provision for the punishment of beggars and vagrants &c., the _59th
section_ of the Irish Poor Relief Act[156] is repealed, and it is
enacted instead, that every person deserting or wilfully neglecting
to maintain his wife or child, so that they become destitute and be
relieved in or out of the workhouse of any union, shall on
conviction be committed to hard labour for any time not exceeding
three months. And persons wandering abroad begging or gathering
alms, or procuring children to do so, and every person going from
one union or electoral division to another for the purpose of
obtaining relief, shall be liable on conviction to be committed to
hard labour for any time not exceeding one month.
_Sections 4, 5._—Offenders may be apprehended by any person whatsoever,
and taken before a justice to be dealt with as is above provided. Or
when apprehended, the offender may be delivered over to a constable
or other peace officer, to be taken before a justice for like
purpose. Justices may upon proof of offence, issue their warrant for
the apprehension of any such offender, to be dealt with as the Act
directs. Proceedings by or before any justice are not to be quashed
for want of form, nor removable by writ of certiorari.
[Sidenote: The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90, 22nd July 1847.]
_The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90_, is entitled ‘An Act to provide
for the Execution of the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland.’
After reciting the several previous Acts under which the
administration of relief to the poor in Ireland is subject to the
direction and control of the Poor Law Commissioners, whose
commission will shortly expire, it declares it to be “expedient that
the control of the administration of the laws for the relief of the
poor in Ireland should be wholly separated from the control of the
administration of the laws for relief of the poor in England,” and
enacts that her Majesty may from time to time by warrant under the
royal sign manual, appoint a fit person who, with the chief and
under secretaries of the lord lieutenant shall have the control, and
shall be styled “Commissioners for administering the Laws for Relief
of the Poor in Ireland,” and the person so appointed shall be styled
the Chief Commissioner—
-----
[156]
Ante, p. 227.
-----
_Sections 2, 3, 4, 5._—The appointment of every chief commissioner is to
be published in the ‘Dublin Gazette.’ The commissioners are to have
a seal, which shall have the same force and effect as the seal of
the Poor Law Commissioners; and they may appoint a secretary,
inspectors, clerks &c., and may assign to the inspectors such
duties, and delegate to them such powers as they may think
necessary.
_Sections 6, 7, 8._—One of the inspectors is to be appointed an
assistant-commissioner, to assist in the business of the office in
such manner as the commissioners direct; and to him may be delegated
the powers and functions of the chief commissioner in the latter’s
absence. The inspectors are entitled to attend boards of guardians,
and all meetings held for the relief of the poor, and may take part
in the proceedings, but are not to vote. All salaries are to be
determined by the Treasury.
_Sections 9, 10._—The powers and duties of the Poor Law Commissioners
are transferred to the new commissioners; and if any vacancy occur,
the surviving or continuing commissioners or commissioner may
continue to act. The commissioners are constituted a body corporate,
and for all purposes connected with the administration of the laws
for the relief of the poor throughout Ireland they are to be deemed
successors of the Poor Law Commissioners, all property held by whom
becomes vested in them accordingly.
_Sections 11, 12, 13, 14, 15._—The commissioners are empowered to make
rules orders and regulations, and to vary or rescind the same. Also
to make general rules with the approbation of the lord lieutenant,
who may at any time disallow the same or any part thereof, without
prejudice however to things lawfully done under them before such
disallowance. Every rule order or regulation directed to, or
affecting more than one union, is to be deemed a general rule.
_Sections 16, 17, 18._—The rules orders and regulations of the Poor Law
Commissioners are to continue in force until varied or rescinded by
the commissioners appointed under this Act, whose authority is in
all cases to be substituted for the former, and is to have like
force and effect in Ireland. Acts under seal not to be valid, unless
signed by two of the commissioners, or by the chief commissioner, or
in his absence by the assistant-commissioner.
_Sections 19, 20._—The commissioners empowered to summon witnesses not
exceeding twenty miles distant, and to make inquiries and call for
returns, and examine on oath. Persons giving false evidence are
subjected to the penalties of perjury; and on refusing to give
evidence, or neglecting to obey the commissioners’ summons, or to
produce books vouchers &c., are to be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanour.
_Sections 21, 22._—The commissioners are annually to report their
proceedings to the lord lieutenant. The Report is to be laid before
parliament, and is to contain a distinct statement of every order
and direction issued in respect to out-door relief. All lawful
proceedings of the Poor Law Commissioners, and all things done under
previous Acts, and not varied or repealed by this Act, are declared
valid.
_Section 23._—The chief commissioner and other persons to be appointed
and employed under this Act, are not to hold office or exercise any
of the powers hereby given, “for a longer period than five years
next after the day of the passing of this Act, and thenceforth until
the end of the then next session of parliament,” after which the
power of appointing commissioners is to cease to operate or have
effect.
These three Acts have, it will be seen, made very considerable changes
in the law, and taken conjointly with the original Relief Act of 1838,
and the Amendment Act of 1843,[157] may be considered as forming the
entire code of Irish Poor Laws, and such moreover as they may be
expected to continue, there being apparently no room for further
alteration, or at least not to any material extent.
-----
[157]
That is _The 1st and 2nd Vict. cap. 56_, and _The 6th and 7th Vict.
cap. 92_. Ante, pp. 222 _et seq._ and 291 _et seq._
-----
[Sidenote: General import of the new Acts.]
The sanction of out-door relief given by the first of the three Acts is
a most important departure from the principle of the original statute,
and was wrung from the legislature by the distressing circumstances in
which the country was placed by the successive failures of the potato
crop. With starvation raging almost universally around, it was felt that
it would be impossible to maintain the restriction of relief to the
limits of the workhouse. The concession made in the _1st and 2nd
sections_ must however be regarded as exceptional, and as being intended
to meet an exceptional case; for the necessity of workhouse relief being
the established rule, never perhaps commanded more general assent, than
at the time when a departure from it was thus sanctioned. The author was
examined before a committee of the house of lords on this question, and
he gave it as his deliberate opinion that under the circumstances
existing in Ireland the concession was necessary, the preservation of
life being paramount to all other considerations; but at the same time
he considered, that the rule of in-door relief should be departed from
only so far, and in such a way, as would secure its resumption with the
least difficulty and at the earliest possible period; and the two first
sections of the Act are not at variance with this view.[158] In
sanctioning out-door relief under the then emergency, the legislature
limited its application, imposing certain conditions and restrictions,
and at the same time investing the commissioners with large powers for
checking abuse. Nay more, as if distrusting the discretion of the
commissioners themselves, _the 21st section of cap. 90_ provides that
their Report, which is to be laid before parliament, “shall contain a
distinct statement of every order and direction issued by them in
respect to out-door relief.” The appointment of relieving and medical
officers and of district committees, was no doubt a considerable
extension of the union machinery, but it was necessary for giving effect
to the law at the time, and either or all might be discontinued when no
longer required. The limitation of relief by the _9th section_, and the
extension of assistance for the purpose of emigration to persons not in
a workhouse by the _14th section_, are both likely to be of use, as may
also be the provision in the _16th section_ with regard to ex-officio
guardians. But the power given to the commissioners by the _17th and
18th sections_, to alter unions, and to dissolve boards of guardians and
appoint paid officers to carry the law into execution, is by far the
most important of the provisions of this Act, with the exception of
those sanctioning out-relief.
-----
[158]
The necessity for adhering to the principle of indoor relief was fully
recognised by this committee, whose inquiries were for the most part
limited to that point, without going into the general question of the
Poor Law. Any detailed account of the committee’s proceedings does not
therefore appear to be called for at this time, as no new light was
thrown upon the subject by its investigations. The same may be said of
the commission for “inquiring into the state of the law and practice
in respect to the occupation of land in Ireland,” (of which the Earl
of Devon was chairman), and whose reports are exceedingly valuable;
but they do not directly bear upon our subject, and have therefore not
been noticed. I have indeed endeavoured to confine attention to the
Poor-law itself, and to those matters immediately connected with it,
and calculated to elucidate its working, these collectively presenting
a field sufficiently extensive.
-----
The second of the above Acts (_cap. 84_) is in fact a resumption of the
vagrancy clauses which were intended to form part of the original Relief
Act,[159] and which have now been rendered more necessary by the
sanctioning of out-relief. The third of the above Acts (_cap. 90_)
providing for the appointment of a separate commission for Ireland, may
be regarded as a consequence of the unfortunate condition of that
country, which was now said to require all the care and undivided
attention of distinct functionaries. I have already stated that such was
not my opinion, and after all that has passed I still am satisfied that
the Poor Laws of England and Ireland might be administered under the
superintendence of the same commission, as efficiently as under separate
commissions; and that there would be a weight of authority influence and
other advantages arising from the combination of the two, which would
not be found in a separate commission. The example of Scotland was much
relied upon as warranting the separation, but the cases are not similar,
the Scottish Poor Law differing essentially from that of England,
whereas the Irish law is directly founded upon it, and in its working
must to a great degree be regulated by English experience. But the
separation having taken place, it would be difficult to retrace the
step, unless indeed there should be, as has on high authority been
proposed, an entire amalgamation of the two governments by abolishing
the office of lord lieutenant, in which case the Irish commission would
naturally if not necessarily become merged in the English. It is
bootless however to speculate upon these or other possible changes, and
we will therefore resume our task of tracing out the progress of the
law, and inquiring into the circumstances under which it has to be
administered.
-----
[159]
Ante, p. 211.
-----
[Sidenote: Change of the commission. August 27, 1847.]
On the passing of the first of the above Acts (_10th and 11th Vict. cap.
31_, commonly known as the Relief Extension Act), copies of it were
forwarded to all the unions, and the attention of the several boards of
guardians was called to the necessity of making provision on a much
larger scale than heretofore for the relief of the poor, and pointing
out the conditions on which the relief was henceforward to be
administered to the classes of infirm and able-bodied. Five additional
assistant-commissioners were also appointed[160] to attend to the large
increase of duties now devolved upon the commission. On the 27th of
August the appointment of Mr. Twisleton as chief commissioner, under the
_10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90_, was notified in the Dublin Gazette, and
on the following day the administration of the law became vested in the
new commission established by that Act, the ten gentlemen then acting as
assistant-commissioners were appointed inspectors, and Mr. Power was
appointed the assistant-commissioner.
-----
[160]
These were Mr. Crawford, Mr. Bourke, Mr. Stanley, and Mr. Barron. Mr.
Phelan had been appointed some months previously to superintend the
sanitary state of the workhouses. Mr. Stanley afterwards became
secretary, and was succeeded as inspector by Mr. Flanagan.
-----
[Sidenote: Decrease of sickness and mortality.]
The extent of sickness and mortality in the workhouses towards the
middle of April, has already been noticed.[161] The returns continued to
show a gradual decrease of deaths from that time, although there was no
material decrease in the number of inmates or of fever patients until
the month of July, when a decline rapidly took place in all three; and
in the last week of August the number of inmates was reduced to 76,319,
of sick (including 5,782 fever patients) to 15,240, and of deaths to
646, or 8 in every 1,000 weekly. In the first week of October the
inmates had again increased to 83,719, but the deaths were only 433,
averaging 5 per 1,000 weekly. These numbers show the extent of the
pressure on the workhouses in the earlier part of 1847. But the extent
of assistance afforded under the Temporary Relief and the Fever Hospital
Acts (_10th and 11th Vict. caps. 7 and 22_) must also be stated, in
order to show the universality of the distress. [Sidenote: Decrease of
rations issued.]Under the former Act, on the 8th of May rations were
issued to 826,325 persons; on the 5th of June to 2,729,684; on the 3rd
of July to 3,020,712; on the 1st of August to 2,520,376; on the 29th of
August to 1,105,800; on the 12th of September to 505,984; and at the end
of September the issues altogether ceased. Under the latter Act
accommodation was provided for the treatment of 26,378 fever patients,
and the average number in hospital was about 13,000. The proceedings
under these Acts, when viewed in conjunction with those under the Poor
Law, will sufficiently explain the magnitude of the crisis through which
the country passed at this period, and the fearful suffering and
privations to which the people were unhappily and it may be added
unavoidably exposed.
-----
[161]
Ante, p. 326.
-----
[Sidenote: Financial state of the unions.]
The financial state of the unions became greatly depressed during this
trying period. The fact of the treasurers’ balances having turned
against the unions is noticed in the Report of the previous year,[162]
and this continued down to the end of September, when owing to great
exertions in the collection, the returns again showed a credit balance
of upwards of 10,000_l._ in favour of the guardians. There was still
however a large arrear remaining for collection, and this continued to
be the case throughout the succeeding half-year, notwithstanding that
the large sum of 961,354_l._ was collected and lodged with the
treasurers, a proof that the guardians were not backward in making
provision for carrying out the law, although the impoverished state of
many of the unions rendered the collection difficult after the rates
were made.
-----
[162]
Ante, p. 328.
-----
[Sidenote: A good harvest.]
The harvest of 1847 proved to be a good one. Contrary to expectation the
potato crop was free from disease, but the quantity grown was
comparatively small, and the price continued so high that the peasantry
were unable to purchase. The failure of the crop in the two previous
years had discouraged them from planting, and they were consequently in
great measure deprived of their usual means of living. The large
importations of Indian meal had however so far reduced the price of that
and other descriptions of food, that the general cost of subsistence was
not much greater than in ordinary seasons, and in districts where the
people found employment at moderate wages, they generally fared better
than in former years. But in districts where there was no employment or
money wages, and where the peasantry had been accustomed to subsist on
potatoes raised by themselves, this resource being neglected, they would
necessarily be in want of food, and would require assistance to preserve
them from starvation. It was certain therefore, notwithstanding the
non-appearance of the potato disease, that there would be much distress
in many parts of the country long before the approach of harvest in the
following year; and in order to be prepared for affording needful relief
in such a contingency, without at the same time weakening the incentive
to independent exertion in the labouring classes, it was necessary that
a large increase of workhouse accommodation should be provided. This
point the commissioners continued earnestly to press upon the attention
of the several boards of guardians, and for the most part with success.
[Sidenote: 32 boards of guardians dissolved.]
The extent and population of the Irish unions and the constitution of
many of the boards of guardians, rendered it probable that the new and
more laborious duties imposed upon them by the Extension Act (_10th and
11th Vict. cap. 31_) would not always be fulfilled, and that in some
instances there might either be a failure of necessary relief, or a
misapplication of the union funds. The power of dissolving a board of
guardians, and at once appointing paid officers to discharge their
duties, was given to the commissioners for the purpose of enabling them
to deal with cases of this kind; and being armed with such a power, they
were responsible for its exercise whenever the occasion called for
it—“Although reluctant in the highest degree, (they say) to interfere
even temporarily with a system of self-government involving the great
principle of popular representation in the raising and expenditure of a
public fund, it appeared to them that in the immediate circumstances of
the country, a more imperative object demanded for a time the sacrifice
of those considerations, and that it was their paramount duty by every
means which the legislature had placed at their disposal, to provide for
the effectual relief of the destitute poor.” Acting under these views,
and on the occurrence of what they considered to be serious default on
the part of the guardians, the commissioners dissolved thirty-two
boards,[163] and appointed paid officers in their stead. The default in
nearly every instance was either a failure to provide sufficient funds,
or to apply them efficiently in relieving the destitute. Full details of
each case were laid before parliament, and the necessity of the
proceeding was generally admitted, although it was no doubt much to be
lamented that such a necessity should have arisen.
-----
[163]
These were—Athlone, Ballina, Ballinrobe, Bantry, Cahirciveen,
Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlebar, Castlereagh, Cavan, Clifden, Cootehill,
Enniskillen, Ennistymon, Galway, Gort, Granard, Kanturk, Kenmare,
Kilkenny, Kilrush, Longford, Loughrea, Lowtherstown, Mohill,
Newcastle, New Ross, Roscommon, Scariff, Trim, Tuam, Tullamore,
Waterford, and Westport.
-----
[Sidenote: Out-door employment.]
It is, however, satisfactory to find that in a great majority of the
unions relief was provided and administered by the guardians in an
orderly and efficient manner. There were some exceptions in addition to
the above, it is true, and the commissioners had to exert all their
influence and authority in procuring the appointment of relieving
officers to receive and inquire into applications for relief, as
provided by the Extension Act and directed by their own order. Another
point on which the commissioners found much difficulty in winning the
acquiescence of the guardians was with regard to the mode of employing
poor persons, for whose relief out of the workhouse under the _2nd
section_ of the Extension Act, a necessity had arisen in some unions.
The guardians wished the employment to be of a productive or profitable
nature, and that it should be applied mainly with that view. The
commissioners were desirous that the employment should serve as a test
of destitution, and recommended stone-breaking as open to least
objection, the food to be given not as the price of labour but in relief
of destitution, the labour being required simply as the condition of the
relief; and in the unions where out-door relief in food was given to the
able-bodied on this principle, the numbers are said to have been for the
most part kept within moderate limits.
[Sidenote: Increase of workhouse accommodation.]
But although the labour-test might so far have succeeded, the operation
of the workhouse system in the present difficult circumstances had been
found far less equivocal, and its efficiency was more universally
acknowledged by those engaged in the administration of relief. A large
extension of workhouse room, partly permanent partly temporary had been
provided. The whole accommodation including additional workhouses and
fever hospitals connected with the workhouses would be sufficient for
upwards of 150,000 persons, “being an addition of more than one-third to
the accommodation originally provided.” In consequence of this great
increase of workhouse accommodation, it appears that in 25 of the unions
no relief was given out of the workhouse, “except perhaps in the
occasional exercise of the provisional powers of the relieving
officers,” and yet the workhouses of none of these unions were said to
be full. In 35 other unions, out-door relief was afforded only under the
_1st section_ of the Extension Act, that is to the infirm, widows with
two or more children, and persons disabled by sickness or accident. In
the remaining 71 unions, orders had been issued under the _2nd section_,
authorizing out-door relief in food; but in only 23 of these was it
authorized to be given without distinction of class.
[Sidenote: The Dublin unions.]
In proof of the efficiency of the workhouse in checking applications for
relief, when not caused by actual necessity, the example of Dublin may
be cited. In the first week of July, rations were gratuitously issued in
the two Dublin unions to 57,509 persons, and the proportion of these
classed as able-bodied amounted with their families to 46,432. In the
South union the number on the relief lists was greatly reduced before
the 15th of August, the day on which the issues under the Temporary
Relief Act were ordered to cease; but in the North union more than
20,000 persons continued to receive rations, and the commissioners were
entreated to issue an order under the powers given to them by the
Extension Act sanctioning its further continuance, the guardians being
apprehensive that so large an amount of relief could not with safety be
suddenly discontinued. The commissioners deemed it to be their duty to
resist the appeal, and recommended the guardians to convert a building
then in their occupation and capable of accommodating 400 persons, into
a subsidiary workhouse. This was accordingly done, and admission was
offered to such of the able-bodied and their families as applied for
relief when the rations were discontinued; but the new subsidiary
workhouse was not filled by those who accepted the offer, and all the
others found the means of living by their own exertions. The class
receiving out-door relief under the _1st section_ of the Act (_i. e._
the aged and infirm poor and widows with two or more children) were at
the same time, with some assistance from the mendicity institution,
reduced to about 4,000 persons; and no necessity afterwards arose for
issuing an order under the _2nd section_ in either of the Dublin unions.
[Sidenote: Report of commissioners appointed under the _10th and 11th
Vict. cap. 7_.]]
To this example of the efficiency of the workhouse in preventing undue
applications for relief, may be added the testimony of the relief
commissioners appointed under _The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 7_,[164] as
to the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility in the state of
Ireland at that time, of guarding against gross abuse in the
administration of relief without the corrective of the workhouse test,
even although in the shape of daily rations of cooked food. In their
third Report dated 17th June 1847, the commissioners make the following
remarkable statement—“In several instances the government inspecting
officers found no difficulty in striking off hundreds of names that
ought not to have been placed on the lists, including sometimes those of
servants and men in the constant employ of persons of considerable
station and property. These latter are frequently themselves members of
the committees, and in some cases the very chairmen, being magistrates,
have sanctioned the issue of rations to tenants of their own of
considerable holdings, possessed of live stock, and who it was found had
paid up their last half-year’s rent.”... “In other districts, the
measure is subject to deception and petty frauds practised by many of
the order immediately above the class of actually destitute, and which
cannot be entirely checked by the best exertions of the best committees.
Even in the districts where the service is most correctly performed, the
numbers on the lists will no doubt exceed those of the really
destitute.” It was perhaps to be expected under the circumstances then
existing in Ireland, that something like what is here described might
occur; but it could hardly have been expected that it would have been to
such an extent, or that persons in the positions named would have
descended to practices at once so disgraceful and so unpatriotic.
Against such frauds the workhouse seemed to be the only safeguard.
-----
[164]
Ante, p. 317.
-----
[Sidenote: Expenditure on relief of the poor.]
The entire expenditure from the rates on relief of the poor in the 130
unions during the twelve months ending 29th September 1847, was
803,684_l._ The number of inmates on that day was 86,376, and the total
number relieved in the workhouses within the year was 417,139. There was
some expenditure in a few of the unions shortly before the 29th
September, although the issues under the Temporary Relief Act did not
until then wholly cease. The relief under the Extension Act (_10th and
11th Vict., cap. 31_) which then commenced, continued to increase as the
distress arising from the exhaustion of the small crops raised in many
parts of the country became more and more severe. [Sidenote: Numbers in
the workhouses.]On the 12th February 1848 the number in the several
workhouses amounted to 135,467, and the mortality reached 11 per 1,000.
This was perhaps to be expected from the great pressure upon the
workhouses, and the wretched condition of very many of the poor persons
at the time they were admitted. Contagious disease again prevailed, and
the fatal effects again extended to the workhouse officers, ninety-four
of whom died, chiefly of fever, and also two of the Poor Law inspectors,
and one vice-guardian in course of the year.
[Sidenote: Out-door relief.]
Although the numbers in the workhouses went on increasing in the latter
months of 1847, it was not until February and March 1848 that the houses
became filled, and that out-door relief was largely administered. In
February the cost of out-relief in money and food amounted to
72,039_l._, in March to 81,339_l._ The numbers and cost were then both
at their maximum, and according to the best estimate which could be
formed, the average daily number of out-door poor relieved was 703,762,
and of in-door 140,536, making an aggregate of 844,298 persons. The
description of food supplied to the poor in lieu of their habitual food
the potato, consisted for the most part of a pound of Indian meal, that
being the quantity of cereal food approved by the Central Board of
Health in Ireland as necessary for the daily sustenance of an adult. The
price of Indian meal was at that time about 1_d._ per lb., so that the
cost of the food thus supplied probably did not exceed the cost of that
to which the people had been accustomed. It appears therefore that in
the early part of 1848 no less than 800,000 persons were relieved daily
at the charge of the poor-rates, consisting chiefly of the most helpless
part of the most indigent classes in Ireland; and the commissioners say
they “cannot doubt that of this number a large proportion are by this
means, and this means alone, daily preserved from death through want of
food.” The above 800,000 is irrespective of the children supplied with
food and clothing by “The British Association,” the number of whom in
March 1848 amounted to upwards of 200,000.[165] So that the total number
of persons then receiving eleemosynary support must have exceeded a
million, or over one-eighth of the entire population.
-----
[165]
See Report of the association, p. 41.
-----
[Sidenote: Distress in certain unions.]
The official returns of the collection and expenditure of the poor-rates
are made up to the 31st March 1848, and comprise six months only of the
parochial year which will end on the 29th September following. They show
that in those six months 961,356_l._ had been collected, and 781,198_l._
expended, thus exhibiting an excess of collection over expenditure of
180,158_l._ The state of the balances appears therefore to have greatly
improved,[166] and rates to the amount of 661,855_l._ still remained on
the books for collection. “Up to this point therefore (the commissioners
observe) the financial progress has been favourable”—But they add, “if
we should have to sustain operations for five months longer, at the rate
of expenditure exhibited for March, it is clear that great exertions
have yet to be made in the collection of rates, in order to escape a
large accumulation of debt at the close of the year.” The above
statements apply to the unions in the aggregate. There are however the
commissioners say, certain unions which “cannot for some years be
cleared from present debt under the most favourable circumstances, and
in unions which on the whole are well provided with funds, many
electoral divisions are in a state of almost hopeless bankruptcy.”
-----
[166]
Ante, p. 328.
-----
[Sidenote: British Relief Association.]
The proceedings of the “British Relief Association” have already been
noticed.[167] The committee of the association had still a considerable
sum at their disposal in the latter end of 1847, and this it was
determined to appropriate in aid of such of the distressed unions above
adverted to as the Poor Law Commissioners should recommend for that
purpose, and also in “affording food and clothing to children through
the medium of schools.” Accordingly grants to the amount of 143,519_l._
were successively made to the distressed unions[168] in aid of their
general expenditure; and with regard to the school-children, it is
said—“by the 1st of January 1848 the system was in full operation in
thirteen of the more distressed unions, 58,000 children were on the
relief-roll of the association, and this number gradually increased,
until in the month of March upwards of 200,000 children, attending
schools of all denominations in twenty-seven western unions, were
participating in this relief. The total expenditure for feeding the
children amounted to 80,885_l._, in addition to which the sum of
12,083_l._ was spent in clothing, making a total expenditure during the
second period of the relief operations of the association of
236,487_l._”[169] Treasury grants to the extent of 114,968_l._ had also
been made in aid of the distressed unions, during the present year.
-----
[167]
Ante, p. 321.
[168]
These were Ballina, Belmullet, Ballinrobe, Ballyshannon, Bantry,
Boyle, Cahirciveen, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlebar, Castlereagh,
Clifden, Donegal, Galway, Glenties, Kenmare, Kilrush, Listowel,
Manorhamilton, Milford, Mohill, Roscommon, Scariff, Skibbereen, Sligo,
Swineford, Tralee, Dingle, Tuam, Westport, Athlone, Ennistymon, Gort,
Nenagh, Loughrea and New Ross. This list somewhat differs from the one
given in the commissioners’ Report, but I quote from that furnished by
the association, whose Report was made subsequently, being dated 1st
January 1849.
[169]
See Report of the British Relief Association, pp. 41 and 46.
-----
[Sidenote: Total amount of rates raised.]
It may not be irrelevant here to state, that the entire of the rates
made in all the unions from the first introduction of the Poor Law down
to the date of the present Report, have (exclusive of the last rate)
amounted to 2,496,412_l._, of which not more than 48,804_l._, or 2 per
cent., has been lost—143,046_l._, or 6 per cent., of arrears having been
carried into the rates last made. The last-made rates amounted to
1,462,878_l._, which added to the above makes a total of 3,959,290_l._
assessed upon the property of Ireland for the relief of the poor, in
course of the ten years since the introduction of the Poor Law, the last
three being years of such intense distress as it was perhaps never
before the lot of an entire people to be subjected to.
[Sidenote: 1849.
Second annual report of Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.]
The Report for 1848-9 is dated, not on the 1st of May, as before, but on
the 14th July. At the end of their last Report, the commissioners
adverted to the great efforts which were made to restore the potato to
its former position of the staple crop of Ireland, as being a
circumstance at once hopeful and alarming. The policy of a people’s
relying for subsistence on a crop so uncertain in its produce, and which
so soon decays, is no doubt a question of momentous importance. But this
was lost sight of in the promise of an abundant harvest; and as the
disease had done little mischief last year, it was hoped the country
would be equally free from its ravages in the present.[Sidenote:
Recurrence of the potato disease.] At the beginning of August however,
the appearance of blight was reported from many parts of the country,
and although not so general nor so destructive as in 1846, the disease
proved much worse than in 1847, and there can be no doubt that a
considerable proportion of the crop was destroyed by it. In October
sound potatoes were sold at 8_d._ per stone, a price at which the
ordinary rate of wages would not allow a labourer to purchase them for
the support of his family. Another season of distress was therefore
evidently impending. The out-relief lists had been reduced from 830,000
in July, to 200,000 on the 1st of October, when the numbers again began
to increase, and on the last day of December they amounted to nearly
400,000. The numbers in the workhouses increased in the same period from
114,000 to 185,000, with a weekly rate of mortality of 6½ per 1,000.
Statements of the numbers relieved, and the cost of the relief afforded,
were periodically submitted to parliament throughout the whole of this
trying period.
[Sidenote: Great distress and sickness.]
In the earlier months of 1849 there was greater privation and suffering
among the population of the western and south-western districts, than at
any time since the fatal season of 1846-7. “Exhaustion of resources by
the long continuance of adverse circumstances, caused a large accession
to the ranks of the destitute. Clothing had been worn out or parted with
to provide food, or seed in seed-time; and the loss of cabins and small
holdings of land, either by eviction or voluntary abandonment, rendered
many thousands of families shelterless and destitute of fuel as well as
food.” The distress hence arising, aggravated by the inclement weather
which then prevailed, was not we are told effectually met by the system
of out-door relief. Where the workhouses were full, poor persons
receiving out-relief were often compelled to part with a portion of
their food to obtain a lodging. The cabins became crowded with ill-fed,
ill-clothed, sickly people, and epidemic disease found victims prepared
for its attacks. A great proportion of those who died in the workhouses
at this period, had previously suffered from fever and dysentery, and
entered the workhouse weakened by extreme privation, or in an advanced
state of disease.
[Sidenote: Cholera breaks out.]
In the month of March a new enemy appeared, cholera having broken out in
the western and south-western unions, whence it afterwards extended to
other parts of the country. The disease however assumed its most
virulent form in the above unions, and proved extensively fatal to the
inmates of the workhouses, as well as to the population generally. Great
exertions were made to check its ravages; but the commissioners express
their regret that a want of means had crippled their efforts, and in
some urgent cases they had been obliged to apply for permission to
appropriate a limited portion of the funds placed at their disposal by
government, to provide the means of treatment for cholera patients, at a
time when they were anxious to apply every sum remitted to them to the
purchase of food for the in-door and out-door poor in the distressed
unions. After a time the cholera disappeared from most of the unions in
the west and south, but at the date of the Report it still prevailed
with much virulence in other parts of Ireland.
[Sidenote: Extent of relief and mortality.]
The inmates of the several workhouses in the first week of March 1849
amounted to 196,523, and the weekly mortality to 9½ per 1,000. In the
first week of May the number of inmates was 220,401, with a mortality of
12½ per 1,000. At the end of June the inmates were 214,867, and the
mortality was reduced to 6¼ per 1,000. The numbers receiving out-relief
at the three periods respectively were 592,705—646,964—and 768,902.
These numbers show the extent of distress to which the people had been
reduced by famine and disease in the last four disastrous years. This is
also evidenced by the inquests held in cases of alleged death through
actual want, the number of which in the first five months of 1849
amounted to 431. The suffering must necessarily indeed have been greater
in each successive year than in the one preceding, since the general
means were being continually reduced by the failure of the crops, the
weakest and poorest of the people suffering first, then those a degree
above them, and so on, until the comparatively well-to-do occupier of a
few acres of land who had contributed to the relief of others, is
himself dragged down to the condition of the lowest.
[Sidenote: Extension of workhouse accommodation.]
A conviction appears to have become very general, that the abuses and
shortcomings incidental to out-door relief, especially when administered
on a large scale, cannot be altogether prevented; and that in-door
relief is preferable, not only under ordinary circumstances, but in
seasons of severe distress like the present. Hence the guardians had
hired building after building in aid of the workhouses at first
provided; and the entire accommodation, which was originally calculated
for 100,000 inmates, and which during the previous year had been
increased to 150,000, had now been so far extended as to be equal to the
accommodation of 250,000. On this circumstance and the convictions out
of which it arose, the commissioners chiefly founded their hope of
securing an effective and economical administration of the law. It will
be their duty, they say, to give a right direction to these views, by
endeavouring to make the auxiliary establishments effective in point of
classification and discipline, and to reduce where practicable the
expenses of management; and if their efforts should be assisted by the
gradual return of agricultural prosperity in the western and
south-western parts of Ireland, they confidently expect at no very
distant period to be enabled to withhold the exercise of the exceptional
power confided to them in the _2nd section_ of the Relief Extension
Act,[170] or at least to confine its operation within very narrow
limits.
-----
[170]
Ante, p. 330.
-----
[Sidenote: Restriction of relief to the workhouse.]
The fact that in 25 of the unions no relief was given except in the
workhouse is mentioned in the Report of the preceding year.[171] Several
unions which then gave out-relief have since ceased to do so, and the
number in which relief is restricted to the workhouse was now 35. In the
great majority of these unions the result of such restrictions had been
in all respects satisfactory. The applications of proper objects were
not refused, and yet there had been sufficient means for relieving all
the really destitute, whilst except in cases where epidemic disease had
prevailed in the neighbourhood, and been thence imparted to the inmates,
the workhouses of these unions had generally been healthy. In some
instances however where the destitution was severe and wide-spreading,
and where the auxiliary houses had been insufficient or defective, the
adherence to in-door relief exclusively was less satisfactory. The
insufficiency of workhouse accommodation led to overcrowding, and thence
arose disease, fed and aggravated by the continual influx of destitute
persons in a state of utter exhaustion, or bearing about them the seeds
of the prevalent malady. In all such cases, and they were not many, the
guardians were urged to resort to those provisions of the Act which
empower them to afford out-door relief, until they had provided the
necessary accommodation for enabling them to restrict it to the
workhouse without endangering life, or violating the principle of the
Poor Law.
-----
[171]
Ante, p. 343.
-----
[Sidenote: Mortality among the administrators of the law.]
In connection with workhouse relief, the mortality which took place
among the officers and other poor-law officials ought to be noticed, as
illustrating the duties which the exigencies of the service required
from them. The subject has already been adverted to as creating
difficulty in obtaining suitable persons to fill these offices.[172]
Although not so great in the present year as in 1846-7, the deaths of
workhouse officers by fever or cholera amounted to no less than seventy,
including nine chaplains and eight medical officers. Seven of the
vice-guardians likewise fell victims to disease in the discharge of
their arduous duties, as well as eight of the temporary inspectors,
together with Mr. Hancock, who had acted under the commission from the
commencement, first as assistant-commissioner and then as
inspector.[173]
-----
[172]
Ante, p. 326.
[173]
The vacancy caused by the lamented death of Mr. Hancock, was filled by
the appointment of Mr. Lynch, the temporary inspector of the Westport
union.
-----
[Sidenote: Emigration.]
An increased disposition had latterly been evinced by the boards of
guardians for promoting emigration, under the provisions of the
Extension Act.[174] The steady progress of the measure for sending
orphan girls from the Irish workhouses out to the Australian colonies,
the commissioners considered highly satisfactory. The number of these
girls embarked for Adelaide and Sydney since the spring of 1848 was
2,219, at a cost to the unions of about 5_l._ each for outfit and
conveyance to Plymouth, the remainder of the charge being defrayed from
the colonial funds. Many other unions were desirous that the orphan
girls from their workhouses should participate in this arrangement, but
the number at first was limited to 2,500. A hope is however expressed
that means will be found for continuing to remove from this country a
class of emigrants so eligible in every respect, and so much required in
the colonies. The entire amount expended on emigration during the year
ending on the 29th September 1848, was 2,776_l._—a sum, it is observed,
“less important in its direct effects, than as showing a growth of
opinion in favour of this method of relief.” Spontaneous emigration,
chiefly to the United States, and irrespective of aid from the
poor-rates, was exceedingly active from all parts of Ireland at this
time, the natural love of country having been deadened by the pressure
of want and disease.
-----
[174]
Ante, p. 331.
-----
[Sidenote: The _11 and 12 Vict. caps. 25 and 47_.]
In the session of 1848 two short Acts were passed which it is necessary
to notice. The _11th and 12th Victoria, cap. 25_, extends the powers for
hiring or purchasing land for the use of workhouses to 25 acres, in
addition to the 15 acres previously authorized. It likewise empowers the
commissioners to combine unions for the maintenance and education of
poor children, and also enables boards of guardians to provide for the
burial of deceased poor persons. The _11th and 12th Vict., cap. 47_,
provides “for the protection and relief of the destitute poor evicted
from their dwellings,” and directs relieving-officers forthwith to take
order for the relief of such persons, either in or out of the workhouse,
and to report the circumstances to the guardians at their next meeting.
The power of purchasing an additional 25 acres of land given by the
first of these Acts, was chiefly with a view to the establishment of
industrial schools, and was not intended to be used as a means of
employing the workhouse inmates. Few things would be more objectionable
on principle, or more conducive to lax management, than adding such a
quantity of land to a workhouse for the purpose of being cultivated by
the inmates.
[Sidenote: The _12 and 13 Vict. cap. 4_.]
In the session of 1849 likewise two Acts were passed requiring our
attention. The first of these,—The _12th and 13th Vict., cap. 4_,
relates to the appointment of vice-guardians. It provides that when a
board of guardians shall have been dissolved, and paid officers
appointed, before the 25th of March 1848, the commissioners may direct
the continuance of such paid officers until the 1st of November 1849,
and no election of guardians is to take place in the interim. But it
also provides that the commissioners may if they think fit discontinue
the paid officers, and direct the election of a board of guardians at
any time. The second of these Acts is known as ‘The Rate-in-Aid Act,’
and its provisions require to be more fully explained.
[Sidenote: The Rate-in-Aid Act. _12 and 13 Vict. cap. 24._]
The ‘Rate-in-Aid Act,’ _12th and 13th Vict. cap. 24_, makes provision
for levying “a general rate in aid of certain unions and electoral
divisions in Ireland,” and it enacts as follows:—
_Section 1._—The Poor Law Commissioners, with the approval of the lord
lieutenant, may during each of the years ending the 31st of December
1849 and 1850, from time to time declare the amount they deem
necessary for the above purposes, and may assess the same upon the
several unions in proportion to the annual value of the property in
each rateable to the relief of the poor; but the sum levied in any
union in either of the two years is not to exceed 6_d._ in the pound
on such annual value. The commissioners are to transmit to the
guardians of each union an order under seal, stating the amount so
assessed, and the portion leviable in each electoral division,
according to the value of its rateable property.
_Section 2._—In the rate next made on each electoral division, the
guardians are to provide for the sum so leviable; and the treasurer
of the union, out of all lodgments made with him of such rate, or
any subsequent rate, on account of any division, is to place one
moiety thereof to the credit of such division in an account to be
entitled “The Union Rate-in-Aid Account,” until the whole sum
leviable on such division shall have been so placed. And the
treasurer is to pay over all sums so from time to time received by
him to a separate account at the bank of Ireland, entitled “The
General Rate-in-Aid Account.”
_Sections 3, 4, 5._—The commissioners of the Treasury may order the
whole or any part of the money standing in such separate accounts at
the bank of Ireland, to be paid to such persons, at such times, and
under such conditions as they may think fit, for affording relief to
destitute poor persons in any union or electoral division, or for
assisting emigration, or for repaying advances made for any of these
purposes. And for the more speedy affording of such relief, the
commissioners of the Treasury are empowered to advance out of the
consolidated fund, any sums not in the whole exceeding 100,000_l._,
the same to be repayable out of any rates levied in pursuance of the
Act. Accounts of all receipts and payments under the Act are to be
made up to the 31st December, in the present and the following year
respectively.
This Act was passed on the 24th May 1849, and its duration is limited to
the 31st December 1850. It must therefore be regarded as a temporary
measure directed to a temporary object, and it was accompanied by a vote
authorizing an advance by the Treasury of 50,000_l._ for relief of the
distressed unions in the west of Ireland. The calls which had been made
upon England during the three preceding years, amounting altogether to
probably little short of 10,000,000_l._ in the shape of loans advances
or donations by the government, and contributions and subscriptions of
one kind and another by individuals, for the relief of Irish distress,
had evidently excited alarm, and appear to have given rise to a
determination on the part of the legislature to revert to the precedent
of the Elizabethan law, and to make the property of Ireland answerable
for the relief of Irish poverty. This was certainly open to no objection
in point of principle, although it may be questioned whether the most
suitable time was selected for its application. We have seen the
calamities to which Ireland had been exposed by the successive failure
of the potato crop. Such failures were unprecedented and exceptional.
The calamity had been emphatically designated as imperial; and if it
were so, there would be no violation of principle, but rather the
fulfilment of a duty, in one part of the empire coming to the assistance
of the other. It was in fact a common cause, and was so regarded
throughout England, until the repeated failures caused apprehensions as
to the perpetuity of the burden, and seemed to point to the necessity of
compelling the Irish people to abandon the treacherous potato, which it
was thought they would hardly do, so long as they could turn to England
for help whenever it failed them. The rate-in-aid was calculated to
effect this object, by casting the consequences of the failure entirely
upon Ireland itself, which in such case would be unable to persist in
its reliance upon a crop so treacherous and uncertain as the potato.
[Sidenote: A subscription promoted by government.]
Such it is believed were the impressions under which the Rate-in-Aid Act
was passed. Its duration was limited to a little over a year and a half,
and yet within that period, indeed within less than a month after it had
passed, a subscription was set on foot by the government, each of its
members subscribing 100_l._ and her Majesty 500_l._, in the belief, it
is declared, “that there are ways in which this money may be expended
most usefully, without interfering with the relief administration
through the Poor Law, such as the supply of clothing, which has now
become a matter of paramount importance, especially to the children.”
The prospects of the next harvest were said to be favourable, but the
promoters of the subscription declare “that the short intervening period
must be one of such overwhelming misery, as to afford a strong claim for
the exercise of private charity.”[175] The distribution of the money
subscribed on this occasion, which did not quite amount to 10,000_l._,
was intrusted to the same benevolent gentleman who had superintended the
application of the funds of the “British Relief Association,” and who
deservedly possessed the confidence of all parties, as well in Ireland
as in England. That the urgency was great, as is above stated, there can
he no doubt; and if it were susceptible of effectual relief by such
means, it may be lamented that the remedy was not earlier resorted to,
as it probably would have been but for the alarms which gave rise to the
Rate-in-Aid Act, and prevented the intervention either of the government
or individuals in furnishing eleemosynary aid.
-----
[175]
This is quoted from the heading of the subscription list, as published
in the ‘Times’ of 16th June 1849. The money raised was confided for
distribution in Ireland to Count Strzelecki.
-----
It must not however be supposed that the whole of Ireland was in a state
of “overwhelming misery.” Distress more or less severe was doubtless
very prevalent, and everywhere arising from the same cause; but distress
so intense and overwhelming as to require immediate assistance from some
extraneous source, only prevailed in certain of the western unions,
where the people had depended entirely on the potato, and when that crop
failed became poverty-stricken and helpless in the highest degree. The
potato constituted the chief, or it may almost be said the only source
of wealth in these unions, and its failure left them without other
resource. Rates could not be levied, for the land yielded no available
produce; and the population, accustomed to subsist in a semi-civilized
state upon the potatoes raised by themselves, would nearly all have
perished, as numbers of them did perish, but for the assistance which
was afforded to them from England.
[Sidenote: The western unions.]
It was chiefly with reference to these western unions that the
Rate-in-Aid Act was passed. There were 22 of them,[176] comprising a
population of 1,468,248, thus giving an average of nearly 67,000 to each
union; and they stood in much the same relation to the other unions in
Ireland, as a pauper stands in towards the independent labourer. The
other unions were generally equal to the occasion, trying as the period
undoubtedly was, and supported themselves through it, although not
without undergoing severe privations. But these western unions were
utterly destitute and without resource, and aid of some kind was
necessary to prevent a fearful sacrifice of life. The aid had hitherto
been furnished by England, and chiefly from the imperial treasury. The
legislature now determined that it should be derived from Ireland
itself, a determination that seems only open to objection, on the ground
of the distress being so general and severe as to constitute an
exceptional case, warranting a recurrence to extraneous sources.
-----
[176]
These were Ballina, Ballinrobe, Bantry, Cahirciveen,
Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlebar, Castlereagh, Clifden, Ennistymon,
Galway, Glenties, Gort, Kenmare, Kilrush, Mohill, Roscommon, Scariff,
Sligo, Swineford, Tuam, Westport, and Dingle. All the distressed
unions had either paid guardians, or temporary inspectors, appointed
by the commissioners.
-----
[Sidenote: A rate in aid of 6_d._ in the pound.]
The power which had been given of levying a rate in aid was forthwith
acted upon, a general order being issued on the 13th of June, declaring
the sum to be levied in each union and electoral division throughout
Ireland, according to the value of the rateable property for the year
1849. The whole amount so assessed was 322,552_l._ 11_s._, being at the
rate of 6_d._ in the pound. The commissioners say that the resources
thus placed at their disposal, and the advances by the Treasury on
security of the rate in aid, “have been most seasonable, and have
enabled the guardians of the unions assisted, to provide the necessaries
of life during the last two months for a large mass of recipients of
in-door and out-door relief, who must otherwise have been without food,
the money and credit of the unions having been previously quite
exhausted,” and the continuance of such assistance until the period of
harvest, is declared to be necessary for the relief of pressing
destitution in these impoverished and overburdened districts.
[Sidenote: Boards of guardians dissolved.]
In the year preceding 32 boards of guardians had been dissolved, and
paid officers appointed to execute the law.[177] It became necessary
likewise to dissolve some others in the present year;[178] but two of
the preceding boards (Trim and Cavan) were revived under the provisions
of the original Relief Act, and another (Mullingar) was revived under
the _12th and 13th Vict., cap. 4_. By the operation of the latter Act,
the boards of guardians will, on the 1st November next, be reinstated in
all the unions now under the management of paid officers, except the
five last dissolved, which will continue under paid officers until the
25th March 1850, unless previously re-established by order of the
commissioners.
-----
[177]
Ante, p. 341.
[178]
These were Mullingar, Boyle, Cashel, Thurles, Listowel, and Tipperary.
-----
[Sidenote: Sanction of out-relief.]
The orders issued authorizing out-relief under the _2nd section_ of the
Extension Act had, the commissioners say, been more numerous during the
present year than was intended at its commencement. “But the rapid
filling of the workhouses in certain unions, and the pressure of the
representations of distress, left them no alternative but to intrust
once more this extraordinary and exceptional power of affording relief
to the able-bodied out of the workhouse, to those charged with the
administration of relief in the western and south-western unions.”
[Sidenote: Distressed unions.]The financial state of many of these
unions was a source of continual anxiety. In the last year 23 of them
had been furnished with assistance in aid of their rates, by grants from
government and from the funds of the British Association, and they
required like assistance in the present. The sums remitted for this
purpose from time to time by the Treasury, were guarded by the condition
that they should not be used in payment of debts already incurred, but
be applied in purchasing the means of preserving the lives of the
people, when in danger of perishing through want of the necessaries of
life. There were other unions also whose finances were much embarrassed,
although they had not yet received assistance; but all, whether assisted
or not, are said to require perpetual watchfulness on the part of the
commissioners and their inspectors.
[Sidenote: The Boundary Commission.]
The difficulties and distresses to which the country had latterly been
exposed through the failure of the potato, together with the sanction
given to out-door relief by the Extension Act,[179] had led many persons
to consider that the unions and electoral divisions, as originally
formed, were too large for the convenient and effectual administration
of relief under existing circumstances. Representations to this effect
were made to the government, and in March 1848 commissioners[180] were
appointed for the purpose of inquiring and reporting—“whether the size
and other geographical circumstances of the unions, are such as to
prevent the guardians and relieving officers from attending the boards
without serious interruption to their other duties”—“whether the same
circumstances prevent the applicants for relief, who desire or who may
be required to attend the board, from doing so without serious
inconvenience”—“whether the amount of population and pauperism in each
union is greater than would render it possible for the guardians in
ordinary times to transact the business of the union conveniently in one
day of the week”—and lastly, “what alterations it would be advisable to
make in the boundaries of existing unions, and what new unions it would
be desirable to form, in order to meet the wants of the country on the
points adverted to, or any others which may present themselves in the
course of the inquiry: due regard being had to the position of the
existing workhouses, and the charge to be incurred in the erection of
new workhouses.” Similar inquiries were likewise to be made with respect
to the electoral divisions. [Sidenote: Fifty new unions recommended.]
Early in 1849 the commissioners reported the result of their inquiries,
and recommended the formation of 50 new unions, the details of which,
together with maps explanatory of the system on which the recommendation
was made, were appended to the Report.
-----
[179]
Ante, p. 330.
[180]
The commissioners were Captains Larcom and Broughton of the engineers,
and Mr. Crawford a poor-law inspector.
-----
[Sidenote: Select committee on the Irish Poor-laws.]
Early in the session of 1849, a select committee on the Irish Poor Laws
was appointed in the commons, and empowered “to report their opinion and
the minutes of evidence taken before them from time to time, to the
house.” Many intelligent witnesses were examined, and much information
was elicited with regard to the immediate object of the inquiry, and as
to its bearing upon the state of the country generally. The
recommendations of the boundary commissioners were also much canvassed,
and there appeared to be considerable diversity of opinion on the
subject, some preferring large areas both for unions and electoral
divisions, and others being favourable to small ones. This is of course
in some measure a question of degree, and must likewise depend very much
upon local circumstances. [Sidenote: Size of the unions.] The size of a
union or an electoral division might be perfectly suitable at one time,
or under one class of circumstances, and yet may be unsuitable at
another. When the unions were formed, we were aware that some of them
were too large, and we reckoned upon these being afterwards divided, and
the district readjusted. For instance, in the case of Ballina, the
materials for constituting two efficient boards of guardians could not
be found, and so an extent of territory sufficient for two unions, was
formed into one, until adequate executives could be found for two, when
a division might readily be effected. It was so likewise in other cases,
that of Dingle, now taken from Tralee union and constituted a separate
union, being one; and for my own part I always reckoned upon five or six
additional unions being created after the law had come into orderly
working. I certainly never thought it likely that 50 new unions, or
anything like that number, would be required; but neither did I foresee
the fearful visitations to which Ireland has latterly been subjected, or
the sanctioning of out-door relief under the Extension Act.
[Sidenote: Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]
The expenditure from the rates on relief of the poor in the 131 unions,
(Dingle being now added to the former number) during the twelve months
ending 29th September 1848, was 1,835,634_l._ The number of inmates on
that day was 124,003, and the total number relieved in the workhouses
within the year was 610,463. The number receiving out-door relief on
that day was 207,683, and the total number relieved out of the workhouse
during the year was 1,433,042. There is here a large increase both of
expenditure and numbers relieved, over the amounts in the preceding
year; but the excess is perhaps in neither case greater than might be
expected under the circumstances, the cause of the distress continuing,
and its pressure consequently becoming year by year more severe. In
proof of the great efforts which had been made to meet this distress, it
is only necessary to state the amount of the poor-rates collected during
the three last years, each ending on the 29th September, viz.:—
1846 £371,846
1847 638,403
1848 1,627,700
[Sidenote: Change in the commission.]
Mr. Twisleton who had ably discharged the duties of chief Poor Law
Commissioner since the separate establishment of the Irish board,
resigned office in the month of May in the present year, and was
succeeded by Mr. Power, the assistant-commissioner, whose vacated office
was filled by the appointment of Mr. Ball, one of the inspectors.