Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CHAP. IV.: How to enable the People of England and Ireland to spend 5 Millions worth of Commodities more than now: And how to raise the present Value of the Lands and Goods of Ireland from 2 to 3. - The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 2

Return to Title Page for The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 2

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Economics

CHAP. IV.: How to enable the People of England and Ireland to spend 5 Millions worth of Commodities more than now: And how to raise the present Value of the Lands and Goods of Ireland from 2 to 3. - Sir William Petty, The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, vol. 2 [1681]

Edition used:

The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, together with The Observations upon Bills of Mortality, more probably by Captain John Graunt, ed. Charles Henry Hull (Cambridge University Press, 1899), 2 vols.

Part of: The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, 2 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


CHAP. IV.

How to enable the People of England and Ireland to spend 5 Millions worth of Commodities more than now: And how to raise the present Value of the Lands and Goods of Ireland from 2 to 3.

THis is to be done. 1. By bringing one Million of the present 1300 Thousand of the People out of Ireland into England, tho’ at the Expence of a Million of Money. 2. That the remaining 300 Thousand left behind be all Herdsmen and Dairy-Women, Servants to the Owners of the Lands and Stock Transplanted into England; all aged between 16 and 60 Years, and to quit all other Trades, but that of Cattle, and to import nothing but Salt and Tobacco. Neglecting all Housing, but what is fittest for these 300 Thousand People, and this Trade, tho’ to the Loss of 2 Millions-worth of Houses. Now if a Million of People be worth 70l. per Head one with another, the whole are worth 70 Millions; then the sd People, reckon'd as Money at 5 per Cent. Interest, will yield 3 Millions and a half per Ann. (3.) And1 if Ireland send into England 1 Million and a half worth of Effects (receiving nothing back) Then England will be enriched from Ireland, and otherwise, 5 Millions per Ann. more than now: Which, at 20 Year's Purchase, is worth one Hundred Millions of Pounds Sterling, as was propounded. Now to prove the People thus Transplanted worth 70l. per Head: I say first, That the present Rents of all the Lands of Ireland doth not exceed 1200 Thousand Pounds per Ann. Nor does it appear, by the Civil Survey of Ireland, to have been even2 so much before the Commotions Anno 1641. Moreover the Value of all the Stock of Ireland exceeds not 6 Millions; the Interest whereof, at 10 per Cent. is 600 Thousand Pounds, and the Rent of the Housing to be neglected, not above 200 Thousand Pounds per Ann. in all 2 Millions. The Expence of 1300 Thousand People (at 5l. per Head per Ann. one with another) is 6 ½ Millions: Out of which deducting the said 2 Millions for the Lands, Housing and Stock, the Remainder is 4½ Millions: Which, at 20 Year's Purchase is worth 90 Millions, each Head must be worth very near 70 Pounds1 .

An ordinary Artisan earns 20d. per Diem, or 26l. per Ann. and may live very well upon 12l. and save 14l. per Ann. Which, at 10 Year's Purchase for a Life, makes 140l. the Double of 70l., the Medium between1 & 140.

If the Rents of the Lands of England and Wales be 11 Millions, when the People are bucv t 7 Millions, then the Addition of another Million will make the Rents image Part more than now, and the Number of Year's Purchase will be image more also: So as the Land will rise from 7 Times 7 (which is 49) to 8 Times 8 (which is 64) or from about 3 to 4, by Adding a Million of Hands: And consequently if the Lands of England be worth 11 Millions per Ann. they are, at 20 Year's Purchase, worth 220 Millions now: And being improved in the Proportion of 49 to 64, or from 3 to 4, they will be worth 73 Millions more than now, answerable to the value of Additional Hands afore-mentioned.

4. Nor is it difficult to believe, That People, who may live in England upon 6l. 13s. 4d. per Ann. may earn so much, and 3l. 10s. 0d. more per Ann. At which Rate a Million of People make 3½ Millions of Superlucration per Ann.

As to the next Point, that Ireland may send into England 1½ Millions worth of Commodities, receiving nothing back: I say that if Ireland be Stock'd with 6 Millions of Great Cattle or Beeves, That ¼ of them or 1500 Thousand, being Milch-Cows, will yield Butter and Cheese worth 24 shill. per Ann. apiece In all 1800 Thousand Pounds. And that ⅕ of them be Yearly Slaughter'd at 30s. per Head will make 1800 Thousand Pounds more. In all 3600 Thousand Pounds: Of which Summ 2000 Thousand Pounds must be spent in Ireland, to maintain 300 Thousand Heardsmen and Dairy-Women1 , and 100 Thousand Pounds to maintain the Forces, Clergy and Civil Government. The rest (being 1500 Thousand Pounds) may be sent either directly into England; or into Foreign Parts, at length to be also return'd thither.

The last Point of this Chapter is to shew, how the present Value of Ireland shall, by this new Oeconomy, rise in Value from 2 to 3. To which I say, That if the Rents be under 1200 Thousand Pounds per Ann. and Lands, in the Year 1687, not worth 10 Year's Purchase,

then the Value of Lands is scarce12 Millions.
The Value of Stock as aforesaid6 Millions.
lf0605-02_figure_040
In all20 Millions.

And we say that upon that Settlement and Union of People by this new-inexpensive Government and Simplicity of Trade, the Lands of Ireland will be worth 20 Year's purchase, as well as in England and Scotland: And consequently 24 Millions, and the Stock liable before to Distress and other Disturbances, Law-Suits, and Thefts, will rise at least from 6 to 7

7
24
In all to 31 Millions.

And out of 31 Millions deducting one Million for the Charge of Transplanting a Million of Heads; the Remainder will be 30 Millions, which now is but 20.

[1]‘And’ inserted by Petty.

[2]‘even’ inserted by Petty. In the Polit. Anat., p. 152 he estimates the fee simple of Irish lands in 1641 at “above 8 millions.”

[1]Cf. note 2, p. 454.

[1]A blank in the MS., opposite which the copyist set 8 ‘q’ in the margin. Zero might have been inserted.

[1]Petty thus allows the herdspeople £6. 13s. 4d. expence, the English rate, cf. p. 559.