Since that time the
Irish Agricultural Department has been created, and has undertaken the
collection and tabulation of such statistics. Turning to their latest
report we find that the imports had in 1910 attained the relatively
enormous figure of L65,000,000, and the exports L65,800,000, a total of
over L130,000,000 in place of nine or ten millions, at the very outside,
of the time of the Union. And it is worth noting in addition that, for
the first time in these recorded tables, Ireland's exports exceed her
imports.
But we are assured with triumphant and invincible despondency that
population has decreased alarmingly. The movements of population since
the time of the Union have been, it may be admitted, very remarkable,
but the figures are double-edged and require a more careful handling
than they generally receive. If we are to assume, as the prophets of
gloom will have it, that increase and decrease of population are an
infallible test of a country's growth or decay, then Ireland for nearly
half a century after the Union must have been the most prosperous
country in Europe.
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