The public debt of Ireland amounted to over £134,000,000 in 1817, in which year it was consolidated with the British national debt.
Local Taxation.—The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 effected considerable changes in local finance. The fiscal duties of the grand jury were abolished, and the county council which took the place of the grand jury for both fiscal and administrative purposes was given three sources of revenue: (1) the agricultural grant, (2) the licence duties and other imperial grants, and (3) the poor rate. These may be considered separately. (1) It was provided that the Local Government Board should ascertain the amount of county cess and poor rate levied off agricultural land in Ireland during the year ending (as regards the poor rate) on the 29th of September, and (as regards the county cess) on the 21st of June 1897; and that half this amount, to be called the agricultural grant, should be paid annually without any variation from the original sum out of the consolidated fund to a local taxation account. The amount of the agricultural grant was ascertained to be over £727,000. Elaborate provisions were also made in the act for fixing the proportion of the grant to which each county should be entitled, and the lord-lieutenant was empowered to pay half-yearly the proportion so ascertained to the county council. (2) Before the passing of the act grants were made from the imperial exchequer to the grand juries in aid of the maintenance of lunatics and to boards of guardians for medical and educational purposes and for salaries under the Public Health (Ireland) Act. In 1897 these grants amounted to over £236,000. Under the Local Government Act they ceased, and in lieu thereof it was provided that there should be annually paid out of the consolidated fund to the local taxation account a sum equal to the duties collected in Ireland on certain specified local taxation licences. In addition, it was enacted that a fixed sum of £79,000 should be forthcoming annually from the consolidated fund. (3) The county cess was abolished, and the county councils were empowered to levy a single rate for the rural districts and unions, called by the name of poor rate, for all the purposes of the act. This rate is made upon the occupier and not upon the landlord, and the occupier is not entitled, save in a few specified cases, to deduct any of the rate from his rent. For the year ending the 31st of March 1905, the total receipts of the Irish county councils, exclusive of the county boroughs, were £2,964,298 and their total expenditure was £2,959,961, the two chief items of expenditure being “Union Charges” £1,002,620 and “Road Expenditure” £779,174. During the same period the total receipts from local taxation in Ireland amounted to £4,013,303, and the amount granted from imperial sources in aid of local taxation was £1,781,143.
Loans.—The total amount issued on loan, exclusive of closed sources, by the Commissioners of Public Works, up to the 31st of March 1906, was £26,946,393, of which £15,221,913 had been repaid to the exchequer as principal and £9,011,506 as interest, and £1,609,694 had been remitted. Of the sums advanced, about £5,500,000 was under the Improvement of Lands Acts, nearly £3,500,000 under the Public Health Acts, over £3,000,000 for lunatic asylums, and over £3,000,000 under the various Labourers Acts.
Banking.—The Bank of Ireland was established in Dublin in 1783 with a capital of £600,000, which was afterwards enlarged at various times, and on the renewal of its charter in 1821 it was increased to £3,000,000. It holds in Ireland a position corresponding to the Bank of England in England. There are eight other joint-stock banks in Ireland. Including the Bank of Ireland, their subscribed capital amounts to £26,349,230 and their paid-up capital to £7,309,230. The authorized note circulation is £6,354,494 and the actual note circulation in June 1906 was £6,310,243, two of the banks not being banks of issue. The deposits in the joint-stock banks amounted in 1880 to £29,350,000; in 1890 to £33,061,000; in 1900 to £40,287,000; and in 1906 to £45,842,000. The deposits in the Post Office Savings Banks rose from £1,481,000 in 1880 to £10,459,000 in 1906, and the deposits in Trustee Savings Banks from £2,100,165 in 1880 to £2,488,740 in 1905.
National Wealth.—To arrive at any estimate of the national wealth is exceptionally difficult in the case of Ireland, since the largest part of its wealth is derived from agriculture, and many important factors, such as the amount of capital invested in the linen and other industries, cannot be included, owing to their uncertainty. The following figures for 1905-1906 may, however, be given: valuation of lands, houses, &c., £15,466,000; value of principal crops, £35,362,000; value of cattle, &c., £81,508,000; paid-up capital and reserve funds of joint-stock banks, £11,300,000; deposits in joint-stock and savings banks, £58,791,000; investments in government stock, transferable at Bank of Ireland, £36,952,000; paid-up capital and debentures of railway companies, £38,405,000; paid-up capital of tramway companies, £2,074,000.
In 1906 the net value of property assessed to estate duty, &c., in Ireland was £16,016,000 as compared with £306,673,000 in England and £38,451,000 in Scotland; and in 1905 the net produce of the income tax in Ireland was £983,000, as compared with £27,423,000 in England and £2,888,000 in Scotland.
Bibliography.—Agriculture: Accounts of the land systems of Ireland will be found in James Godkin’s Land War in Ireland (1870); Sigerson’s History of Land Tenure in Ireland (1871); Joseph Fisher’s History of Land Holding in Ireland (1877); R. B. O’Brien’s History of the Irish Land Question (1880); A. G. Richey’s Irish Land Laws (1880). General information will be found in J. P. Kennedy’s Digest of the evidence given before the Devon Commission (Dublin, 1847-1848); the Report of the Bessborough Commission, 1881, and of the commission on the agriculture of the United Kingdom, 1881. The Department of Agriculture publishes several official annual reports, dealing very fully with Irish agriculture.
Manufactures and Commerce: Discourse on the Woollen Manufacture of Ireland (1698); An Inquiry into the State and Progress of the Linen Manufacture in Ireland (Dublin, 1757); G. E. Howard, Treatise on the Revenue of Ireland (1776); John Hely Hutchinson, Commercial Restraints of Ireland (1779); Lord Sheffield, Observations on the Manufactures, Trade and Present State of Ireland (1785); R. B. Clarendon, A Sketch of the Revenue and Finances of Ireland (1791); the annual reports of the Flax Supply Association and other local bodies, published at Belfast; reports by the Department of Agriculture on Irish imports and exports (these are a new feature and contain much valuable information).
Miscellaneous: Sir William Petty, Political Anatomy of Ireland (1691); Arthur Dobbs, Essay on the Trade of Ireland (1729); Abstract of the Number of Protestant and Popish Families in Ireland (1726); Arthur Young, Tour in Ireland (1780); T. Newenham, View of the Circumstances of Ireland (1809), and Inquiry into the Population of Ireland (1805); César Moreau, Past and Present State of Ireland (1827); J. M. Murphy, Ireland, Industrial, Political and Social (1870); R. Dennis, Industrial Ireland (1887); Grimshaw, Facts and Figures about Ireland (1893); Report of the Recess Committee (1896, published in Dublin); Report of the Financial Relations Commission (1897); Sir H. Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (London, 1905); Filson Young, Ireland at the Cross-Roads (London, 1904); Thom’s Almanac, published annually in Dublin, gives a very useful summary of statistics and other information.
(W. H. Po.)