skilled and ingenious persons, and extends the influence of
learning and literature into all civilised countries. We might

add the various manufactures of roofing felt (of which there are
five), of ropes, of stoves, of stable fittings, of nails, of

starch, of machinery; all of which have earned a world-wide
reputation.

We prefer, however, to give an account of the last new industry
of Belfast--that of shipping and shipbuilding. Although, as we

have said, Belfast imports from Scotland and England all its iron
and all its coal,[21] it nevertheless, by the skill and strength

of its men, sends out some of the finest and largest steamships
which navigate the Atlantic and Pacific. It all comes from the

power of individuality, and furnishes a splendid example for
Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, each of which is provided

by nature with magnificent harbours, with fewer of those
difficulties of access which Belfast has triumphed over; and each

of which might be the centre of some great industrialenterprise,
provided only there were patriotic men willing to embark their

capital, perfect protection for the property invested, and men
willing to work rather than to strike.

It was not until the year 1853 that the Queen's Island--raked out
of the mud of the slob-land--was first used for shipbuilding

purposes. Robert Hickson and Co. then commenced operations by
laying down the Mary Stenhouse, a wooden sailing-ship of 1289

tons register; and the vessel was launched in the following year.
The operations of the firm were continued until the year 1859,

when the shipbuilding establishments on Queen's Island were
acquired by Mr. E. J. Harland (afterwards Harland and Wolff),

since which time the development of this great branch of industry
in Belfast has been rapid and complete.

From the history of this firm, it will be found that energy is
the most profitable of all merchandise; and that the fruit of

active work is the sweetest of all fruits. Harland and Wolff are
the true Watt and Boulton of Belfast. At the beginning of their

great enterprise, their works occupied about four acres of land;
they now occupy over thirty-six acres. The firm has imported not

less than two hundred thousand tons of iron; which have been
converted by skill and labour into 168 ships of 253,000 total

tonnage. These ships, if laid close together, would measure
nearly eight miles in length.

The advantage to the wage-earning class can only be shortly
stated. Not less than 34 per cent. is paid in labour on the cost

of the ships turned out. The number of persons employed in the
works is 3920; and the weekly wages paid to them is 4000L., or

over 200,000L. annually" target="_blank" title="ad.每年；按年计算">annually. Since the commencement of the
undertaking, about two millions sterling have been paid in wages.

All this goes towards the support of the various industries of
the place. That the working classes of Belfast are thrifty and

frugal may be inferred from the fact that at the end of 1882 they
held deposits in the Savings Bank to the amount of 230,289L.,

besides 158,064L. in the Post Office Savings Banks.[22] Nearly
all the better class working people of the town live in separate

dwellings, either rented or their own property. There are ten
Building Societies in Belfast, in which industrious people may

store their earnings, and in course of time either buy or build
their own houses.

The example of energetic, active men always spreads. Belfast
contains two other shipbuilding yards, both the outcome of

Harland and Wolff's enterprise; those of Messrs. Macilwaine and
Lewis, employing about four hundred men, and of Messrs. Workman

and Clarke, employing about a thousand. The heads of both these
firms were trained in the parent shipbuilding works of Belfast.

There is do feeling of rivalry between the firms, but all work
together for the good of the town.

In Plutarch's Lives, we are told that Themistocles said on one
occasion, "'Tis true that I have never learned how to tune a

harp, or play upon a lute, but I know how to raise a small and
inconsiderable city to glory and greatness." So might it be said

of Harland and Wolff. They have given Belfast not only a potency
for good, but a world-wide reputation. Their energies overflow.

Mr. Harland is the active and ever-prudent Chairman of the most
important of the local boards, the Harbour Trust of Belfast, and

exerts himself to promote the extension of the harbour facilities
of the port as if the benefits were to be exclusively his own;

while Mr. Wolff is the Chairman of one of the latest born
industries of the place, the Belfast Rope-work Company, which

already gives employment to over 600 persons.
This last-mentioned industry is only about six years old. The

works occupy over seven acres of ground, more than six acres of
which are under roofing. Although the whole of the raw material

is imported from abroad from Russia, the Philippine Islands, New
Zealand, and Central America--it is exported again in a

manufactured state to all parts of the world.
Such is the contagion of example, and such the ever-branching

industries with which men of enterprise and industry can enrich
and bless their country. The following brief memoir of the

career of Mr. Harland has been furnished at my solicitation; and
I think that it will be found full of interest as well as

instruction.
Footnotes for Chapter X.

[1] Report in the Cork Examiner, 5th July, 1883.
[2] In 1883, as compared with 1882, there was a decrease of

58,022 acres in the land devoted to the growth of wheat; there
was a total decrease of 114,871 acres in the land under

tillage.--Agricultural Statistics, Ireland, 1883. Parliamentary
Return, c. 3768.

[3] Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, 1883.
[4] The particulars are these: deposits in Irish Post Office

Savings Banks, 31st December, 1882, 1,925,440; to the credit of
depositors and Government stock, 125,000L.; together, 2,050,440L.

The increase of deposits over those made in the preceding year,
were: in Dublin, 31,321L.; in Antrim, 23,328L.; in Tyrone,

21,315L.; in Cork, 17,034L.; and in Down, 10,382L.
[5] The only thriving manufacture now in Dublin is that of

intoxicating drinks--beer, porter, stout, and whisky. Brewing
and distilling do not require skilled labour, so that strikes do

not affect them.
[6] Times, 11th June, 1883.

[7] The valuation of the county of Aberdeen (exclusive of the
city) was recently 866,816L., whereas the value of the herrings

(748,726 barrels) caught round the coast (at 25s. the barrel) was
935,907L., therebyexceeding the estimated annual rental of the

county by 69,091L. The Scotch fishermen catch over a million
barrels of herrings annually" target="_blank" title="ad.每年；按年计算">annually, representing a value of about a

million and a-half sterling.
[8] A recent number of Land and Water supplies the following

information as to the fishing at Kinsale:-- "The takes of fish
have been so enormous and unprecedented that buyers can scarcely

be found, even when, as now, mackerel are selling at one shilling
per six score. Piles of magnificent fish lie rotting in the sun.

The sides of Kinsale Harbour are strewn with them, and
frequently, when they have become a little 'touched,' whole

boat-loads are thrown overboard into the water. This great waste
is to be attributed to scarcity of hands to salt the fish and

want of packing-boxes. Some of the boats are said to have made
as much as 500L. this season. The local fishing company are

making active preparations for the approaching herringfishery,
and it is anticipated that Kinsale may become one of the centres

of this description of fishing."
[9] Statistical Journal for March 1848. Paper by Richard Valpy

on "The Resources of the Irish Sea Fisheries," pp. 55-72.
[10] HALL, Retrospect of a Long Life, ii. 324.

[11] The Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, in one of their