Empire (Sydney, NSW) 19th February 1852 p 4.
Great Decrease in Litigation
Further accounts from the country mention that there is an enormous decrease in the civil business at the October Quarter Sessions, now in progress; and this applies to Leinster as well as Munster and Connaught. At the Sessions of Kells, County Meath, before the famine, the ordinary number of civil bill processes had been 800. In October, 1849, the number entered had been 444; in October, 1850, it declined to 289; at the Sessions held this week only 130 processes had been entered, although the jurisdiction of the assistant-barristers, by the Act of last Session, has been extended from £20 to £40.
This extraordinary falling-off, which has destroyed the business of the attorneys practising at Quarter Sessions, is attributable to the continued decrease of the population and the stoppage of credit in the dealings amongst the country shopkeepers and the peasantry.
Meantime remittances to a vast extent are received from America, to enable the friends and relatives of settlers to emigrate. In Kelly, whilst the Sessions were in progress, various sums were obtained, in the shape of bank orders, and many of the farmers are preparing to take a winter voyage across the Atlantic.
The Burren and Beyond 