THE CELTIC SPEAKING POPULATION OF THE BRITISH ISLES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 324, 26 August 1879, Page 3

THE CELTIC SPEAKING POPULATION OF THE BRITISH ISLES.

At the meeting of the Statistical Society on the 21st April, Mr E. G. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S., Avho read a paper on " The Geographical Distribution of the Celtic-speak-ing Population of the British Isles," stated that four Celtic languages are at present spoken in the British Isles, three of which belong to the northern Gaelic or Gadhelic, and one to the southern or Cymraig branch. The former are Irish Gaelic, Scotch Gaelic, and Manx ; the Cymraig branch, since the extinction of Cornish, being now represented only by the Welsh. Ireland. — The localities where Irish Gaelic is the language of the majority, are comparatiA'ely limited and remote areas, where the population is less dense than in the more fertile and Englishspeaking districts of the island. In 1851, 23.3 per cent of the population spoke Irish, and in 1871, 15.3 per cent. The success of the labors of the " Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language" was referred to, although it cannot be doubted that Irish is on the decrease. Opinions differ as to the agencies to which this decrease must be ascribed. The census on the whole presented a very fair picture of the linguistic condition of Ireland. Scotland. —Mr Ravenstein said that not quite 9 per cent of the population could speak Scotch Gaelic, and that there was no doubt it Avas dying out, although in the more remote parts of the Highlands and in the Hebrides it still, maintains its ground. In the Isle of Man 256 per cent of the population still understood Manx. Wales (Cymraig).—Of all the Celticspeaking races in the United Kingdom, the "Welsh were the most important ; and in the maintenance of their own' language they showed by for the greatest amount of vitality. Including 60,000 Welsh in England, there are 1;006,100. Welsh-speaking people in Great Britain. - The total number of persons in the United Kingdom still speaking a Celtic tongue Avas :—lrish Gaelic, 867,600 ; Scotch Gaelic, 309,250; Manx 12,500 ; Welsh, 1,006,100 ; total, 2,195,450 or nearly 7 per cent, of the population of the British Isles. ' '■'•