WEXFORD TOWN MANUFACTURING
The inhabitants, in the time of the Danes, maintained themselves by commerce and piracy: afterwards the fisheries, and chiefly that of herrings, were their main source of subsistence: at present the staple trade of the town is the agricultural produce of the surrounding country, the herring and oyster fisheries, though still of some magnitude in the winter months, having declined considerably, from the withdrawing of the bounties, the poverty of those engaged in it, and the want of safety harbours.
The principal manufacture is that of malt, for which there were 38 establishments in 1831, in which from 70,000 to 80,000 barrels of malt were annually made, by much the greater part of which was exported, chiefly to Dublin: the quantity has since decreased.
A distillery, lately built on a large scale in the suburbs, consumed 25,000 barrels of grain in the same year: there are breweries, tan-yards and rope-walks in the town and suburbs. The magnitude of the export trade maybe estimated by the fact that, in 1831, upwards of 300,000 barrels of grain were purchased by the merchants, chiefly for export either in the raw state or malted: that of cattle during the same period was very considerable, and 28,000 firkins of butter were exported: since the place has been made a bonding port the coasting trade has diminished, but that to Great Britain has increased proportionally; a store for bonded tea has been erected.
The amount of customs' duties for 1835 was £4920. 13. 10.; and for 1836, £6306. 10. 9. The amount of the excise duties collected in the Wexford revenue district, for the former year, was £76,453. 19. 8 ¼.
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