to a reasonable size, sufficient to allow of their being profitably worked. It appears, by the report of the Commissioners of the Census of 1851, that of farms between one and five acres, there is a decrease, since the preceding census of 1841, of 222,292 holdings; of farms between five and fifteen acres, again a decrease of 60,924 holdings; while of farms between fifteen and thirty acres, there is an increase of 61,973; and of those exceeding thirty acres, of 100,467. We also find, from the same source, that the amount of land in cultivation has been, within the same period, increased by 1,338,281 acres; and the number of horned cattle by 1,104,345. No doubt, the Irish provision trade has fallen off considerably, owing to the competition of foreign countries; but it is gratifying to know that this is not owing to any want of energy or skill in our agriculturists — it sank before irresistible influences. Under the operation of free trade, the trade which was formerly exclusively our own, is now thrown open to the unrestricted competition of the whole world. This alone might be sufficient to account for its decline; but other causes have also been in operation. The profits formerly realised by the Irish provision curer, are now to no inconsiderable extent transferred to the Irish grazier. Mr. Maguire well observes, that facilities of transport have now become so great, that, instead of sending provisions in casks, we send them on four legs. The export trade in cattle has become one of immense and constantly growing importance. One branch, moreover, of the provision trade we have temporarily lost, from the want of the raw material; Irish bacon, although it fully sustains its former reputation for quality, and commands the highest price in the London market, is yet much reduced in its export, since the famine of 1847 annihilated the small cottier, and with him the pig. It seems astonishing to learn, that while the export of pigs, in 1847, was 480,827, it had fallen, in 1850, to 68,058. But if the Irish provision trade yielded before these irresistible influences, we rejoice to know that not only has the trade of the grazier become more extensive and more profitable, but other agricultural interests are daily extending or springing into existence. Since 1847, the butter trade of the south of Ireland has nearly doubled. The receipts in the Cork market for the year ending March, 1853, amounted to 400,000 firkins, one-half of which was exported to the West Indies, the Mediterranean, but chiefly to the Brazils, with which country we have a large and constantly increasing trade. Again, Mr. Maguire gives a highly interesting account of the success of a Mr. Latham, in the neighbourhood of Fermoy, in the manufacture of cheese, refuting thus the old notion that no good butter country was well adapted for cheese, and introducing into the country a new and valuable article of diet. But is it not a sad reproach that, in referring to this, which may be so important an acquisition to the resources of the land, we record again the lack of Irish enterprise; that we should be constrained to say, in the language of Mr. Maguire-"For this service we have to thank an Englishman, who has had the courage to risk his capital and his character in what must have seemed to most persons a desperate enterprise, and the fortitude to encounter difficulties which would have daunted and discouraged most other men." What, then, is the sum of the whole matter? How stands the account of Ireland's industry? What are her hopes for the future? In agriculture, we would say unhesitatingly, they are of the most cheering character; all the established interests are progressing steadily-new interests are coming into being; and one hitherto but imperfectly developed the flax trade is springing forward with unexampled energy, and giving a moral assurance, that before half-a-dozen years shall have passed by, it will have outstripped them all. Nor can we conceal from ourselves the extent to which the agricultural interests have been served by the disencumbering of the landed estates a process, no doubt, which has occasioned much misery-a process whereby sad affliction was brought on many, themselves most estimable in every relation of life, and who now bitterly suffer for the recklessness of their forefathers, but still a process which we apprehend must be admitted to have materially facilitated all dealing with landed property; and so to have improved the position of both proprietor and tenant. In manufacture we have one interest to point to, and but one, which speaks favourably for the past, or gives certain promise for the future-the linen trade. As to our natural resources, we may congratu late ourselves on the possession of a fertile soil, and a hardy, unskilled, but intelligent and docile working class. What, then, are the items on the other side of the account? what are the difficulties which obstruct us? - we pause not upon our want of mineral wealth, for that is comparatively unimportant; we come to that which really is the cause of our backward position -the want of commercial spirit among those who should be the employers of the country, the middle classes. If ever there was a time in the history of the country when such a spirit might be expected to arise, it is the presenta social revolution, the greatest, perhaps, that ever was peaceably accomplished, has passed over the land. Onetwelfth of the soil of Ireland has already changed owners; eleven hundred landlords have made way for a new proprietary, nearly four thousand in number. Might it not be expected that in a time of such change, amongst the class from whom the commercial ranks should be supplied, some disposition to engage in them might be manifested? We confess that we look in vain for any such indication. The desk, the counter, and the factory seem to be abhorrent to the genius of the Irishman; he approaches them with aversion, and flies from them so soon as he can get free. Day after day, we see small sums invested in purchases of land, under the Incumbered Estates Court, at five per cent., or often not more than four per cent., which same sums in trade, and judiciously superintended, would yield three times that annual income. On this point, we certainly can see at present little hope of improvement, and can offer none. It remains but to add a few words with reference to the sources of infor "The Industrial Movement in Ireland, as illustrated by the National Exhibition of 1852." By John Francis Maguire, M.P., Mayor of Cork. Cork: John O'Brien, 45, Patrickstreet; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; Dublin: James McGlashan. 1853. "The Exhibition Expositor." Printed and published in the Exhibition Building. Gunn and Cameron, proprietors. mation from which we have so largely drawn. Mr. Maguire's work contains all the information that could possibly be required on the subject of which it treats. It reflects the highest credit on its author. Having, from his position in connexion with the Cork Exhibition of last year, had large opportunities of collecting information on these interesting and important topics, Mr. Maguire felt that he could do some service by completing that information, and leaving it on record. If he had consulted only his reputation as a writer, he probably would have taken more time, and adopted a different arrangement; but the book was writ. ten to be of use, and all who derive instruction from its pages, as every one must do, will feel that Mr. Maguire has earned the much higher reputation of having discarded every selfish consideration, and published this work purely to serve the industry of the country. It is complete, honest, and discriminating. The Expositor is a work of a wholly different character; it constitutes of itself a very feature of our late Exhibition. It was published weekly in the Exhibition Building, where it was printed, and it contained : articles, many of them of the very highest class, written by the most eminent men, on the various branches of practical science, art, and manufacture, which were illustrated in the Exhibition. It published engravings of the most remarkable objects, and contained general observations on the Exhibition itself, its progress and management, and on the manner in which its objects might be best advanced. It deduced from the collection the various lessons which it was calculated to teach and it illustrated and enforced them while attention was aroused, and the public mind directed to these subjects. It thus increased tenfold the utility and the enjoyment of the Exhibition; and, both for its conception and execution, reflected the utmost credit on its enterprising conductors. And yet they have been losers by the undertaking. It seems hardly credible, but so it is, that with a weekly attendance of visitors averaging 48,000, the average of the weekly sales of this excellent publication should not have exceeded 5,000. So much, unfortunately, for the interest taken by Ireland in industrial pursuits. |