Cork Trade

The trade of Cork, previously to the late war with France, consisted chiefly in the exportation of butter and beef for the supply of the British navy, to the West Indies, and to the ports of France, Spain, and the Mediterranean; and of hides and tallow chiefly to England. At that time the surrounding districts were nearly all under pasturage and scarcely produced sufficient corn for the supply of their inhabitants; the lands were grazed by vast herds of cattle, and the quantity of beef cured for exportation was perhaps ten times as great as at present; but from the impetus since given to agriculture, a considerable portion of the land has been brought under tillage, and an extensive trade in corn and flour consequently established.

This was one of the first places in which the interests of trade and commerce were taken under the protection of the merchants themselves, who established a committee consisting of fourteen merchants who export butter, seven butter merchants who collect it from the various farms, and three tanners, elected annually by their respective trades: this body, under the simple designation of the "Committee of Merchants," is in all respects similar to the Chamber of Commerce in other parts; it has existed as the accredited organ of the trading community and been recognised as such in several local acts since the year 1729, and communicates with the public authorities on subjects connected with the trade of Ireland.

The butter trade, which is considered as the most important in the province of Munster, and is carried on in this city to a greater extent than in any other part of the united kingdom, is conducted by two distinct classes of merchants, of whom the one, called the butter merchants, purchase the butter from the dairy farmers, or receive it at the current price for a certain per centage, taking their chance of a rise or fall in the market; and the other, called the export merchants, ship it either on order or on their own account. This trade was formerly regulated by local acts emanating from the Committee of Merchants, under whose superintendence the Cork butter obtained a preference in all foreign markets; and though by representations to parliament from other parts of Ireland all restrictions have been removed, the old regulations are still retained by a compact among the merchants; and the butter is brought to the same weigh-house, where, after its quality has been ascertained by sworn inspectors annually appointed, it is weighed and the firkins are each branded with the quality and weight and with the private mark of the inspector.

The weigh-house is capable of receiving 4000 firkins for examination at one time; and the quantity which passed through it annually on an average of four years ending April 30th, 1835, was 263,765 firkins; in the last of these years it exceeded 279,000 firkins, and the trade is gradually increasing. The business of the weigh-house is conducted under the superintendence of a general weigh-master and a sub-committee of export and butter merchants, who appoint inspectors, scalesmen, and other officers. At present there are engaged in this branch of trade between 60 and 70 merchants: the butter is made principally in the counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick, particularly Kerry; the best in quality, in proportion to the quantity, comes from the counties of Cork and Limerick, especially the latter and the northern part of the. former, where the dairy farmers are more wealthy, their farms more extensive, and the quality of the soil better than in Kerry or the southern part of Cork.

Butter made in Kerry is considered more suitable for warm climates than that of the same quality made in Limerick, from the inferior fertility of the soil and the numerous springs of soft water with which the former county abounds. The carriers employed in conveying the butter from the remote dairy districts take back grocery and other articles of domestic consumption; and this important branch of trade also furnishes constant employment to a numerous body of coopers, not only in the manufacture of firkins, but in what is called trimming or preparing the article for exportation, that which is intended for warm climates requiring the cooperage to be so tight as to exclude the air and confine the pickle.

The corn trade of Cork may now be classed among the more important branches of its commerce: the quantity exported annually on an average of four years ending Dec. 25th, 1835, was 72,654 barrels of wheat, 126,519 barrels of oats, and 1749 barrels of barley; and very large quantities of barley and oats are consumed in the distilleries and breweries of the city. A new corn-market was built in 1833 by trustees appointed under an act of the 3rd of George IV., cap. 79: it is a quadrangular enclosure, 460 feet in length and 330 in breadth, situated beyond the south branch of the river near Anglesey bridge; the area, which is enclosed with a high stone wall, is divided into twelve covered walks for the purchasers and thirteen carriage ways for unloading the corn, which is protected from rain by the projecting roofs of the walks; at right angles with these, and extending the whole breadth of the area, is a covered space for weighing; and there are appropriate offices for the collector and the clerks.

The expense of its erection, with that of the bridge leading to it, amounted to £17,460, of which the government advanced £4615 towards building the bridge, and the commissioners of parliamentary loans lent £10,000; two individual proprietors of ground in its vicinity, besides giving the site rent-free, contributed £2500 towards the building, which, with the erection of the bridge, is calculated to augment the value of the residue of their property.

The quantity of agricultural produce brought to the market is rapidly increasing: in the year ending Aug. 31st, 1835, 83,938 barrels of wheat, 91,743 barrels of barley, 120,597 barrels of oats, and 23,483 carcasses of pork, were weighed here. The increase of tillage before noticed naturally diminished the curing of beef, but it greatly increased that of pork: the provision trade, though diminished, may yet be regarded as the next in importance to that of corn: the government contracts for the navy are still for the greater part executed by the merchants of Cork, though a large portion of the beef is frequently supplied from Dublin; and the provisions for the East India and other trading ships are also chiefly supplied by them. The curing of hams and bacon, formerly confined to Belfast and Waterford, has within the last few years been extensively carried on both here and at Limerick, the breed of hogs being now quite as good in the southern as in the northern and midland counties.

The supply of plantation stores for the West Indian proprietors, which was formerly very extensive, has much decreased; and the shipments of provisions to the West Indies as merchandise have dwindled into insignificance, and will now scarcely remunerate the adventurer. The provision trade of the port has also sustained considerable diminution from throwing open to foreigners the supplies of Newfoundland, to which colony upwards of 30,000 barrels of pork were exported annually, chiefly from Cork and Waterford, besides flour, oatmeal, butter, bacon, candles, leather, boots and shoes, and other commodities, and returns were made in fish and oil; this branch of commerce has been almost entirely usurped by the ports of Hamburgh, Copenhagen, and the United States, to which the English schooners previously freighted with the above cargoes either here or at Waterford now go.