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The return published in the year 1874 of the number of landed proprietors in Ireland, drew at once attention to their very limited number. The total acreage of Ireland is 20,047,572 acres, whilst the number of proprietors (excluding town holdings, but including even those who hold less than an acre) is only 19,228. But indeed almost half the island appears to belong to 742 favoured persons— 742 proprietors, holding each over 1,000 acres, own 9,830,332 acres, of which the government valuation is £4,140,414. The government valuation of the entire of Ireland, excluding towns, is £10,182,681. In England for many years there has been considerable complaint of the small number of proprietors; but contrasted with Ireland, their number is very considerable, probably fourteen times as many, whilst the acreage of England is not much more than a half greater than that of Ireland—viz., 29,179,622 acres.
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