are now agreed would, if enacted, have brought Ireland to the verge of bankruptcy within a few years of its coming into operation. In the place of that disastrous proposal the Unionists substituted the constructive policy of fostering the economic development of Ireland, first by Land Purchase, and later by generous agricultural and development grants. The constructive policy of the Unionists, which was cordially adopted by their successors in office, has been completely justified by the result. Ireland is now more prosperous than she has ever been at any period of her history; and the Irish people are deeply indebted to the Unionists for having saved them from the measure which their political friends sought to impose upon the United Kingdom in 1893. The Irish trade returns afford striking evidence of the improvement in the economic condition of that country. There is a gap in the official returns from 1826 to 1904; but it may be pointed out that in 1895 the late Sir Robert Giffen estimated the value of the exports at about 20,000,000l. and that of the imports at about 25,000,000Z., making a total of only 45,000,000l., or not much more than one-third of their present value. Between 1904 and 1910 the value of the external trade of Ireland increased from 103,790,000l. to 130,888,000l.-a growth of 27,098,000l., or 26 per cent. Within that period there was a decrease of 1.7 per cent. in the population; so that, on a per capita basis, the actual increase in the value of Irish trade during the period referred to was 27.2 per cent. This compares with an increase of only 22.8 per cent. in the value per head of the external trade of the United Kingdom within the same period. The gross assessments to income tax also show that the economic condition of the Irish people is improving at a more rapid rate than that of the people of Great Britain. Between 1900 and 1910 the gross amount of income brought under the review of the Inland Revenue Department, in respect of England and Wales, increased from 682,020,000l. to 877,888,000l. a growth of 195,868,000Z., or 28.7 per cent.; but on a per capita basis the increase was only 14.7 per cent. Within the same period Scotland's increase, on a per capita basis, was only 12 per cent. The gross assessment of Ireland in 1900 was 33,501,000l., and in 1910 it was 40,192,000l.-an increase of 6,691,000l., or 20 per cent.; or, allowing for the decrease of population, an increase per head of 21 per cent. The statistics as to the net capital value of property on which Estate Duty was paid afford further confirmation of the same view. During the four years 1897-1900 the average annual value in the case of England and Wales was 217,520,000l.; in the four years 1908-11 it was 237,505,000l., showing an increase of 19,985,000l., or 9.1 per cent.; but, allowing for the increase of population, there was an actual decrease per head of 3 per cent. In the case of Ireland, the average amount for the first period was 12,190,000l., and for the second 13,248,000Z., showing an increase of 1,058,000l., or 8.6 per cent. But on a per capita basis, the increase in the case of Ireland was 11 per cent. · The banking statistics indicate, even more clearly than the Income Tax and the trade returns, the striking advance that has taken place within recent years in the well-being of the people of Ireland. The Banking Supplement of the Economist' of October 21, 1911, shows that between 1901 and 1911 the deposits in the Joint Stock Banks of England and Wales increased by 162,454,000Z., or 25.5 per cent. Within the same period the deposits in the Scottish Joint Stock Banks decreased by 714,000l. or 0.7 per cent.; while the deposits of the Irish Joint Stock Banks increased from 48,428,000l. to 65,418,000l., an expansion of 16,990,000l., or 35 per cent. On a per capita basis there was an increase in the case of the English and Welsh banks of 13.4 per cent.; in the case of the Scottish banks a decrease of 7 per cent. ; and in the case of the Irish banks an increase of no less than 37 per cent. The railway returns point irresistibly to the same conclusion. Between 1896 and 1910 the gross receipts of the railways of Great Britain increased by 32,811,000l., or 37.8 per cent. During the same period the gross receipts of the Irish railways advanced from 3,478,000l. to 4,474,0007. -an increase of 996,000l., or 28.6 per cent. But again, making the comparison on a per capita basis, we find that, while in the case of Great Britain the increase was only 18.5 per cent., in Ireland it was 34 per cent. It is not unreasonable to claim that another ten years of the present constructive policy would bring Ireland into such a condition of prosperity as would remove Home Rule from the category of urgent political questions, and render Ireland a contented as well as an integral part of the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the adoption of the present Bill would jeopardise the whole fabric of Irish finance; it would inevitably check her economic development, and could not fail to embitter her relations with Great Britain. So far as it is possible to form an opinion, the present Bill cannot become law, in the most favourable circumstances, until at least two years have elapsed. The protagonists of Federal Home Rule might be fairly asked to join the Unionists in a demand that the interval should be employed in an investigation of the economic position of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and of their financial relations with each other. If a Royal Commission were appointed to enquire into the true revenue, the true expenditure, the taxable capacity, and the fair contribution to Imperial Services of each division of the United Kingdom, there might be some ground for hope that Parliament would be in a position, if the majority of the people of Ireland still expressed a strong desire for self-government, to enact a measure of Home Rule for Ireland which would be equitable to her three partners, consistent with a comprehensive system of Federal Government, and likely to afford a reasonable prospect of finality. If the peoples of England, Scotland and Wales should then manifest an overwhelming desire for a form of government similar to that which it is proposed to concede to Ireland, material would be available for the framing of a scheme of Federal Government which would be fair and honourable to all the peoples comprised in the United Kingdom. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 433. PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER, 1912. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. NEW YORK: LEONARD SCOTT PUBLICATION COMPANY. 1912. GENERAL INDEX TO THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 401, forming Volume CCI., and containing a General Index to the volumes from CLXXXII. to CC. of the QUARTERLY REVIEW, is Now Ready. The QUARTERLY REVIEW is published on or about the 15th of Price Twenty-four Shillings per Annum, post free. LONDON: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, |