afforded of ascertaining whether any part of most cases, the number of houses in each. — the country had been omitted. 3d. The name and situation of every street, square, lane, alley, court, or other combination of houses, in cities and corporate towns. -4th. The number of dwelling-houses in Ireland, whether inhabited, uninhabited, or building, together with the number of stories in each. — 5th. The number, names, and situation, of all public buildings in Ireland, such as places of worship, whether perfect or in a state of decay, barracks, school-houses, hospitals, infirmaries, lunatic asylums, prisons, penitentiaries, bridewells, mills, stores, &c. &c. The subject-matter of the five preceding articles supplies valuable materials towards a general survey of Ireland. Endeavours were made, during the same period, by calling on the enumerator for a tabular return to that effect, to obtain a statement of the number of acres in every townland throughout Ireland, with the view of ascertaining the density of the population comparatively with the extent of surface throughout its several divisions. This attempt, as was to have been expected, had not complete success. In some cases, the number returned expressed not the actual number according to measurement, but that according to which the local taxes are assessed; which number generally differs from, and, with few exceptions, is less than the former. In other cases, the extent of the territorial subdivisions is expressed by ploughlands, gneeves, or other antiquated and vague terms of measurement. In others again, particularly in mountainous tracts, lands are held and estimated solely by bulk or guess. In some of the northern counties great confusion also arose from the different kinds of measurement in use, even in the same parish.* When the enumerators' returns of the population, after having been submitted to an examination of the bench of magistrates at a subsequent sessions, were transmitted to the chief secretary's office, according to the provisions of the act, it was ascertained that every distinct or subordinate division of land in Ireland had been analysed, and the returns deposited, with the following exceptions:-Two baronies of the county of Cork, which were retained for some time by the enumerators, in consequence of a misconception as to the terms of remuneration, but which have since been received, duly authenticated:- The town of Belfast, which having been incorrectly executed by the enumerator first appointed, was subdivided, and committed to three other individuals, by whom it has been executed:— Part of the parish of Kilcummin in the county of Galway, and the island of Innismurry in the county of Sligo, both of which were omitted through misconception, but the returns of their population have since been received. The original returns, therefore, now lodged for preservation and reference in the Record Tower of Dublin Castle, contain the following "particulars:-1st. The name and situation of every townland, subdivision of townland, or other smallest territorial district, throughout Ireland, classed according to its parish, barony, and county; with the extent of the townland in many cases.-2d. The name of every town, village, and hamlet, in each county, with, in The superficial measures of land now in use in Ireland are, the Irish or plantation acre, the Cunningham, and the English acre. The difference between these arises from the different lengths of the perch used as a standard in cach; the Irish perch consisting of 21 feet, the Cuaning ham of 18-75 feet, and the English of 16-3 feet. These returns also contain,-6thly. The name, age, and occupation, of every individual residing in Ireland at the time of taking the census.-7thly. The number of families into which those individuals were combined.—8thly. The relationship by which the several members of each family are connected with each other, whether as kinsmen, apprentices, journeymen, servants, &c.-9thly. The quantity of land held by every individual in the townland in which he is resident :-and, 10thly. The number of schools throughout Ireland, with the number of pupils in each, distinguishing between males and females, and, in most instances, specifying the names of the teachers, and the foundations on which they are maintained. These original returns, embracing the various points of information above detailed, having been lodged in the Record Tower, as already stated, it became necessary to have them so arranged and digested, that the document now laid before parliament should be a faithful abstract or summary of their contents. In this view the whole was thrown into a tubular form; and as the returns have been made according to townlands (the smallest subdivision) in the counties at large, and, in corporate cities and towns, according to streets, lanes, alleys, &c., a general summary or register was prepared on the same basis; presenting in a single line, together with the name of each townland, the following particulars :- The number of dwelling-houses inhabited, uninhabited, and building; the number of families therein; the num ber of souls, classed according to sex, and also according to age; the specific occupation of every occupied resident in each townland, specifying, also, in the case of labourers, which is the most numerous class in the community. those constantly employed, those occasionally employed, and those unemployed; the schools and number of pupils, both male and female, în each; the number and size of farms held by landholders actually resident within the townland; and the public or otherwise uninhabited buildings, such as churches, chapels, meetinghouses, stores, mills, kilns, ruins, &c. &c. In thus classifying the contents of the enume. rators' returns, some points required con- (of their occupation, that they were in a great sideration. With respect to the houses, it measure connected with the family in whose was only necessary to examine whether any house they resided, or that they were not of an mistake had been made in the series of numbers, age to maintain themselves, they were consia circumstance that occurred occasionally, though dered as forming a part of such family. Strollby no means frequently: but as to the classi-ing beggars were, of course, considered as disfication according to families, an important and tinct families; and where met with on the road, very difficult question arose, as to what was to at a distance from their usual place of residence, be considered as a family. It is evident, that the enumerator was instructed to enter them as had the practical solution of this question been residing in the house in which they last lodged ; committed to the enumerators, much incongruity or if this could not be ascertained, to set down in the returns would have taken place, notwith- their names at the end of the enumeration of standing any general rules that might have been the townland in which they were found by him. previously laid down for the regulation of their Hence, in many instances, the number of conduct with respect to it, in consequence of the families considerably exceeds that of the houses diversity of opinion in different parts of the returned. Where a number of individuals, apcountry as to what constitutes a family. This parently unconnected by the bonds of relationwas therefore one of the points, the decision of ship, were congregated together, as in the case which was to be regulated from an inspection of of large public establishments, such as barracks, all the returns, on their final arrangement and infirmaries, and prisons, the following distinction digest. The original returns, by specifying | was adopted: In cases where the individuals particularly the various ties of connexion by were permanently supported in consequence of their connexion with, or residence in, such establishment, as soldiers in a barrack, they were considered as separate families; but when they were received for a limited period, or for some special purpose, they were deemed to form a part of the family to which they had heretofore belonged, and were therefore not considered as constituting separate families in their present residence. This rule was applied to patients in infirmaries, to resident pupils in colleges and schools, to prisoners in confinement, and other similar cases. Some instances occurred to which some of the preceding rules were inapplicable, but the number was so small as to be unworthy of notice in the general result. which the inmates of the same house were united, afforded ample means for laying down general rules for the persons employed in the classification; and the process being carried on under the immediate inspection of those by whom its principles had been formed, induced stricter adherence to their application, as well as immediate means of solving any doubtful cases. The leading rules adopted in this part of the classification were, that all the souls residing in the same house, and supported by the same head, were to be deemed one family. Thus, a householder and his married children, or two brothers holding a farm in common, were considered as one family. The specification of the number of acres held by each individual tended much to remove doubts in this process; thus, in the instances just adduced, if the head of the family, or the elder brother, had a number of acres annexed to his name, and the sons or other brother none, these latter were looked upon as branches still attached to the main stock: but if it appeared, from the return of the number of acres, that they held land separate from that of the father or elder brother, they were then considered as having formed separate establishments, though still residing under the same roof; and therefore were classed as separate families. Resident apprentices and journeymen were considered as appertaining to the family from which they derived their instruction and maintenance. Resident labourers, being considered as servants, were classed according to the same principle. Orphans, children at nurse, and idiots, were also considered as part of the family by which they were maintained. An individual occupying a house was of necessity effect was, generally speaking, produced; but as considered as constituting a family. Lodgers also, when of full age, and maintaining themselves from their own resources, were thus considered; but when it appeared, from the nature In the classification of sexes no difficulty occurred. With respect to the ages, it must be evident that the nature of the inquiry precluded that minute accuracy which it was desirable to attain in this part of the proceedings under the act. It is also to be regretted, that a deviation in some counties from the recommendation in the instructions, relative to the qualifications of the enumerators, occasioned increased difficulty. It had been hoped, by selecting the enumerators from among those classes whose habits and employments made them personally acquainted with the families resident within their respective districts, and by confining their operations within a space that could be minutely investigated within a short period of time, that the solution of the question, as to ages, could have been attained with no small degree of precision, without any interference with the feelings and prejudices so prevalent on this point. Where the recommendation had been attended to, this the wording of the act was somewhat vague with respect to the qualifications of enumerators, and the extent of their districts, it was thought, in some counties, that its objects would be better attained by appointing persons from the higher | frequent occurrence in one column, at the end of each parish or barony. This enlarged system of classification, by means of which the actual occupations of the whole population of Ireland would have been spread out as in a picture, or on a map, and the local varieties would have been specified with a minuteness adequate to the value of the information, has been since con. tracted, in conformity with the mode adopted in the census of Great Britain, into three columns, specifying merely the number of persons chiefly occupied in agriculture, those in manufactures, and those in occupations not included under either of the former heads. Means, however, exist, in consequence of the manner in which the census of Ireland has been taken and arranged, of furnishing, if deemed necessary, a more particular detail. The columns containing the account of the number and sizes of farms held by resident occupiers, were undertaken with a view of distin classes, and giving these the inspection of a large district. Hence, besides some other disadvantages, the personal knowledge of the enumerators was often inadequate to check misinformation on this point, or to correct it in cases of apparent error or inconsistency. The principle adopted in this part of the classification, in some degree corrects any defects that may have arisen from the foregoing circumstances. The ages are arranged, as in the English census, in a decimal progression as far as 100, those of that age and upwards being specially noticed in the form of return prescribed by the act. The inaccuracy of a few years between any of the decimal divisions, is therefore unattended with any ill consequences. It is necessary, however, to be known, that though in the digest hereunto annexed the ages are thus classified according to the forms adopted in the census of Great Britain, the actual numbers of the ages, classified according to years, can be had, in conse-guishing between the farmer and labourer, two quence of the mode adopted in framing the tables for every county, barony, parish, or other subdivision of Ireland, on referring to the papers in which the several parts of this process have been entered; and which are carefully preserved, along with the original returns from which they have been extracted. It may also be proper to remark, that the compilation of the part of those tables containing the sexes and ages, have been carried on by processes totally unconnected with each other, so as to make the one a check upon the other; and the work was in no instance deemed satisfactory until the results of both, by a repetition of the peculiar process of each, were found to coincide. It is evident that if the enumerators had not been required to return the name and age of every individual, or if this secondary process of arrangement had been intrusted to them, the same confidence could not be placed in the results now laid before parliament. The occupations were, in the first instance, thrown into classes precisely according to the words made use of by the enumerators in describing them; but as it not unfrequently happened that the same occupation was expressed under a different name by different enumerators, and sometimes even by the same person in different parts of his return, such deviations were cautiously corrected; in order that this division of the tabular form should give an accurate account of the number of actual occupations and the number of persons engaged on each. The occupations, thus arranged, were classed under the more general heads of, Agricultural, Manufacturing, Handicraft, &c. Trading, Liberal Professions, Other Occupations, &c. still however retaining under each of these heads the particulars above recited; observing only, in order to avoid the multiplication of columns, to place the occupations of more un classes of people, which, in many instances, are not very easily distinguishable in Ireland; it was also adopted on the principle of collecting whatever collateral information could be procured, without increase of trouble or time to the person employed. The classification was proceeded upon under the following arrangement, which it was thought would convey some useful information as to the state and circum. stances of a large portion of the population of the country; viz. farms under two acres, under five, under ten, under twenty, under fifty, under one hundred, and of one hundred acres and upwards. To this part of the classification, though omitted in the abstract for parliament, the concluding observation of the remarks relative to the occupations is applicable. Such parts of the miscellaneous information, collected on the principle stated in the preceding paragraph, as were deemed useful to elucidate the circumstances of the census, have been annexed, in the following Abstract, in the form of Notes: what has not been thought directly applicable, has been preserved as in the similar previous cases. The mass of information relative to this part of the empire, which was thus collected and digested in a tabular form, has been again reduced into a series of summaries. The totals of the columns comprehending the materials collected in each townland, forming the summary for a parish; those of parishes united, that of a barony; those of a barony, that of a county; those of a county, that of a province; those of the four provinces united, giving the summary of all those important particulars for the whole of Ireland. From this tabular digest the following Abstract was prepared; and in forming it, another process of condensation and abbreviation became necessary, in order to maintain a uniformity of appearance with that of Great Britain, as close as the different principle on which the details were collected would permit. of pupils, both male and female, and the nature Instead of townlands, parishes are adopted, as of the endowment (if any) by which they were the smallest subdivision, which, together with maintained. These particulars were deemed of the population, &c. of the towns and larger sufficient importance to justify their admission villages included in each parish, when combined, into the Abstract prepared for Parliament, in give the summaries of baronies, and so on, as which they appear in columns, containing a above stated. All the particulars relative to the statement of the number of children, both male ages have been condensed into a summary, ac- and female, actually receiving public instruction cording to counties, as are also those of the at the time of taking the census. When the occupations, for the sake of uniformity with the schools received the whole or part of their English Abstract. support from eleemosynary sources, the particulars, both as to the nature of the foundation and the names of the contributors, have also been given in the column of observations. The statement of the number of schools and pupils is the only instance of a deviation from the principle of assimilation just now noticed. The instructions given to the enumerators on this point were precise and particular; they were to inform themselves, not only of the situation of every school within their district, but also of the names of the teachers, the number These preliminary observations are succeeded by detailed Returns, which occupy nearly four hundred folio pages. The following is a summary of them. M |