Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland: Being a Tourist's Guide to Its Most Beautiful Scenery & an Archæologist's Manual for Its Most Interesting RuinsRussell, Thomas O'Neill
History
Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland: Being a Tourist's Guide to Its Most Beautiful Scenery & an Archæologist's Manual for Its Most Interesting Ruins
Russell, Thomas O'Neill
Ireland -- Antiquities; Ireland -- Description and travel
There is something connected with the census of Dublin published in Thom's
directory from official documents which may be more interesting to some
than any description of the Irish capital, however graphic. This something
is an evident error that has, by some means, been made in enumeration of
its inhabitants. According to the published census, there were in round
numbers 13,000 more people in Dublin in 1851 than in 1891; and only 14,000
more in county and city included in 1891 than in 1851. There is a gross
error here, for between the two epochs mentioned, the increase in what is
generally known as the metropolitan district has been so great that it is
visible to anyone who has been familiar with Dublin for forty years. It is
known that since 1851 nearly 25,000 houses have been erected in city and
county. That number of houses would represent at least 100,000 people, but
it only represents 14,000 according to the census, or two-thirds of a
person to each house! It may be said that a great many houses have been
pulled down in the city since 1851. True, there have; but ten have been
built since then for the one that has been pulled down. There are at least
a dozen streets, large and small, in Dublin, the population of which is
four times greater than it was in 1851; for there were no tenement houses
in those streets then, whereas they are all tenement houses now, and
consequently there are four or five families instead of one in each house.
The great increase in the population of Dublin during the last forty or
forty-five years is quite apparent in the more crowded state of the
thoroughfares. It seems not only probable, but certain, from all the data
that can be got at outside the census, that there are from fifty to one
hundred thousand more people in what is known as the metropolitan district
of Dublin than is shown by the published census. This will go far to
account for the weekly death-rate of Dublin being generally higher than
that of any other city in these islands; for if the weekly number of
deaths is based on a population less than what it is, it will make the
weekly death-rate per thousand higher than it should be. This is a very
serious matter for Dublin, for nothing has a more detrimental effect on
the welfare of a city than getting the name of being unhealthy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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