V 320 MINUTES OF E V I D E N C E T A K E N B E F O R E T HE Mr G Battersby i ' 3721. Then in such a case he lives upon the land besides paying the rent; J' and'would not his meaning, in saying that the utmost a man could pay would be 19 June 1838. 17. \ 0s. a year, be 1 I. 10 s. a year over a subsistence for himself ?— He might have meant that. . 13722. Mr. French.] You stated that most of that poor class ol persons lived otherwise than by the land ; do you mean to assert that as a fact ?— I mean to assert that as a fact. . 13723. That most of the small landholders m Ireland holding seven or eight acres live otherwise than by the land ?— They do. 13724. Tell me how ?— By a great variety of means ; a great number of them in the part of the country with which I am best acquainted earn their livelihood by means of dealing in oats; buying oats at some distance from the sea- port, and carrying them to the sea- port; a great many others burn lime and sell it; and a great many others of those small holders work as day labourers when they can get work, and when they cannot get work elsewhere they labour upon their farms. 13725. What portion of the year do you consider they are employed by others ?— The class of persons of whom I now speak I cannot specify any parti- cular period of the year during which they are employed ; there are many who are employed throughout the whole year, and there are many more who are only employed from April to November. 13726. You mean there are persons holding seven or eight acres of land employed throughout the whole year ?— 1 believe they are ; I have known some. 13727. You have stated that a certain proportion of these persons are carriers ; now the persons carrying of course cannot be at all like the number of persons holding; each person does not carry his own oats ; will you tell me what pro- portion you calculate the carriers of the holders of seven or eight acres ?— I cannot form any opinion of that; I know the practice is general in the part of the country I am acquainted with, but as to the particular proportion of persons I cannot state. 13728. What proportion should you say pay their rent by burning lime?— I cannot say; it is a common practice and a usual custom; but the number I cannot say. 13729. By whom is the lime bought ?— It is bought frequently by the larger farmers for the purpose of manure, and then it is bought by persons who happen to build in the neighbourhood, or for any public work that happens from time to time. 13730. There is a great demand for lime ?— There is, at least in the part of the country I know there is a very extensive demand for lime ; it is the easiest and cheapest, and, under all circumstances, the best manure they can get. 13731 • Chairman.] What part of Ireland are you now alluding to ?— I am now speaking of the part of Meath, adjoining Cavan; but I have seen it in other parts, and some of the Committee are probably aware, that in the county of Armagh there is a great demand. 13732. Are you sufficiently acquainted with the mode of life of this class of persons living there to be able to state, with any degree of accuracy, whether such be the custom or not ?—' That it is the custom, and a general custom, I can state with certainty; but as to the number I cannot say. 13733- I now refer to the King's County; can you state that such is the custom in the King's County ?— I am not acquainted with the habits of the people in the King's County much. In the King's County many of them have a trade in turf, which they have not in other parts ; the canal runs through there, and many of them are employed in cutting turf for the purpose of having it transported to Dublin. 13734- Did anything of that sort transpire during your attendance on those registries, so as to enable you to state to the Committee what the mode of life is among that class ?— That such a practice exists I have had frequent oppor- tunities of hearing. 13735. At the registering sessions, has this practice, or any other similar ones, come out as connected with the King's County ?— 1 have no recollection of it it it did, but probably it may; I do not recollect that it did. 13736. You are aware that a great proportion of the soil of Ireland is what they call a limestone soil ?— Yes. 13737. Have