A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people
CHAPTER VI.
Third Annual Report of Poor-Law Commissioners—Further Amendment Act—Fourth Annual Report—New unions and electoral divisions—Consolidated Debts Act—Rates in aid—Fifth Annual Report—Annuities under Consolidated Debts Act—Treasury minute—Act to amend Acts relating to payment of advances—Medical charities—Medical Charities Act—First Report of Medical Charity Commissioners—Census of 1851—Retrospection—Sixth Annual Report—Rate of wages—Expenditure, and numbers relieved—Changes in Poor-Law executive—New order of accounts—Author’s letter to Lord John Russell, 1853—Present state and future prospects of Ireland.
The period comprised in the last chapter was one of great suffering and privation. Famine and pestilence prevailed throughout Ireland, to an extent only equalled by what is said to have occurred in some rare instances among eastern nations, if indeed it has ever been equalled in the world’s history. It was altogether a fearful visitation. I have endeavoured to compress the chief incidents of the period, more especially those at all connected with the administration of the Poor Law, into one chapter, in order to place consecutively before the reader such a condensed account of the great calamity, as will prevent the necessity of again recurring to it. We will now turn to the brighter and more hopeful period which followed—when famine and disease having disappeared, the energies of the country revived, and all classes united in making strenuous efforts to remedy the evils which had taken place, and as far as possible to prevent their recurrence.
[Sidenote: 1850. Third annual report of the Poor-law Commissioners for Ireland.]
The third Annual Report of the commissioners is dated 25th May 1850, and continues the narrative of events and proceedings from the date of the preceding Report.
[Sidenote: Decrease of relief.]
The maximum number in the workhouses during the year 1849-50, was 227,329 on the 16th June of the first-named year, and the maximum on the out-relief lists was 784,367 on the 7th July. From these dates the numbers went on rapidly decreasing throughout the succeeding months, until on the 6th October the inmates of the workhouses were reduced to the minimum of 104,266, and the number on the out-relief lists to 124,185, all orders for relief under the _2nd section_ of the Extension Act being likewise then withdrawn. This sufficiently proves the change which took place shortly after the date of the last Report.
[Sidenote: The crops generally sound and abundant.]
The crops in the autumn of 1849 turned out generally sound and abundant, and famine no longer cast its blight upon the land. Yet while all other parts of the country, including Mayo and Galway heretofore the most depressed and suffering, rejoiced in the favourable change, we are told that the unions in the county of Clare, especially those of Kilrush and Scariff, continued to exhibit a lamentable extent of destitution. There were still 30,000 persons on the out-relief lists in the Clare unions, nearly twice the number so relieved in the whole province of Connaught; “and the rate of mortality in the workhouses, and the number of inquests, although less than in former seasons, attest the indigent and suffering state of a great part of the population.” [Sidenote: Reduction of expenditure anticipated.] A hope is nevertheless expressed “that the ground has been laid for a further very considerable reduction of expenditure after harvest, and that a material alleviation of the burden of poor-rates throughout Ireland, will be experienced during the year which will end on the 29th September 1851.”
[Sidenote: Increase of workhouse accommodation.]
The large increase of workhouse accommodation which the last Report states to have been provided,[181] and the opinion which generally prevailed as to the importance of limiting relief as much as possible to the workhouse, appear to have realized the hope then expressed of successfully contending with the difficulties of the period. The large expenditure, amounting to 1,498,047_l._, connected with in-door relief in 1848-9, shows the determined character of the struggle, and although only partial success in establishing the system was obtained, events have shown the prudence of the course then pursued. When the boards of guardians which had been dissolved, resumed the charge of their unions in November, as provided by the _12th and 13th Vict. cap. 4_,[182] they not only evinced a desire to limit relief to the workhouse, but were also with few exceptions prepared to make a further increase of their workhouse accommodation wherever it appeared to be necessary. So that “the change from out-door relief to the safer system of relief in the workhouse, has (it is said) been found practicable throughout a large part of Ireland, not excepting some districts which suffered most severely during the famine.” [Sidenote: Decrease of out-door relief.]The conclusion of the harvest was as usual followed by an increase of applicants for relief, but the extent of workhouse accommodation being now greater by 70,000 than in the previous year, out-door relief instead of increasing actually continued to decrease until the end of December, when the numbers so relieved amounted to 95,468, the number in the workhouses being then 194,547. At the end of March 1850, the number on the out-relief lists was 131,702, and in the workhouses 224,381, the sanitary state of the houses being at the same time satisfactory. No out-door relief whatever was then administered in 51 of the unions, and at the date of the Report the number of unions thus exempt was increased to 58.
[181]
Ante, p. 351.
[182]
Ante, p. 355.
[Sidenote: 24 new unions formed.]
The recommendations of the Boundary Commissioners have been already noticed.[183] In carrying out these recommendations, the proposed arrangement of the electoral divisions was generally adhered to; but with regard to the new unions, it was not thought advisable to make the entire of the changes recommended. The commissioners have, they say, “refrained from forming such new unions in districts where it appeared that there was a preponderance of opinion against it, on the part of those who would be locally affected by the change, unless where the necessity for new union centres appeared, in a territorial point of view, to be placed beyond doubt.” Orders were however issued for the formation of 24 new unions,[184] and forms of procedure were prepared for adjusting the liabilities of townlands in unions and electoral divisions of which the boundaries were altered, in accordance with the provisions of the _12th and 13th Vict. cap. 104_. This Act now requires our attention, some of its provisions being of considerable importance.
[183]
Ante, p. 361.
[184]
These were Belmullet, Killala, Dromore West, Newport, Oughterard, Skull, Castletown, Clonakilty, Tulla, Killadysert, Corrofin, Ballyvaghan, Portumna, Mount Bellew, Glennamaddy, Strokestown, Claremorris, Tobercurry, Glin, Croom, Millstreet, Mitchelstown, Bawnboy, and Ballymahon.
[Sidenote: The _12th and 13th Vict. cap. 104_.]
_The 12th and 13th Vict. cap. 104_, was passed on the 1st August 1849, ‘to further Amend the Acts for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland;’ and the following is a summary of its provisions:—
_Section 1._—Provides that every person applying for relief, is to be deemed chargeable to the electoral division in which during the last three years he has been longest usually resident, whether by occupying a tenement or usually sleeping therein;—provided that if he have not been so usually resident for at least one of the said three years, the expense of his relief is to be borne by the union at large.
_Section 2._—Requires the Poor Law Commissioners in all cases where a change is made in the boundaries of any union or electoral division, to make such order under seal as appears to them to be necessary for the adjustment of the liabilities existing at the time of such change, and the proportionate share thereof to be borne by any townland affected thereby, and likewise for indemnifying any union electoral division or townland for any loss on exchange of property occasioned by such alteration of boundaries.
_Sections 3, 4, 5._—On the formation of new unions, the commissioners are empowered to prescribe the arrangements for the joint use of the existing workhouses, until the new unions are provided with workhouses of their own, and from time to time to alter or rescind the same, and to enforce payment of the expenses consequent thereon; and for the purpose of providing workhouses, ‘the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act’ (_8th and 9th Vict. cap. 18_) is declared to be incorporated with the Poor Relief Acts.
_Sections 6, 7, 8, 9._—In fixing the qualification of elected guardians, the commissioners are empowered to fix a different amount for different electoral divisions of the same union. The full number of ex-officio guardians may be made up from non-resident justices, if the number resident be not sufficient. Two or more electoral divisions may be combined for the purpose of electing a guardian; and upon the request of a board of guardians the commissioners may appoint an assistant-guardian for such union, whom they are also empowered to remove or discontinue.
_Sections 10, 11, 12._—Rents arising from exempted property, are to be rated to the extent of half the poundage. Occupiers are not to deduct from their rent more than one-half the amount of the rate paid by them; and the provisions making void all agreements to forego deductions from rent are repealed.
_Sections 13, 14._—The valuations are not required to be signed and sealed by the commissioners. “To encourage the employment of labour in improving the value of land,” the valuation is not to be increased in consequence of improvements made under the Land Improvement Act, within seven years after such improvements.
_Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19._—A short form of declaration is prescribed, and costs are limited in actions for recovery of rates. Judges may make rules and orders regulating proceedings in actions for poor-rates. Civil bill decrees for poor-rates may be filed, and have force as judgments of superior court. Judgments for poor-rates are to be registered, and take priority as charges on the land, with the exception of crown and quit-rents and rent-charges in lieu of tithes. The recovery of arrears of rate limited to two years.
_Sections 20, 22, 23._—Date of audit to be stated on the accounts, and all disallowances thereof to be inserted by the auditor. The rate-books are to be open for inspection, and due notice is to be given to the ratepayers. In cases of appeal, the known agent of the appellant may sign the notices and enter into the recognizances required by law.
_Sections 24, 25._—The names of persons relieved to be entered in books kept for that purpose, which are to be open for inspection; and weekly statements of the numbers relieved and chargeable to the union, and to the electoral divisions respectively, are to be posted on the workhouse door.
_Sections 26, 27, 28._—With consent of the commissioners the rates may be applied, or loans may be raised on security of the rates, for defraying the expenses of emigration; but vice-guardians are not so to apply or borrow without the consent of the ratepayers, and the amount borrowed is in no case to exceed 11_s._ 8_d._ in the pound, of the yearly value of the rateable property chargeable with the same. The money borrowed is to be applied under direction of the commissioners, in defraying the expenses connected with the emigration to British colonies, of poor persons resident within the union or electoral division, on the rates whereof the same shall have been respectively charged.
_Sections 29, 30, 31._—For the purpose of facilitating proceedings for the recovery of rates, assistant barristers &c. may “correct or amend any variance, clerical error, or irregularity not affecting the substantial merits of the question,” in the notices &c. brought before them. Fourteen days’ notice is to be given of proceeding by civil bill against immediate lessors for recovery of rates. The present and preceding Acts are to be construed as one Act.
[Sidenote: Emigration.]
The facilities afforded by the above Act for promoting emigration, were productive of less effect than would otherwise probably have been the case, owing to the financial embarrassments existing in many of the unions. The guardians were naturally indisposed to apply the poor-rate or to borrow money for purposes of emigration, whilst there was an urgent pressure upon them for relief, and great difficulty in obtaining the means of affording it. The amount expended by the unions on emigration during the year ending 29th September 1849, was 16,260_l._, being an increase of 13,484_l._ over that of the previous year.[185] The number of orphan girls selected from the several workhouses, and sent out as emigrants to Australia, had been 1,956, which added to the 2,219 so sent out in the preceding year, makes a total of 4,175 from the commencement, under regulations jointly established by the Poor Law and Emigration Commissioners in 1848.[186]
[185]
Ante, p. 354.
[186]
Twenty ships had been despatched in the two years, from May 1848, to April 1850, with orphan girls selected from the workhouses in Ireland, as emigrants to the Australian colonies. Of these emigrants, 2,253 were taken to Sydney, 1,255 to Port-Philip, and 606 to Adelaide. The remaining 61 were sent to the Cape of Good Hope.
[Sidenote: Employment.]
Notwithstanding that past experience and the deductions of sound principle were alike opposed to the notion that pauper labour could be made a source of profit, many boards of guardians and other persons of undoubtedly excellent intentions, are said to have advocated plans for employing the able-bodied inmates of the workhouses in ordinary agricultural labour, or in the draining and subsoiling of lands belonging to private individuals, or in carrying on manufactures within the workhouse, the produce to be disposed of to other unions, or else sold to the public under the current market-price. But none of these nor any similar propositions were sanctioned by the commissioners, who nevertheless failed not to urge upon boards of guardians the importance of enforcing work of some kind amongst the inmates, not only as tending to promote health and keep up habits of industry, but also as a means of securing the discipline of the establishment, and maintaining the efficiency of the workhouse as a test of destitution.
[Sidenote: The workhouse children.]
The case of the workhouse children differs essentially from that of the adults. The house is no longer a test, as applied to them; but a place of refuge, supplying in a great degree the wants of home, and responsible also for the fulfilment of home duties. Every consideration of humanity and policy therefore establishes the propriety, not only of providing for the education of these children, but also for their instruction in useful occupations by which they may earn their subsistence in after life; and much appears to have been done in these respects with the children of both sexes in the several workhouses. The power conferred of forming district industrial schools had not yet been acted upon, neither under the depressing circumstances which have existed in most parts of the country, could it be expected that the guardians would attempt to found such institutions, which must, especially at the outset, entail a very considerable expenditure.
[Sidenote: Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]
The expenditure from the rates on the relief of the poor in the 131 unions during the twelve months ending 29th September 1849, as stated in Table No. 1, Appendix B, was 2,177,651_l._[187] The number of inmates on that day was 141,030 and the total number relieved in the workhouses during the year was 932,284. The number then receiving out-door relief was 135,019; and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 1,210,482.
[187]
As was the case in the preceding year, the half-yearly statements made up and audited on the 25th March and 29th September (Appendix 2 and 3) exhibit different amounts, and make the total expenditure in the present year 2,141,228_l._
[Sidenote: 1851. Fourth annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.]
The commissioners’ Report for 1850-51 is dated on the 5th May. After giving the usual statistics, and adverting to the fact that the maximum number on the out-relief lists in the previous year terminating on the 29th September 1850, was 148,909, whilst in the following seven months the number had in no instance exceeded 10,935; the commissioners “notice the still more satisfactory circumstance, that during the year ended 29th September 1850, and the seven months which had since elapsed, the worst evils of the famine, such as the occurrence of deaths by the wayside, a high rate of mortality in the workhouses, and the prevalence of dangerous and contagious diseases, had undergone a very material abatement.” This change was, they consider, owing to a combination of favourable circumstances; but they “do not hesitate to affirm that the extension of workhouse room had afforded the means of relieving actual destitution, far more efficiently than could have been done by a corresponding expenditure in out-door relief; and that life has been preserved with more certainty, and the general condition of the population been improved, wherever a sufficient extent of workhouse room has enabled the guardians to meet all applications for relief, and thus to remove from the minds of the labouring population every expectation of the recurrence of an extensive system of out-door relief.”
[Sidenote: State of the workhouses.]
With regard to the mortality which had occurred in the workhouses, it is remarked “that an accumulation of cases of chronic sickness among persons who survived the famine, but whose enfeebled constitutions afford little hope of any other result than a permanent residence in the workhouse, had filled the workhouse hospitals and infirmaries with a great number of sick.” Many of these poor people die in the more inclement seasons of winter and spring, and thus the average mortality of the workhouses is stated in the returns to be increased. Yet if not admitted into the workhouse, larger numbers would have perished, as is shown by the great mortality which took place in the county of Clare, where the unions were too much impoverished to provide sufficient workhouse accommodation for the extent of destitution that prevailed, the condition of Clare being at this time much worse than any other part of Ireland. The people had there suffered more, and the revival of the potato crop had brought them less relief. [Sidenote: State of Clare.] They exhibited in fact an exception to the improvement elsewhere happily apparent, and nowhere more so than in Connaught, the unions in which province were among the most forward in recovering from the effects of the famine.
[Sidenote: Emigration.]
A portion of the fund raised by the rate-in-aid,[188] was applied to assist the emigration of poor persons from the workhouses of some of the overburdened unions. But in order to prevent such assistance from operating injuriously, and serving as an inducement to persons to claim admission to the workhouse, the commissioners directed that it should be afforded only to those who had been inmates for one year at least. Certain of the unions were thus relieved from the charge of maintaining persons able to work, but unable to find employment; and by the removal of such persons additional workhouse room was obtained, without incurring the charge of providing additional buildings. The number thus assisted to emigrate during the present year, was 360 adult males, 844 females, and 517 children, at an expense of 21,075_l._
[188]
Ante, p. 355.
[Sidenote: New unions and electoral divisions.]
Since the last Report eight more new unions[189] had been formed, which with the 24 formed last year, and the 131 previously existing make 163 in all. The old unions in which the boundaries either of the Union or its electoral divisions had been altered, were 86; and the number of electoral divisions had been increased to 3,404, instead of 2,049 as originally constituted. Some of the recommendations contained in the boundary commissioners’ Reports, were disapproved by the guardians of the unions to which they applied. This was particularly the case in the north of Ireland, and in several instances the Poor Law Commissioners deemed it expedient to yield to the objections which were made to any change; so that instead of 50 new unions as recommended in the boundary Reports, no more than 32 had been created; and to these, advances to the extent of 200,000_l._ were made by the exchequer loan board, for enabling them to provide the necessary workhouses.
[189]
These were Borrisokane, Castlecomer, Donaghmore, Kilmacthomas, Tornastown, Urlingford, Youghal, and Castletowndelvin.
It was likewise considered inexpedient to proceed further in making alterations in the unions or electoral divisions, “until the task of consolidating the debts due for workhouse loans, relief advances, labour-rate, and the advance of 300,000_l._ authorized by the _13th and 14th Vict., cap. 14_, had been completed.” The proceedings under this Act are said to be far advanced. They are of considerable importance, as is the Act itself, of which the following is an abstract—
[Sidenote: The _13th and 14th Vict. cap. 14_.]
The _13th and 14th Vict., cap. 14_, was passed on the 17th May 1850, and after reciting the several Acts under which advances had been made, and declaring that considerable sums in respect of such advances remained unpaid, but that it was nevertheless expedient to authorize a further advance of public money to assist certain distressed unions and electoral divisions in Ireland &c., it empowers—
_Section 1._—The commissioners of the Treasury to make advances from time to time not exceeding in the whole 300,000_l._, to such unions as they shall think fit, such advances to be paid to the Poor Law Commissioners, and by them applied towards the discharge of the debts or liabilities of the union or division &c., as the Treasury shall direct. All sums so advanced are to bear 3 per cent. interest, and be repaid out of the poor-rates at such times as the Treasury prescribe.
_Sections 2, 3, 4._—The commissioners of the Treasury may cause the debts and liabilities of the several unions and electoral divisions &c. to be ascertained, and may cause the same to be consolidated and proportionably charged upon such unions or electoral divisions, and may charge such an annuity upon the same as shall be equivalent to such proportionate amount. A statement of the annuities so charged is to be transmitted to the Poor Law Commissioners, who are to issue orders to the guardians directing the punctual payment thereof.
_Sections 5, 6._—If payment be not so punctually made, the treasurer of the union is to reserve a third part of the moneys collected and lodged with him on account of the electoral division, and place the same to a separate account, to be entitled the “Loans Repayment Account,” until all arrears have thereby been discharged. But the rate in aid under the _12th and 13th Vict. cap. 24_, is to be paid, before the annuities charged under this Act.
_Sections 7, 8._—The Treasury are further empowered to make additions to the annuities chargeable under this Act, in respect of loans for building or enlarging workhouses; and may likewise suspend the recovery of workhouse loans, and moneys directed to be levied by grand-jury presentments.
The consolidation of the various claims upon the unions and electoral divisions, and converting them into annuities on terms which, whilst they secured the government from loss, would make the repayment as little burdensome as possible, must no doubt have been, as was intended, an easement and an advantage to the borrowers. The financial difficulties of many of the western unions were however, it was apprehended, such as would not only disable them from making any payment for some years, but such as would render further aid necessary, in order to keep them in operation as dispensors of relief to the destitute poor.
[Sidenote: Second rate in aid of 2_d._ in the pound.]
A statement is given in the appendix to the Report, of the appropriation of the loan of 300,000_l._ advanced under the above statute, which was, the commissioners say, “a most seasonable relief to many unions and electoral divisions that were deeply embarrassed by debt in the early part of 1850.” But in addition to this loan of 300,000_l._, a second rate in aid of 2_d._ in the pound, amounting to 99,362_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._, was levied under an order issued on the 23rd December 1850, “for the further assistance of distressed unions and electoral divisions.” The Rate-in-Aid Act would expire on the 31st of December, and it had been hoped that the raising a second rate under it might have been avoided. “But after the conclusion of the harvest of last year (the commissioners say) they perceived indications of the continuance of distress in so serious a degree in the counties of Clare and Kerry, that they could not, with the small balance at their disposal, feel justified in omitting to avail themselves of the power of declaring a further rate;” and subsequent experience, they observe, confirmed the propriety of the step thus taken. The two rates in aid amounted together to 421,990_l._ The distribution of this large sum among the distressed unions was, under direction of the government, intrusted to the Poor Law Commissioners, by whom an account of its application was furnished in detail.
[Sidenote: Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]
An expectation had been held out in the last Report of a very considerable reduction of expenditure taking place in the following year,[190] and this expectation was fulfilled. In the 163 unions the total expenditure from the rates for the relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1850, was 1,430,108_l._ The number of inmates on that day was 155,173, and the total number relieved in the workhouses during the year was 805,702. The number then receiving out-door relief was 2,938, and the number who received out-door relief during the year was 368,565.—It is seen therefore that, as was expected, a very considerable decrease had taken place; but to show this clearer, I will recapitulate the several amounts for the three preceding years. In the year ending 29th September 1848, the total expenditure for relief of the poor was 1,835,634_l._—in 1849 it was 2,177,651_l._—and in 1850 it was 1,430,108_l._ The total number relieved in the workhouses in these years respectively, was 610,463—932,284—and 805,702; and the total number who so respectively received out-door relief, was 1,433,042—1,210,482—and 368,565. The decrease in the numbers who received in-door relief, may perhaps seem disproportionately small; but this is accounted for by the fact of the workhouse being more extensively used for the purposes of relief, than had been the case in former years.
[190]
Ante, p. 365.
[Sidenote: Extension of workhouse accommodation.]
The generally improved circumstances of the country must doubtless be regarded as the chief cause of the present decrease of pauperism; but the commissioners consider that it is likewise in no small degree attributable to the extension of workhouse accommodation. This extension has, it is said, “enabled the administrators of relief throughout Ireland, with very few exceptions, to meet the actual destitution existing, without having recourse to out-door relief.” The progress of the extension may thus be tabulated:—
Extent of Workhouse Accommodation.
┌────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐ │ Year. │ On March 25. │ On Sept. 29. │ ├────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤ │ 1847 │ 114,129 │ 114,865 │ │ 1848 │ 154,429 │ 169,142 │ │ 1849 │ 228,458 │ 244,942 │ │ 1850 │ 276,073 │ 289,931 │ │ 1851 │ 308,885 │ — │ └────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘
And at the date of the Report (5th May 1851), the aggregate of the workhouse accommodation available, beyond the numbers then receiving in-door relief, was 60,491. Improvement in the sanitary state of the workhouses, and of the labouring population generally, is said always to follow the increase of workhouse accommodation, and the substitution of in-door for out-door relief; so that although a great reduction of expenditure took place in the last year, a still further reduction may be expected in the present.
[Sidenote: 1852. Fifth annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.]
The Report of the commissioners for 1851-52 is dated on the 1st of May, as had been theretofore generally the practice, although this date was not adhered to in the three preceding Reports.
[Sidenote: Improved circumstances of the country.]
The transition from out-door to in-door relief was said to be now complete throughout Ireland, accompanied by a reduction in the number of applicants, as well as a most satisfactory decrease in workhouse mortality, The crops generally had everywhere regained their usual state of productiveness. Famine or fear of famine no longer prevailed, and its effects were only perceptible in the decrease of the population, and the consequent increased demand for labour. All in short was prosperous and promising compared with the state of things five years ago. There was however one exception, several of the western unions being still much embarrassed in their finances, and continuing to require assistance. [Sidenote: The Munster unions an exception.] This was especially the case in Munster; for the Connaught exception, unions had passed successfully through the ordeal, and were comparatively prosperous. “Thus on the 23rd February 1850, while the whole number receiving out-door relief in Ireland was 148,909, the unions in the province of Munster contained 101,803 of that number, and those in Connaught only 19,261; and again, on the 26th April 1851, when the number on out-relief was reduced to 10,935, the eight unions in the county of Clare comprised 6,846, and the 29 unions in the province of Connaught only 232.”
[Sidenote: Increase of workhouse relief.]
During the progress of the important change which was now taking place in the circumstances of the country, the number of persons relieved in the workhouses had always considerably increased in the spring and early part of the summer. These persons were generally in a state of great exhaustion, and the aid and shelter they received enabled them afterwards in most cases to leave the house with their health and strength restored. Some however remained, especially females and the children of both sexes, by whom it appears the workhouses continued to be unduly burdened. So long as there was an expectation of out-door relief being administered, a considerable amount of disease and mortality often prevailed, owing to the way in which persons really destitute persisted in hanging upon that expectation, instead of earlier seeking for admission to the workhouse; but when all hope for relief otherwise than in the workhouse was removed, “the sequel has invariably been a reduced number of applicants, a decreased rate of workhouse mortality, and an improved sanitary state of the population.”
The increased extent of workhouse accommodation which has been noticed, had been obtained, either by means of permanent additions to the original workhouses, or by building new ones in the newly-formed unions, or by the erection of a cheap kind of temporary structure to meet the emergency; or else by hiring premises for the purpose. The latter of these expedients had been resorted to more extensively than was consistent either with economy or with efficient management, and most of these premises were now given up, or shortly would be so. Anxiety is expressed that the succeeding year should be commenced with the workhouse establishments concentrated as far as practicable in each union, “so as to avoid the disadvantage of using auxiliary buildings.” Such a concentration was no doubt essential to efficient management, and it was only by such management, the commissioners observe, and by a further reduction of expenditure, “that some of the distressed unions in the west can be expected to become so far solvent as to support their own pauperism without further external aid.”
It is certainly important on many accounts that there should be only one workhouse in a union, and that it should have been expressly constructed for the accommodation of the classes to be relieved therein, with all suitable means for their separation and employment. Without these essentials, a workhouse can hardly be effective either as a test of destitution or a medium of relief; and there is always danger of an inefficient workhouse becoming a stimulant, instead of being a check to pauperism.
[Sidenote: Annuities under the Consolidated Debts Act.]
Most of the unions made provision for the payment of first annual instalment under the Consolidated Debts Act (_13th and 14th Vict. cap. 14_),[191] the arrangements under which, including the advance of 300,000_l._,[192] appear to have been all completed by the end of September. But in the following month a Treasury minute was issued, declaring that although “my lords” are of opinion that the present state of the greater part of Ireland does not call for any relief from the operation of the Act, yet they cannot doubt that there are districts in which relief must be given—“in the case of those districts, for instance, where the local resources are insufficient to meet the ordinary expenditure for relief of the poor, and where it is necessary to have recourse to assistance from the relief-in-aid fund for this purpose, it cannot be expected that further sums for payment of the consolidated annuities can be raised.” With regard to _postponement_, their lordships are of opinion that it would only tend to prolong a feeling of uncertainty as to future payments, whilst it is deemed of great importance to restore confidence in the owners and occupiers of land in the distressed districts, to which end the demands should be definite both in amount and in time. It is thought therefore that a remission of payment, either altogether or in part according to circumstances, is preferable to postponement, and an intimation is given of its being intended to apply to parliament with this view. Meantime however, the Poor Law Commissioners were authorized to direct the treasurers of the unions to retain the whole annuity payable by electoral divisions of which the expenditure in relief was ascertained to be 4_s._ in the pound, or more; and also to direct “so much only of the annuity to be paid in other divisions as might, together with the relief expenditure, amount to 4_s._ in the pound.”
[191]
Ante, p. 374.
[192]
A statement of the appropriation of this loan is given in the Appendix to the commissioners’ fourth Report.
[Sidenote: The Treasury minute, October 21, 1851.]
This was doubtless a considerate, but it was at the same time a necessary proceeding on the part of the government. The impoverished unions, whose utmost exertions could not raise within themselves sufficient for relieving their own urgent necessities, would of course find it impossible to pay the consolidated annuity for which they were made liable; whilst the continual accumulation of this charge hanging over them would paralyze local effort, and tend to prevent the introduction of capital from other quarters. The accumulation would for the present be put a stop to by this Treasury minute; and if, in consideration of their late sufferings and present difficulties, parliament should confirm the boon, it will it is thought inspire confidence, as well as afford present relief; and it may then be hoped, that at no very distant day the impoverished unions would be able to emerge from their state of depression, and join in the general race of improvement. [Sidenote: The _15 and 16 Vict., cap. 16_.] The requisite confirmation was given in the following year by the _15th and 16th Vict. cap. 16_, entitled ‘An Act to amend the Acts relating to the Payment of Advances made to Districts in Ireland.’ After reciting the _13th and 14th Vict. cap. 14_, and the Treasury minute of the 21st October 1851, made “upon representations contained in memorials from many unions in Ireland, of the pressure upon the local resources of several electoral divisions on account of the necessary expenditure for the relief of the poor, and in anticipation of a measure to be submitted to parliament”—it is declared to be expedient that the directions contained in the said minute should be confirmed, and it is accordingly enacted that “the sums payable in the year 1851 in respect of the annuities mentioned in such minute and directions, shall be remitted and deemed to be discharged without further payment.” The remissions thus sanctioned amounted altogether to about 75,000_l._—that is 48,000_l._. to Munster, 24,000_l._ to Connaught, and 3,000_l._ to Leinster. The remission, it will be observed, only applied to the annuities due in 1851, and no expectation was held out of similar indulgence in future.
[Sidenote: The medical charities.]
Some account has already been given of the inquiry into and Report upon the medical charities in 1842, and of the bill then prepared but not proceeded with, in consequence of the opposition made to it by the medical profession.[193] In August 1851 however a bill, founded on that Report, and similar in principle and in its main provisions to the bill of 1842, was introduced and readily passed, the necessity for such a measure, and for bringing the rating powers and machinery of the Poor Law in aid of the medical charities, being then admitted by all parties; and this was the object of the Act of 1851, as it had been of the bill prepared under the author’s direction in 1842.
[193]
Ante, pp. 267 and 279.
[Sidenote: Medical Charities Act, _14 and 15 Vict., cap. 68_.]
On the passing of the _14th and 15th Vict. cap. 68_, the working of the medical charities became so closely connected with the operations of the Poor Law, that a description of the chief provisions of the Act is here necessary—
_Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5._—Provide for the appointment of a medical commissioner, being a physician or surgeon of not less than thirteen years’ standing, to be united with the Poor Law Commissioners in the execution of the Act. The commissioners may appoint fit persons, being physicians or surgeons of not less than seven years’ standing, to be inspectors, but the medical commissioner and the inspectors are restricted from practising professionally.
_Sections 6, 7, 8, 9._—The guardians are, whenever required by the commissioners, to divide unions into dispensary districts, having regard to extent and population; and are to appoint a dispensary committee, and provide necessary buildings, and such medicines and appliances as may be required, for the medical relief of the poor. A committee of management consisting of the dispensary committee, the ex-officio guardians, and ratepayers of 30_l._ annual value, are to appoint one or more medical officers, to afford advice and medical aid to such poor persons as may be sent by any member of the dispensary committee, or by the relieving officer or warden.
_Sections 10, 11, 12, 13._—On the declaration of a dispensary district, all provisions for affording dispensary relief from the poor-rate or county cess are to cease. Guardians or members of the committee of management, are not to be concerned in furnishing medicines or goods for the use of the dispensary, under penalty of 50_l._ The commissioners are to frame regulations for the government of each dispensary district, and the medical officer is required to vaccinate all persons who may come to him for that purpose.
_Sections 14, 15._—Existing medical officers are in the first instance to be the medical officers of the dispensaries. The medical officers of a dispensary district are to attend at the examination of dangerous lunatics, and are also to attend the bride-wells within their districts.
_Sections 16, 17, 18._—The commissioners and inspectors are empowered to examine on oath, and to summon witnesses. The giving false evidence is declared a misdemeanour, and the refusing to obey summons &c. is subjected to a penalty of 5_l._ Inspectors may visit dispensaries, and attend meetings of guardians. The commissioners are to report upon hospitals and infirmaries. They are also to execute the powers and purposes of the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts, and to report their proceedings annually to the lord-lieutenant.
Such were the chief provisions of this Act, and the powers conferred by it appear sufficient for procuring the establishment of dispensaries in districts where they were much needed, and also for securing better management with regard to medical relief. [Sidenote: First report of Medical Charity Commissioners.]In their first Report dated 15th February 1853, the commissioners remark, that by the Medical Charities Act, a partial and imperfect system of medical relief, unattended with responsibility in its agents, and resting on a financial basis at once uncertain in duration, and unequal in its pressure as a tax, has been exchanged for a system uniform and universal, supported out of the poor-rates, and “influenced in its administration by well-defined responsibilities, under the direction and control of a central authority.” The expenditure is estimated at 102,700_l._ per annum. [Sidenote: Anticipated expenditure.]But “having regard to the diminution of pauperism, and the improving circumstances of the country,” it is thought probable that the cost of dispensary relief under the Medical Charities Act, will not exceed 100,000_l._ in future years.
[Sidenote: New electoral divisions.]
A few more of the electoral divisions were divided, in addition to the subdivisions which had been made the preceding year,[194] and the total number of electoral divisions was now increased to 3,439, that is 1,390 more than what were originally constituted, although still short of the number recommended by the Boundary Commissioners. The permission of out-door relief, and the increase in the number of unions, especially the latter, would no doubt render some increase of electoral divisions necessary; but after the distress out of which these changes had arisen shall have passed away, and when the country has regained its normal state, it is not unlikely that these changes may be found burthensome, and the machinery they have created be beyond what is really necessary for affording relief to the destitute poor. [Sidenote: New order of proceedings issued.] The various changes which had been made in the law, also rendered a new order for regulating the proceedings of boards of guardians necessary; and accordingly on the 19th January 1852, the old order was rescinded, and a new one adapted to the altered circumstances of the unions and the state of the law was issued.
[194]
Ante, p. 373.
[Sidenote: Apprenticing boys to the sea-service. _14 and 15 Vict., cap. 35._]
In July 1851, the _14th and 15th Vict. cap. 35_ was passed, to extend the benefits of the General Merchant Seamen’s Act relating to apprentices bound to the sea-service by guardians of the poor in Ireland. By this Act, the board of guardians of a union is empowered to apprentice any boy of the age of twelve and upwards being of sufficient health and strength, and who is or whose parents are receiving relief in such union, and who consents to be so bound, into the sea-service for not less than four years, or until he attains the age of twenty-one, or has served seven years, as the case may be. The apprentice is to be furnished with a suitable outfit at the expense of the union, and sent to the seaport where the master or owner of the ship resides; and it is further provided that any such boys may, if they desire it, be placed out in the naval service. This is a well-devised Act, although it may not be very operative, at least for a time, the Irish generally having little predilection for the sea. The Act however supplies what was certainly an omission in the Act of 1836, and which became more apparent as the number of boys accumulated in the workhouses, without any means for apprenticing or getting them out into service. But the abuses which had resulted from the apprenticeship law in England, prevented its introduction in any shape into the original Irish Poor Relief Act.
[Sidenote: Emigration.]
Emigration under the provisions of the Poor Law was more active during the year 1850-51 than in any preceding year, although many unions were prevented by their poverty from resorting to it.[195] The commissioners had, as is before stated, applied a portion of the rate-in-aid fund in relieving the overcrowded workhouses in the counties of Clare and Kerry, but the nearly exhausted state of that fund disabled them from meeting other urgent applications for similar aid. Indeed the decrease of the population in the impoverished districts, as shown in the census returns, together with the smaller number of applicants for relief, and a greater demand for labour, would seem to render further aid or stimulus to emigration both unnecessary and inexpedient. Where the guardians and ratepayers of a district however were desirous of raising funds for the purpose, the commissioners did not refuse to give effect to the proposition.[Sidenote: Extent of emigration.] It appears from the Reports of the colonial land and emigration commissioners, that the total Irish emigration from 1847 to 1850 inclusive, was 833,692, nearly all of which was for North America—the Canada and New Brunswick immigration from all countries in the same period amounting to 210,904. In 1851, the emigration from Great Britain to the United States was 267,357, and it was 244,261 in 1852, in which year the number of Irish emigrants to New York alone was 118,134. This continuous emigration was chiefly effected by the aid of remittances from persons who had previously emigrated, to their friends and relatives at home, to enable them to follow.
[195]
Ante, p. 373.
[Sidenote: Population census of 1851.]
The above figures show the extent of the drain upon the population of Ireland which had been in progress during the last six years, and will go far to account for the startling results of the census returns of 1851, which exhibit an actual decrease of considerably over a million and a half in the previous decennial period, and make the population less than it was in 1821. The census commissioners,[196] after stating that the numerical decrease of the inhabitants between 1841 and 1851 amounted to 1,622,739, go on to remark—“But this being merely the difference between the number of people in 1841 and 1851, without making any allowance for a natural and ordinary increase of population, conveys but very inadequately the effect of the visitation of famine and pestilence”—“We find that the population of 30th March 1851, would probably have numbered 9,018,799, instead of 6,522,385; and that consequently the loss of population between 1841 and 1851 may be computed at the enormous amount of 2,496,414 persons.” That is to say, the population in 1851 amounted to 6,522,385, whereas under ordinary circumstances, and with the average rate of increase, it would have amounted to 9,018,799.
[196]
See 6th part of the Report on the census of Ireland for 1851, published in 1855.
It may be convenient in the way of elucidation, to place the numbers of the four census periods in juxtaposition, thus—
The population of Ireland was 6,801,827 in 1821
” ” in 1831 ” 7,767,401
” ” in 1841 ” 8,175,124
” ” in 1851 ” 6,522,385
How much of the present decrease was owing to emigration, and how much was occasioned by want and disease, it is impossible to predicate with any degree of certainty. Both causes were in operation at the same time, and both were consequent upon the potato failure. The universal and almost exclusive use of the potato as an article of subsistence, led to a rapid increase of the population—its failure led to a still more rapid decrease, accompanied by an amount of suffering and privation for which it would be difficult to find a parallel in the history of any people.
[Sidenote: Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]
The expenditure from the rates for relief of the poor in all the 163 unions now established, during the year ending on the 29th September 1851, was as had been expected, considerably less than the preceding year, and amounted to 1,141,647_l._ The number relieved in the workhouses on that day was 140,031, and the total number so relieved during the year was 707,443. The number then receiving out-door relief was 3,160, and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 47,914. It seems almost superfluous to add, that none of these were relieved under the 2nd section of the Extension Act. The results of the year as regards relief, both numerically and financially, was deemed highly satisfactory, and it was expected that a still further reduction would be effected in the year following.
Before entering on the proceedings of another year (which will moreover be the limit of our inquiry), it may be well to look back for a moment to the disastrous period through which we have latterly passed. Famine and pestilence now happily no longer prevail, and the country has in great measure recovered from the effects of the severe ordeal to which it was subjected. The Poor Law has likewise nearly regained its ordinary state, after passing through the dangers and difficulties of a most calamitous visitation; and has risen from its trials with an increase of reputation, and also it may be added, with a greatly increased capacity for effecting its objects, through the large additional workhouse accommodation that has been provided. The failure of the potato in 1845 and 1846, the partial failure in 1847, and the more general destruction of the crop in 1848, were followed in each year by the vast efforts made to palliate, and as far as possible to relieve the consequent distress—first by importations of food, and employing the people on public works—next by a partial adoption of the Poor-law principle of relief, as it was administered under the Temporary Relief Act—and lastly by extending the provisions of the Poor Law to meet the emergency, and permitting relief to be afforded out of the workhouse. These circumstances have each occupied our attention in the foregoing pages. They are all exceptional in their nature, but are at the same time most instructive in their results, whether viewed locally or generally—as affecting the empire at large, or Ireland in particular.
The character of the period—the waxings and wanings of distress—the variations in its extent, and the phases of its intensity, are all unmistakeably indicated in the weekly returns from the several unions, of the numbers and mortality in the respective workhouses from the commencement of 1846, and the numbers on the out-relief lists from the passing of the Extension Act in 1847. [Sidenote: Tables of numbers relieved and extent of mortality. See p. 404.] These weekly returns are given at length in the commissioners’ Reports, and from them I have compiled two tables, which will be found at the end,[197] showing the dates in each year when the most marked changes occurred in the numbers relieved both in and out of the workhouses, and the extent of mortality which took place; but always giving the maximum and minimum numbers in each case. The cost of out-door relief in the respective weeks is also inserted, so that the state of the country at the several periods is as it were mapped out before the reader, and can be taken in at a glance, requiring nothing further in the way of explanation; and to this table the reader’s attention is requested.
[197]
See p. 404.
[Sidenote: 1853. Sixth annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.]
The commissioners’ sixth Report is dated 2nd May 1853. After the usual weekly summary of the in-door and out-door recipients of relief, it is remarked that the number of out-door poor is so inconsiderable, and liable to so little fluctuation, that “the comparative extent of pauperism in successive years is now almost wholly dependent on the number receiving relief in the workhouses.” This number, it is added, “continues to fluctuate almost in the same degree as formerly, notwithstanding the absolute decrease which has taken place; the number in autumn not usually much exceeding one-half the number at another period of the year.”
[Sidenote: State of Connaught and Munster.]
The satisfactory progress made by the province of Connaught in surmounting the effects of the famine years has already been noticed.[198] Although some of the Connaught unions were still in a state of financial embarrassment, and subject to payment of heavy rates, the reduction of relief in the last three years had been remarkable, the number in the workhouses having decreased from 42,286 in April 1851, to 17,389 in April 1853. In Munster on the contrary improvement continued to be comparatively backward, that province still containing more than half the pauperism of Ireland.
[198]
Ante, pp. 373 and 378.
[Sidenote: The workhouse children.]
A large number of the children and young persons who had been admitted during the prevalence of the famine, were discharged from the workhouses in the course of the last two years. These must be regarded with satisfaction as the fruits of the Poor Law, but for which, they would in all probability have fallen victims to want and disease. The children still remaining in the workhouses, a great proportion of whom were likewise rescued at the time of the famine, were chiefly orphans, or illegitimate or deserted, and without friends able or willing to take charge of them. The number of these children in the workhouses on the 2nd April 1853 under the age of fifteen, was 82,434, of whom 5,710 were illegitimate; and looking at the large proportion who were returned as being orphans or deserted, the commissioners say they “cannot but feel that the prospect of enabling a large number of them to leave the workhouses and obtain a permanent position in society, must depend in a great degree upon the exertion made to educate and train them in such a manner as to enable them to do this at an early age.” A child of twelve or thirteen is, it is observed, “more easily grafted into society, than if he resides in a public establishment till eighteen or nineteen, when he becomes too much accustomed to its routine to exert himself in a new position, where more labour and individual efforts have to be exacted, and greater hardships and privations endured.”
[Sidenote: Their education and industrial training.]
The literary education in the workhouse schools was considered to be on the whole satisfactory. But letters alone, without industrial training, will not, it is truly said, help a boy or girl of fifteen to get into employment; and the commissioners therefore encouraged the formation of agricultural schools, in connexion with the national education board. The boys were moreover in most of the workhouses taught some kind of trade, such as tailoring, shoemaking, carpentering &c. The girls were taught to wash, and make and mend their own clothes, and clean their own dormitories and day-rooms; but there is obviously more difficulty with them than with the boys, in regard to employment. As the country improves however, “and when the drain caused by the continued emigration is more felt,” there can be little doubt, the commissioners say, that in all the unions where proper attention has been paid to the education and training of the children, there will be a demand for those educated in the workhouses as soon as they are of an age fitted for being useful; and in the mean time it is satisfactory to learn, that during the year 1852, no less than 5,371 of these children under fifteen years of age, found employment out of the workhouse.
[Sidenote: Rate of wages and cost of subsistence.]
The drain of emigration just adverted to, must have given rise to an increased amount of employment for those who remained, but this was attended with a less apparent effect upon the rate of wages than might have been expected. Another circumstance had however occurred closely bearing upon wages which it is necessary to notice, for we find that the weekly cost of maintenance in the workhouses, the average of which in 1847, exclusive of clothing, was as high as 2_s._ 1½_d._ per head, had fallen to little more than 1_s._ per head in the years 1850, 1851, and 1852.[199] Comparing the cost of subsistence with the rate of wages, it will therefore appear that there has been relatively a very considerable rise in the latter, although the money-rate in 1852 and 1853 may not appear to differ very materially from what it was in 1845. Employment had likewise become more certain and more steady, so that the labourer’s actual earnings during the year were probably greater than before, which coupled with the general reduction in the price of provisions, would enlarge his command of the necessaries and conveniences of life, and tend to improve his condition.
[199]
See table at p. 397.
[Sidenote: Remittances from emigrants.]
Returns had been obtained from the several unions showing the extent of remittances from abroad, for enabling certain of the workhouse inmates to emigrate. From these returns it appeared, that in the last year 2,158_l._ was so remitted to enable 877 of such inmates to join their friends in America; 136_l._ to assist 489 to go to England and Scotland; and 221_l._ to enable 31 to proceed to Australia. When the sums remitted were insufficient, assistance was often afforded by the guardians under the provisions of the Poor Law, and 14,041_l._ was so expended for this purpose in the year ending 29th September 1852. In the following year (ending September 1853), 12,865_l._ was so expended by the unions for the emigration of 403 men, 1,202 women, and 996 children, making together 2,601 persons; and including the cost of free passages, about 3,500_l._ is known to have been remitted to enable more than 1,100 inmates of the workhouses to join their friends who had emigrated, or had settled in Great Britain. Others are likewise supposed to have left the workhouses in consequence of similar remittances, which were not made through or known to the boards of guardians.
[Sidenote: The valuations.]
The valuations of rateable property in the several unions had, as was to be expected, varied more or less with the changes which took place from time to time in the circumstances of the country. In 1845 they appear to have amounted to 13,404,403_l._, and to 13,187,421_l._ in 1847; but in 1851 the entire valuation of Ireland for the purposes of the poor-rate was only 11,500,000_l._, so great had been the change caused by the severe ordeal through which the country had passed. Although the principle on which the valuation of property in the several unions was originally founded, namely, what it would let for, was undoubtedly correct, there were counteracting influences at work, and the valuations made under it were rarely altogether satisfactory. Some persons denounced them as being too high, some as being too low, and others as being unequal or partial.
[Sidenote: Commissioner of valuations.]
In order to remedy these asserted defects, and place the valuations on what was expected to be a better footing, the _15th and 16th Vict. cap. 63_ was passed in 1852, ‘to amend the Laws relating to the Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland.’ The Act declares it to be expedient to make one uniform valuation of lands and tenements, which may be used for all public and local assessments and other rating. The lord-lieutenant is empowered to appoint a commissioner of valuation “who shall make or cause to be made a valuation of the tenements and hereditaments within every barony, parish, or other division when directed so to do.” But further legislation was still necessary, and in the following year the _16th and 17th Vict. cap. 7_, was passed to amend the above, and directing the clerks of unions to prepare lists of tenements proposed for revision by the collectors, and to transmit the same to the commissioner of valuation, together with the opinion of the guardians whether a revision is necessary, and the name of a person whom the guardians recommend as fit to revise the same. The combined provisions of these Acts are no doubt calculated to effect improvement in the valuations; but the principle of fair letting value as originally prescribed, must still be adhered to in whatever changes are made.
[Sidenote: 1852. Amount of expenditure and numbers relieved.]
The expenditure for relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1852, was 883,267_l._, being 258,380_l._ less than in the preceding year,[200] and fully realizing the expectations then held out. The number relieved in the workhouses at the above date was 111,515 and the total number so relieved during the year was 504,864. The number then receiving out-door relief was 2,528, and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 14,911. A further reduction was likewise still expected. “But the reduction must not, it is said, be expected to go so far as it would have gone if 32 new unions had not been formed, inasmuch as a certain amount of establishment charges must be incurred to maintain the new workhouses, and the necessary staff of officers, in whatever degree the pauperism of the districts in which they are built may hereafter be found diminished.”
[200]
Ante, p. 387.
[Sidenote: 1853. Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]
The expected further reduction was again confirmed, the expenditure on relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1853, being 785,718_l._, or nearly 100,000_l._ less than in the previous year. The number relieved in the 163 workhouses was 79,600, and the total number so relieved during the year was 396,436. The number receiving out-door relief was 2,245, and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 13,232—and now also, important as the reductions which have latterly taken place assuredly are, we are again told that still further reductions may be looked for.[201]
[201]
Such in fact took place, the expenditure on relief of the poor for the year 1854 being 760,152_l._, and for 1855 being still further reduced to 685,259_l._
A tabular statement[202] has been given of the annual expenditure and the numbers relieved, down to the end of 1846, after which time the date of the returns was altered to correspond with the half-yearly audits in April and September. The following is a continuation of the statement before given, but also including the number of persons who were relieved out of the work-house in the successive years under the provisions of the Extension Act—
─────────┬──────────┬────────────┬────────────┬───────────┬────────────┬────────── │ │ │ │ Total no. │ No. │Total no. The year │ No. of │Expenditures│ No. in the │relieved in│ receiving │ who ending │unions in │ during the │ workhouses │ the │ out-relief │ received Sept. 29.│operation.│ year. │on the 29th │workhouses │ on 29th │out-relief │ │ │ Sept. │during the │ Sept. │during the │ │ │ │ year. │ │ year ─────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼────────── 1847 │ 130 │ £ 803,684│ 86,376 │ 417,139│ — │ — 1848 │ 131 │ 1,732,597│124,003 │ 610,463│207,683 │ 1,433,042 1849 │ │ 2,177,651│141,030 │ 932,284│135,019 │ 1,210,482 1850 │ 163 │ 1,430,108│155,173 │ 805,702│ 2,938 │ 368,565 1851 │ │ 1,141,647│140,031 │ 707,443│ 3,160 │ 47,914 1852 │ │ 883,267│111,515 │ 504,864│ 2,528 │ 14,911 1853 │ │ 785,718│ 79,600[203]│ 396,436│ 2,245[203]│ 13,232 ─────────┴──────────┴────────────┴────────────┴───────────┴────────────┴──────────
This table speaks at once to the eye, and by its ascending and its descending numbers indicates the circumstances of the period to which they severally refer. But in addition to the expenditure in the third column, it must not be overlooked that since the passing of the Consolidated Debts Act[204] in 1850, a considerably larger amount of rates has been collected than was required for the immediate relief of the poor. Thus the amount collected in the year ending in September 1853 was 1,000,312_l._, whereas the expenditure on relief was only 781,523_l._, the remainder being applied in payment of the consolidated annuities, and in defraying expenses incurred under the Medical Charities Act. At present, it is said, out of 357,858_l._ the entire amount of the two annuities payable in 1852 and 1853, only 28,768_l._ remains unpaid; and the advances made on security of the Rate-in-aid have been wholly repaid, with the exception of a trifling sum due on certain newly arranged townlands. But it is expected that in a short time “all the exceptional charges on the poor-rates will cease, and that thenceforward the rates will be exclusively applied to the relief of the poor, and the support of the medical charities.”
[202]
Ante, p. 323.
[203]
The number in the workhouses on the 29th September 1854 was 66,506, and at the same date in 1855 it was 56,546.—The number receiving out-door relief on these days respectively was 926 and 655.
[204]
Ante, p. 374.
[Sidenote: Further advance to the impoverished unions.]
Notwithstanding the general improvement, and the reduction of expenditure which has been shown to have taken place, assistance was still required by some of the western unions, and the government consented to an advance of 30,000_l._ being made to eleven of them,[205] to pay their debts and relieve them from financial embarrassments; but this was done however, on the express condition that they “should not expect further assistance, and should make rates to the satisfaction of the Poor Law Commissioners, to meet their immediate and future wants.” The condition and the assistance were alike well timed and judicious, and secured the objects for which they were intended.
[205]
These were Cahirciveen, Dingle, Kenmare, Kilrush, Killadysert, Ennistymon, Scariff, Tulla, Clifden, Newport, and Oughterard.
[Sidenote: Average cost of maintenance.]
The cost of subsistence in the workhouse, may be considered to afford a fair criterion for judging of what is required for the subsistence of the labouring classes generally, there being in fact little difference between the food usually consumed by the peasantry, and that supplied to the inmates of the work-houses. The average weekly cost per head is ascertained half-yearly, when the union accounts are audited in March and September, and the following table shows the results on these occasions from 1847 downwards[206]—
────────────────────────────────┬────────────┬──────────┬─────────── │ Average │ Average │ Total. │weekly cost │ weekly │ Half-year ending. │ of │ cost of │ │ provisions │clothing. │ │ and │ │ │necessaries.│ │ ────────────────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────── │ s. d. │ d. │ s. d. 1847. 25th March │ 2 1 │ 3½ │ 2 4½ 29th September │ 2 1½ │ 3 │ 2 4½ 1848. 25th March │ 1 7 │ 3¼ │ 1 10¼ 29th September │ 1 5 │ 3¼ │ 1 8¼ 1849. 25th March │ 1 4½ │ 3¼ │ 1 7½ 29th September │ 1 2¾ │ 3 │ 1 5¾ 1851. 25th March │ 1 0½ │ 2½ │ 1 3 29th September │ 1 0 │ 2¼ │ 1 2½ 1852. 25th March │ 1 0½ │ 2 │ 1 2½ 29th September │ 1 0½ │ 1½ │ 1 2 1853. 25th March │ 1 1¾ │ 1¾ │ 1 3½ 29th September │ 1 2½ │ 1½ │ 1 4 1854. Week ended 22nd April[207]│ 1 9 │ │ ────────────────────────────────┴────────────┴──────────┴───────────
[206]
The returns for 1850 were not completed, in consequence of the alterations which were then being made in the number and the boundaries of the unions.
[207]
The average for the half-year ending 25th March 1854, was 1_s._ 7½_d._, and for the half-year ending 29th September it was 1_s._ 8½_d._ per head. For each of the corresponding periods in 1855, the average was 1_s._ 10¼_d._
[Sidenote: Cost of subsistence and rate of wages.]
In April 1854, we see there was a large increase in the cost of workhouse maintenance, arising no doubt from the increase which had taken place in the prices of provisions. This increase would bear hard upon the labouring classes, unless there were a somewhat proportionate increase in wages. To obtain information on this point, the Poor Law Commissioners caused inquiry to be made by the inspectors in their several districts; and we find it stated as the combined result of their Reports—“that there is now[208] observable a material increase in the money value of agricultural labour, to the extent of about 1_s._ per week on the average throughout Ireland.” It appears also, that agricultural employment was more continuous than formerly, and that in most parts of the country the wages of artizans had improved in a still greater ratio than those of common labourers. Unless there were some advance in the price of labour, it is probable that the great increase in the price of provisions would cause an increase in the numbers applying for relief, which does not appear to have occurred; and this may be regarded as a further proof, that on the whole the rate of wages had about kept pace with the increased cost of subsistence.
[208]
That is on the 1st May 1854.
[Sidenote: Changes in the poor law executive.]
Certain changes took place in the Poor Law executive in 1852, which it is necessary to notice. Mr. Ball resigned the office of Poor Law Commissioner, and was succeeded by Mr. Senior. The temporary inspectors were all discontinued. The number of these officers in 1847, on the passing of the Extension Act, was 48; but they had been subsequently reduced to 11, and of these 4 were now discontinued, and the remaining 7 were placed on the permanent staff, making the number of inspectors 16, each having the charge of a larger or smaller number of unions according to the circumstances of the district.
[Sidenote: New order of accounts.]
A new order of accounts adapted to the alterations made in the law had been completed, and was issued in April of the present year; and the commissioners remark in their Report that “the administration of relief to the destitute poor in Ireland, may be now looked upon as nearly identical with its normal state, as originally contemplated on the passing of the _Act 1st and 2nd Vict. cap. 56_. Such a result could hardly have been expected after the severe trials to which the country had so recently been exposed, but it was most satisfactory, and must be regarded as a proof of the enduring soundness of the principle on which that measure was founded.
I have now brought the narrative of the Irish Poor Law, down to a period coincident with my histories of the English and the Scottish Poor Laws; and here, as originally intended, I should conclude. But in the autumn of 1853 I again visited Ireland, and examined many of the unions, chiefly in the south and the west, in order to see and form my own judgment as to the working of the law, and the condition of the people. The results of what came under my own observation, and of the inquiries which I was enabled to make, were embodied at the time in a letter to Lord John Russell, by whom the measure of Irish Poor Law had been originally introduced and carried through parliament, and who always took a lively interest in everything connected with it; and it now appears to me that I cannot do better than give the substance of that letter, written with all the facts and incidents fresh before me, as a fitting close to the statements contained in the present work. The letter is dated Dublin 16th September 1853, and omitting a short introduction is substantially as follows—
[Sidenote: The author’s letter to Lord John Russell, September 1853.]
“Eleven years have passed since I quitted Ireland. In the interim the country has suffered from famine and pestilence, and the Poor Law has been subjected to a most severe trial. An examination of the present condition of the country and state of the law cannot therefore fail of being deeply interesting, and I should have been glad to have given more time to it, if other claims had permitted.
“The circumstance that now first arrests attention in passing through the country, is the comparatively small number of beggars. Formerly the roads were lined with them, and the traveller wherever he stopped was surrounded by clamorous miserable-looking solicitors of charity. This is now changed. Beggars are rarely seen on the roads, less frequently in the towns; and are not I think on the whole, more numerous than in England. The famine may have been partly the cause of this change, but another if not the chief cause is the workhouses, where the old the feeble the sick and infirm poor are now supported, as the law designed, and as sound policy required that they should be. The workhouses are entirely occupied by this description of paupers, and the very young—there are no able-bodied. The total number of inmates of all classes is now 84,000, which is about the number I estimated at the outset as requiring to be provided for. The cost of relief is moreover about the same as I then estimated that it would probably amount to; and it is not a little gratifying to find that our calculations in these respects are so far verified.
“The Poor Law appears to be now thoroughly naturalized in Ireland. Your lordship would have been delighted to have heard it spoken of as I have done, and that by persons who did not know me, and who praised it as having been the salvation of the country, exclaiming “what should we have done without it!”—Complaints of the expense are it is true sometimes heard, but these are directed rather against the inequality of the charge than against the general amount, some electoral divisions paying heavily, whilst others pay little or nothing, as is sometimes the case with English parishes.
“The changes which have been made, are not I think all of them improvements. Although the subdivision of a few of the unions might have been necessary, this as well as the subdivision of the districts of chargeability, has I fear been carried too far—it has added to the working friction, and swelled the aggregate charge.
“When settlement shall be abolished in England, and union rating established instead of parochial, as I trust will ere long be the case, we may hope to see a similar reform extended to Ireland, which would bring the law back nearly to what your lordship first proposed and carried through the house of commons; and most of the changes which were subsequently made, as well as some of those since added, have in my judgment served to detract from its simplicity, and tended to impede its effective operation.
“All the workhouses which I have seen are in good order and the buildings in perfect condition, and such also I am informed is the case with the others. It is not a little satisfactory to find this the case, after the complaints that were made of these buildings, which are now as much praised as they were at one time decried.
“The most pleasing circumstance connected with the workhouse is the state of the pauper children, who are there educated and trained up in habits of order cleanliness and industry, instead of being left as outcasts, with every likelihood of their becoming a burthen, and possibly a bane to the community. I wish you could have seen with me some of these workhouse schools, and witnessed the benefits they are conferring upon the country. In the rural districts there is little difficulty in getting the boys out to service as soon as they are of an age fit for it, and the girls likewise now generally obtain places, although not so readily; but in the large towns there is still a difficulty with these last, there being proportionally less employment for females in Ireland than in England. A considerable number of girls and young women have been assisted to emigrate within the last three years, and it is very desirable that others should be so assisted and sent out from such of the workhouses as are overstocked with this class of inmates.
“With respect to emigration, I think that it has been already carried farther than was desirable. There appears to be no excess of labourers anywhere, and now in the harvest season there is evidently a want of hands to do the work, and high wages are paid, as much in some instances as 2_s._ and 2_s._ 6_d._ a day; but this is only during the period of urgency. There is still a want of certain and continuous employment in Ireland, and the people do not rely upon regular daily labour as a means of support, although they are I think approximating to it; and the extensive emigration which has taken place, will no doubt help forward the change. The rage for emigrating however continues, although the occasion for it has ceased. It pervades every class, and is strongest with the best educated and most intelligent. I found this to be the case among the boys in the workhouse schools. The sharp active intelligent lads were all eager to emigrate. It was only the more dull feeble and inert who appeared content to remain at home. Yet I know of no country where labour can be applied with the certainty of a better return. Labour is here in fact the thing chiefly needed. It is impossible to pass through Ireland without seeing this, and lamenting the omission.
“It is encouraging to reflect however, that were there less room for improvement in this and other respects, there would be less incentive to exertion; and when the rage for emigration which still prevails shall have subsided, as subside it will, we may with greater confidence expect that the energies and increased intelligence of the people will be turned to the improvement of their own country, in which they will assuredly find a rich reward, and in furtherance of which they will, in the Poor Law, have a valuable auxiliary.”
Such were the impressions derived from what came within the limit of my own observation and inquiry, on again visiting Ireland in the autumn of 1853. That these impressions were not more favourable than the circumstances warranted, is proved by the progressive ameliorations which have since taken place, of the extent of which generally, the proceedings under the Poor Law may be regarded as an index; and these have shown a continual reduction, both in expenditure and in the numbers relieved. The total cost of relief in the year ending 29th September 1855, including every item of charge, was no more than 685,259_l._; and the total number of persons relieved on that day was 57,201, of whom 655 (being exceptional cases) were relieved out of the workhouse.[209] This reduction in expenditure has moreover taken place, notwithstanding the greatly increased cost of maintenance in the workhouses as compared with what it was in 1850 and 1851,[210] making a difference on the whole of probably not less than 150,000_l._; so that but for this increase, the entire cost of relieving the poor in 1855 might perhaps not have exceeded half a million, and in the event of prices falling to their former level, and other circumstances proving favourable, it may hereafter possibly range at about that amount.
[209]
The weekly cost of the out-relief so given was 40_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._
[210]
Ante, p. 397.
At present however the expenditure under the Irish Poor Law contrasts favourably with what is taking place under the English and Scottish laws—in Ireland it averages 2_s._ per head on the population, whilst in Scotland the average amounts to 4_s._,[211] and in England to 5_s._ 6_d._ per head—or if we take the valuations in the three countries as a standard of comparison, it will appear that the expenditure on relief of the poor in Ireland amounts to 1_s._ 2½_d._, in Scotland to 1_s._ 4_d._, and in England to 1_s._ 5½_d._ in the pound. These comparisons are I think satisfactory, and it is encouraging also to find the commissioners declaring in their last Report,[212] that—“a material diminution of pauperism in Ireland is still going on”—and that—“the improvement in the rate of wages and the increased constancy of employment have not only been sustained, but have further advanced and acquired a still more permanent and healthy aspect.” Emigration likewise, both spontaneous and that conducted at the expense of the poor-rates,[213] is considerably lessened, and seems likely ere long to be reduced within its natural limits. The future therefore appears in every way hopeful for Ireland—may the Irish people on their part, not be wanting in due effort for securing the benefits of which there is at present so fair a promise!
[211]
See the tenth Report of the board of supervision.
[212]
The ninth, dated May 1st 1856.
[213]
The amount expended from the poor-rates in 1855, to assist in the emigration of 830 poor persons from different unions, was 6,859_l._ In the previous year the amount had been 22,651_l._, including 10,000_l._ from the rate in aid, to assist in the emigration of 1,500 young females from the workhouses in the south and west of Ireland.
TABLES OF THE NUMBERS RELIEVED IN AND OUT OF THE WORKHOUSE, WITH THE EXTENT OF MORTALITY, ETC., REFERRED TO AT PAGE 389.
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │Numbers relieved in the workhouses │ │ houses in each of the weeks ending │ │ on the dates in the first column │ │ respectively; together with the │ │ number and the rate per 1,000 of │ │ the deaths. │ ├──────────┬────────────┬──────┬──────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ Weeks │Total number│Deaths│ Rate │ │ ending │ in the │in the│ per │ │ │workhouses. │week. │1,000.│ │ │ │ │ │ ├──────────┼────────────┼──────┼──────┤ │ 1846.│ │ │ │ │ 4 April│ 50,861│ 159│ 3.0│ │ 4 July│ 50,693│ 146│ 2.9│ │ 7 Nov.│ 74,175│ 312│ 4.2│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1847.│ │ │ │ │ 2 Jan.│ 98,762│ 1,206│ 12.2│ │ 6 Mar.│ 115,645│ 2,590│ 22.0│ │ 3 July│ 101,439│ 1,239│ 12.2│ │ 4 Sept.│ 75,376│ 589│ 7.8│ │ 13 Nov.│ 102,776│ 523│ 5.1│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1848.│ │ │ │ │ 1 Jan.│ 117,568│ 1,362│ 11.6│ │ 12 Feb.│ 135,467│ 1,316│ 9.7│ │ 1 July│ 139,397│ 620│ 4.5│ │ 9 Sept.│ 107,320│ 350│ 3.3│ │ 2 Dec.│ 172,980│ 787│ 4.5│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1849.│ │ │ │ │ 13 Jan.│ 191,445│ 1,477│ 7.7│ │ 3 Mar.│ 196,523│ 1,846│ 9.4│ │ 5 May│ 220,401│ 2,730│ 12.4│ │ 16 June│ 227,329│ 2,009│ 8.8│ │ 6 Oct.│ 140,266│ 488│ 3.5│ │ 1 Dec.│ 180,641│ 471│ 2.7│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1850.│ │ │ │ │ 5 Jan.│ 203,320│ 792│ 3.9│ │ 2 Feb.│ 230,348│ 994│ 4.3│ │ 2 Mar.│ 237,939│ 1,150│ 4.8│ │ 4 May│ 243,224│ 1,247│ 5.1│ │ 22 June│ 264,048│ 1,126│ 4.3│ │ 3 Aug.│ 219,231│ 808│ 3.7│ │ 28 Sept.│ 155,173│ 526│ 3.4│ │ 7 Dec.│ 191,341│ 501│ 2.6│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1851.│ │ │ │ │ 4 Jan.│ 206,468│ 654│ 3.2│ │ 22 Feb.│ 251,836│ 1,201│ 4.8│ │ 22 Mar.│ 248,501│ 1,512│ 6.1│ │ 7 June│ 263,397│ 1,264│ 4.8│ │ 2 Aug.│ 222,038│ 789│ 3.6│ │ 27 Sept.│ 140,458│ 386│ 2.8│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1852.│ │ │ │ │ 3 Jan.│ 168,248│ 407│ 2.4│ │ 21 Feb.│ 196,966│ 594│ 3.0│ │ 5 June│ 187,003│ 541│ 2.9│ │ 18 Sept.│ 111,117│ 261│ 2.3│ │ 25 Dec.│ 134,476│ 281│ 2.1│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1853.│ │ │ │ │ 19 Feb.│ 160,774│ 627│ 3.9│ │ 30 July│ 113,099│ 272│ 2.4│ │ 1 Oct.│ 79,410│ 202│ 2.5│ └──────────┴────────────┴──────┴──────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Number of destitute persons relieved out of the workhouses │ │ under the 1st and 2nd sections of the Extension Act (_10th │ │ and 11th Vict., cap. 31_) respectively, in each of the │ │ weeks ending on the dates in the first column; together │ │ with the weekly cost of such relief. │ ├──────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────────┬──────────────┤ │ │ Numbers │ Numbers │ │ │ │ │ relieved │ relieved │ │ │ │ Weeks │ under │ under │ Total │Weekly cost of│ │ ending. │Section 1 of│Section 2 of│ │ relief. │ │ │ Extension │ Extension │ │ │ │ │ Act. │ Act. │ │ │ ├──────────┼────────────┼────────────┼─────────┼──────────────┤ │ 1848.│ │ │ │ £. s. d. │ │ 5 Feb.│ 337,665│ 107,811│ 445,476│12,788 9 0│ │ 4 Mar.│ 425,949│ 228,763│ 654,712│17,564 18 2│ │ 1 April│ 408,923│ 235,076│ 643,999│17,092 6 6│ │ 6 May│ 485,364│ 266,430│ 751,794│18,786 18 5│ │ 1 July│ 490,902│ 342,987│ 833,889│21,800 14 10│ │ 2 Sept.│ 279,567│ 96,523│ 376,090│10,335 14 5│ │ 7 Oct.│ 192,401│ 7,202│ 199,603│ 5,925 4 2│ │ 2 Dec.│ 246,125│ 31,859│ 277,984│ 7,845 12 10│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1849.│ │ │ │ │ │ 6 Jan.│ 327,733│ 75,622│ 423,355│11,170 7 5│ │ 3 Mar.│ 422,693│ 170,012│ 592,705│15,051 14 3│ │ 2 June│ 402,184│ 239,229│ 642,413│19,263 7 1│ │ 7 July│ 492,503│ 291,864│ 784,367│21,757 8 3│ │ 1 Sept.│ 425,197│ 50,796│ 276,793│ 6,493 13 11│ │ 13 Oct.│ 114,316│ 1,647│ 115,963│ 2,653 7 2│ │ 3 Nov│ 102,247│ 13│ 102,260│ 2,336 11 11│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1850.│ │ │ │ │ │ 5 Jan.│ 104,305│ 345│ 104,650│ 2,159 0 3│ │ 23 Feb.│ 148,909│ │ 148,909│ 3,216 8 8│ │ 1 June│ 127,727│ 128│ 127,855│ 2,805 9 2│ │ 3 Aug.│ 73,129│ 40│ 73,169│ 1,617 7 5│ │ 14 Sept.│ 3,794│ │ 3,794│ 96 14 2│ │ 19 Oct.│ 2,249│ │ 2,249│ 63 13 6│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1851.│ │ │ │ │ │ 4 Jan.│ 2,713│ 6│ 2,719│ 76 14 0│ │ 22 Feb.│ 9,103│ 20│ 9,123│ 229 4 6│ │ 3 May│ 11,145│ 7│ 11,153│ 268 17 4│ │ 5 July│ 19,454│ 28│ 19,482│ 486 4 11│ │ 4 Oct.│ 3,084│ │ 3,084│ 75 10 4│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1852.│ │ │ │ │ │ 3 Jan.│ 3,170│ │ 3,170│ 88 6 3│ │ 6 Mar.│ 3,396│ │ 3,396│ 100 0 10│ │ 3 July│ 3,579│ │ 3,579│ 102 19 0│ │ 9 Oct.│ 2,491│ 1│ 2,492│ 74 1 3│ │ 25 Dec.│ 2,998│ │ 2,998│ 87 12 10│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1853.│ │ │ │ │ │ 26 Feb.│ 4,152│ │ 4,152│ 116 16 10│ │ 30 July│ 3,092│ │ 3,092│ 96 5 2│ │ 8 Oct.│ 1,977│ │ 1,977│ 61 16 10│ └──────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────────┴──────────────┘
INDEX.
Able-bodied disorderly persons and vagrants to be compelled to provide their own subsistence by strict workhouse discipline, 182.
Absconding from a workhouse, punishment for, 227.
Abuses of out-door relief, impossibilities of avoiding, 204.
Accounts, new order of issued in 1853, 398.
Acre, amount per, paid by farmer in relieving mendicancy, 192.
Act of 1 and 2 Vict., cap. 56, 222 _et seq._ ——- make further provision for the relief of the destitute poor in Ireland, 330. ——- to make provision for the punishment of vagrants, &c., 332. ——- to provide for the execution of the laws for relief of the poor in Ireland, 333. ——- for a rate-in-aid, summary of, 355, 356. ——- to amend the previous acts for the relief of the poor in Ireland, summary of, 367-9. ——- for a further advance of public money for distressed unions, summary of, 374, 375. ——- for the regulation of medical charities, summary of, 382, 383.
Actions under the Irish Poor-Law Act, preliminary notice of to be given, 231; to recover poor-rates, regulations as to, 368.
Adoption by government of the author’s first Report in December 1836, 188.
Agents empowered to sign notices of appeal, 369.
Agricultural labourers in Great Britain and Ireland, comparative proportions of, 131.
Agriculture, recommendation to encourage by legislative grants, 88; efforts of the Poor-Law Board to improve, 269.
Almsgiving, desirableness of bringing under a system, 149; prevalence of in Ireland, 182; discontinuance of anticipated, 183.
Alms, spontaneous, amounts bestowed by small farmers and cottars, 149.
Amended orders for the election of guardians, 302.
Amendment of the new poor-law, act for, 291.
Amount, total, contributed by England in 1847-8-9, for the relief of Ireland, 356.
Amsterdam, account of the workhouse in, 212.
Amusements, love of, and reckless pursuit of by the Irish peasantry, 163.
Anglo-Saxons taught by Irish missionaries, 2.
Annuities under the Consolidated Debts Act, arrangements for paying, 380; partial remission of, 381.
Apathy of the Irish peasantry, 162; poverty not a real excuse for, _ibid._
Appeals, how and before whom to be brought, 231, 233.
Apprenticeship of poor children recommended for Ireland, 183, 184.
Architect engaged to erect workhouses, 243.
Ardent spirits, recommendations of the Commissioners of Inquiry for lessening the inordinate use of, 146.
Assessment, instructions to the assistant commissioners relating to, 240.
Assistant barristers allowed to correct clerical errors in actions for the recovery of poor-rates, 369.
Assistant commissioners, in 1833, appointment of and instructions for, 121; enactment for the appointment of, 223; duties of, _ibid._; exertions of, 241; additional provided, 246; reports of, 247; appointment of additional, 338.
Assistant guardians may be appointed by the commissioners at the request of the guardians, 368.
Asylums for lunatics and idiots, the erection of in each of the four provinces recommended, 83.
Audit of accounts, and half-yearly reports of, infirmaries and hospitals recommended, 101; report as to, 276.
Auditing of poor-law accounts, 222.
Auditors, enactment for the appointment of, 230; appointment of four, 298; regulations as to, 332.
Author’s first Report, Nov. 1836, 159; second Report, Nov. 1837, 196; third Report, 212; second visit to Ireland in 1837, 195; departure for Ireland as chief commissioner, 234; departure from Ireland in 1842, 284; visit to Ireland in 1853, 398.
Auxiliary workhouses, hired buildings ill adapted for, 379.
Average cost per head of paupers in the workhouses, 301; of maintenance of the poor in workhouses, 396; rate per head paid for the relief of the poor by the population of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 403.
Badging the poor, act for, 51.
Ballinasloe union agricultural society, notice of, 269.
Barracks to be converted into workhouses, if suitable, 237, 239.
Bastardy, recommendation that no law should be enacted for Ireland, 183.
Bay and coast fisheries in Ireland, facilities for, 89.
Beadles and constables authorized to seize beggars and vagabonds in Cork, and commit them to the workhouse, 43.
Becket’s murder, notice of, 4.
Bedford Level Corporation, a board on the principle of recommended, to carry into effect a system of national improvement in Ireland, 137.
Beggars, act for the punishment of, 22.
Beggar’s curse, superstitious dread of the Irish peasantry of, 206.
Begging, not to be prohibited, where persons have asked for, and failed in procuring, relief, 193.
Belfast, assistant-commissioners sent to, 234, 236.
Belgium, visit of the author to, 211 _et seq._; report of the management of the poor in, 213.
Bicheno, Mr., remarks of upon the evidence submitted by the Inquiry Commissioners, 151.
Bill, directions for the preparation of, embodying the measures proposed in the author’s first Report, 188; introduced to parliament in Feb. 1837, 189; discussion on the first reading of, 194; second reading of, and proceedings in committee on, 194, 195; dropped in consequence of the death of William IV., 195; of the Irish Poor Law of 1837-8 introduced to the house of commons by Lord John Russell, 210; passing of, 211; introduced into the house of lords, 211; for the relief of the Irish poor read a first time in the house of lords, 217; a second time, 218; division upon in committee, 220; read a third time and passed, 221.
Board of Charitable Bequests, recommendation to transfer the functions of to the Poor Law Commissioners, 146.
——- of Education, recommendation for the appointment of, 111.
——- of Improvement, proposed duties of, 138.
—— of Works, proposed duties of, 138, 139.
—— of Works, efforts of to supply employment to the poor during the distress in 1846, 314; numbers employed under, 315, 316.
Boards of guardians, enactment for the appointment of, 223; enactment constituting them corporations, 224; enactment giving the commissioners power to dissolve, 332; thirty-two dissolved in 1847, 341; five in 1849, 360.
Bogs, Irish, act for reclaiming, 75.
Boundaries of unions, where changed, the commissioners to adjust the liabilities, 368.
Boundary commission, appointment of to regulate the size of unions, 361; recommendation of, to form fifty new unions, 362.
Boyne, the battle of, 10.
Bread and cheese, contrast of the English labourer’s meal of, with the Irish labourer’s potato-bowl, 62.
Britain, strangers from, resort to the Irish schools, 2.
British Association, amount collected by to relieve the distress in Ireland occasioned by the potato disease, 321; number of persons relieved by in 1848, 346.
—— capitalists, inquiry into the circumstances which have prevented their investing in Irish agriculture, 123.
Building of workhouses, means taken to secure a fair payment for, 254; inspection of by the chief commissioner, 260.
Buildings and repairs of tenements, consequences of throwing the expense on the tenants, 89.
Bureau de Bienfaisance, notice of, 216.
Burgesses, recommendation of Spenser that they should be nominated, 9.
Burke, quotation from, 139.
‘Burning corn in the straw,’ act against, 32; punishment for, 33.
Cabinet, the author’s report on the state of the north of Ireland in 1837, considered by, 209.
Cabins, wretched construction of, in Ireland, 62, 64.
Caledonian Canal, beneficial effects of employing Highland labourers on, cited, 107.
Capital, amount of, sunk upon the land in England, 60; causes of the scarcity of, in Ireland, 88; inducements required for the investment of, 208.
Carrick-on-Shannon, death of a poor man in the union of, from having been refused relief, 296, 297.
Castlereagh union, board of guardians dissolved by the commissioners, 305.
Cattle, improvident care of, 32; reared in Donegal to pay the rent, 201.
Cemeteries, guardians empowered to provide, 332.
Census of Ireland in 1851, decrease of population shown by, 386, 387.
Central authority, necessity for, in administering the poor-laws, 176.
Certificates to be given servants on leaving their employment, 41.
Certiorari, actions under the Irish Poor Law Act not removable by, except into the Court of Queen’s Bench, Dublin, 231, 233.
Chapels for workhouses, guardians empowered to provide, 332.
Character and habits of Irish poor in English poorhouses, 158.
Charitable institutions, establishment of, 13; recommendation to allow them to subsist as they are, 185.
Charity, private, tendency of, to encourage mendicancy, 140.
Charles the First, the Roman catholics of Ireland adhere to his cause, 10.
Chief commissioner of the Irish Poor Law Board, enactment for the appointment of, in 1847, 333.
Children, punishment for the desertion of, 30; required age of, for admission into the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 85, 86; indiscriminate admission of, 85 _note_; enactment making them chargeable, if able, for the support of their parents, 227; number of, in the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 249; amount expended in feeding, 388; number of, in the workhouses in 1851, 390.
Cholera, appearance of, in 1849, 350.
Cholesbury, the case of, cited, 136.
Christian monasteries, state of, in Ireland at an early period, 2.
Church collections for the relief of distress, 106.
—— holidays, meat eaten by the poor only on, 132.
Churchwardens to remove from their parish, or to confine in bridewell, wandering beggars and vagabonds, 86.
Cities, towns, &c., of 10,000 inhabitants may be divided into wards for the purpose of electing guardians, 233.
Clare, distressed state of, 365; mortality in, 372.
Clergy of various persuasions to furnish religious instruction to the children of their own faith, 112; favourable to a system of poor-laws, 167.
Clergymen to preach sermons for the support of houses of industry, 55; of whatever denomination not to be poor-law guardians, 175.
Clerks of workhouses to keep register books, 226.
Clothes of vagabond beggars to be washed and cleansed, 86.
Clothing of the labourers in Ireland, inferiority of, in Ireland, 63.
Coals imported into Cork, a duty imposed on, in 1735, for the support of the workhouse, 43.
Cod-fishery, facilities for, on the coasts of Ireland, 89; success of the encouragement of in Scotland, _ibid._, 90.
Corn, clamourings for a prohibition of the export of, in 1855, 17.
Collection of rates, no difficulty found in the, 277.
Colonization by Irish labourers, recommended to be undertaken by government in 1830, 107.
Comforts and conveniences, the providing of, not the proper object of a poor-law, 203.
Commission appointed in 1833 to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, 118; first Report of, in 1835, _ibid._ _et seq._; heads of inquiry adopted, 119; second Report of, in 1836, 125 _et seq._; third Report of, in 1836, 131 _et seq._
Commissioners to inquire into the nature and extent of Irish bogs, appointment of, 75; utility of, 76; Reports of, _ibid._
—-—-— of 1833, names of, 118.
—-—-— of Inquiry, differences of opinion among, as to the nature of their Report, 129.
—-—-— to appoint guardians if not duly elected, 224.
—-—-— empowered to levy a rate-in-aid for the relief of distressed unions, 356.
—-—-— of valuation, commissioners empowered to appoint one, 393.
Commissions for the Poor Laws, difficulty of union of purpose if separate are appointed for England and Ireland, 188.
Committee of the house of commons on the poor in Ireland, Report of, 82 _et seq._
Compulsory and voluntary relief, agitation of the question as to the advantages and disadvantages of, 129.
—— rates, enormous amount asserted to be necessary for relieving all cases of distress, 149.
Con-acre, use to be derived from, in diminishing the number of small holdings, 166.
Condition of the poor, variations of in different parts of Ireland, 97.
Confinement more irksome to an Irishman than an Englishman, 171.
Connaught, the province of, probably an ecclesiastical formation, 3; unions, satisfactory state of, in 1851, 378; and Munster, state of, in 1851, 390.
Consolidation of farms, good and evil effects of, 97; of small holdings in Donegal, desirableness of, 202; new Poor Law likely to assist in effecting, _ibid._
Constables to be appointed presidents of every town within the English pale, by an Act in 1465, 16; to make privy search for rogues, vagabonds, and idle persons, 29.
Contracts made by guardians not valid unless conformable to the rules, 230.
Contributions called voluntary frequently a real and unequal tax, 147.
Convicted persons, of felony fraud or perjury, ineligible for guardians, 293.
Cooked-food system of relief, adoption of, 318; number of persons fed under, _ibid._; expense incurred under, 319.
Cork, surrendered to Cromwell, 10; act for erecting a workhouse in, 42; regulations for the government of, 43; exempted from the provisions of the act for providing for deserted children, 81; assistant-commissioners sent to, 234, 236; union, establishment of, 251; progress of, 262; workhouse, inconvenient state of, in 1841, 262.
Corn-laws, alteration of, 311.
Corporate bodies, boards of guardians constituted, 224.
—— to vote for guardians by their officers, 230.
Corporations in Ireland, act for the establishment of, 52; regulations for, _ibid._
Correspondence of assistant-commissioners with the Dublin board, 241.
Cosherers, act against, 34.
Cost of relief, increase of in 1847, 329; of subsistence in 1851, 391; in 1853, 397.
Cottages in Donegal, miserable appearance of, 201.
Cottier-tenants, deterioration of the soil by, 160.
Cottiers, Irish, extreme charity towards mendicants, 206; reasons of, _ibid._, 207.
Counties made answerable for robberies, 39.
County-cess collectors may be appointed to collect the poor-rates, 228.
County hospitals, act for the establishment of, 74.
—— infirmaries, number of, number of patients in, and incomes of, in 1830, 101.
—— magistrates to be ex-officio guardians, but not to exceed in number one-third of the number of elected guardians, 174.
Coynie and liveries, grievances occasioned by, 23.
Cromwell, conquest of Ireland by, 10.
Crops, deficiency of, in Ireland, in 1839, 257.
Cultivated land in Great Britain and Ireland, comparative quantities and produce of, 131.
Cultivation of land, extension of needed in Donegal, 201.
Cumulative voting, answer to the objections against, 207.
Customs, barbarous, existing in Ireland in 1634-5, 33.
Dancing, universality of among the labouring poor in Ireland, 64.
Danes, irruptions of, into Ireland, 3.
Day-labourers, no employment for, in Ireland, 161.
Deaf dumb and blind poor, recommendation of a provision for, 128; to be sent to institutions, and their maintenance to be paid for by guardians, 292.
Deceased poor, boards of guardians enabled to provide for the burial of, 354.
Demoralization of the poor, fallacious objection that a system of poor-laws would occasion, 163.
Depôts for emigrants, the establishment of recommended, 137.
—— de mendicité, in Holland and Belgium, defects of, 213.
—— for meal, determination not to establish government, in 1846, 313.
Dermod, king of Leinster, expelled by O'Connor, king of Connaught, seeks the assistance of Henry the Second of England, 3.
Deserted children, provision for, 49; act for providing for, 81.
Deserving poor allowed to beg, 56.
Destitute persons, means of emigration to be provided for, 143; a legal provision for, an indispensable preliminary to the suppression of mendicancy, 167; danger of their flocking to one union in case of there being no law of settlement, how to be obviated, 181; Irish in England, strong disinclination of to the restrictions of a workhouse, 196, 197; poor, work to be provided for in workhouses, 225.
Destitution, inquiry as to why the Irish labouring poor do not provide against, 122; the workhouse the all-sufficient test of, 152.
Deterioration and misery of a too-rapidly increasing population, 90.
Dietaries, workhouse, order for, 252.
Difficulties in deciding upon objects for out-door relief, 204.
Distress, unexampled, of the Irish labouring poor in 1822, 91; parliamentary grants in aid of, _ibid._; amount of subscriptions to alleviate, 92; government advances to be made to relieve in 1822, 80; again occurs in Ireland owing to a failure of crops in 1839 and 1842, 256, 285; amount of government relief afforded, _ibid., note:f114#_; and again most severely in 1846 to 1849, 307 to 360.
Distressed unions, number of assisted, 360; further advance to in 1853, 396.
Divisions on the Irish Poor Law bill in the house of commons, 210; in the house of lords, 220.
Divisional chargeability, dissatisfaction with, 297.
Diocesses of Ireland, a free school to be established in each of the, 25.
Discussion on the first reading of the Irish Poor Law bill in 1837, 194.
Dispensaries, local, act for the establishment of, 74; number of in 1830, and number of patients relieved by, 103; number of in 1836, 126.
Dispensary districts, enactment for dividing unions into, 383.
Donegal, peculiar condition of the county of, 200.
Doyle, Dr., evidence of on the condition of the poor in Ireland, 98, 100, 106.
Draining of bogs and marshes recommended as a means of providing employment for the labouring poor, 88, 89.
Drogheda stormed by Cromwell, 10.
Drunkenness or disobedience in a workhouse, punishment for, 227.
Dublin, assistant-commissioner stationed at, 234.
Dublin Foundling Hospital, account of, 85; objects of, _ibid._; means of support of, _ibid._; parliamentary grants to, 86; number of admissions of children to, _ibid._; state of in 1839, 248; formed into a workhouse, 250.
—— House of Industry, account of, 83; means of support of, 84; sums raised for, _ibid._; management of, _ibid._; number of admissions to, 85; state of in 1839, 247, 248; formed into a workhouse, 250.
—— Mendicity Society, difficulty of supporting, 165; application of the officers of, for compensation, 253; closing of, 261.
—— Society, grant of money to, 73.
—— workhouse, act for erecting in 1703, 35; regulations for the government of, 36; rate to be levied for the support of, 37; merged in the Foundling Hospital, 38; workhouses, establishment of, 250; progress of, 261.
—— unions, examples afforded by, of the efficacy of the workhouse test, 343; numbers relieved in, _ibid._
Dunmanway union, separate rating of electoral divisions abolished in, 305.
Dwellings, overcrowding of, productive of fevers, 78.
Earth-tillers, act of Henry VIII. for the protection of, 20.
Ebrington, Lord (now Earl Fortescue), exertions of, in favour of the establishment of the new Poor Law, 250.
Ecclesiastical promotion, directions for regulating, 21.
Education adopted as a means of extending the Reformation, 25; effects of, 26; of the poor in Ireland, generality of, 63; the necessity of not interfering with religious belief in, pointed out, 110; of workhouse children, arrangements for, 264; nature of, 391.
Egyptians, or feigned Egyptians, to be punished as vagabonds, 30.
Eighth Report of proceedings in 1846 under the New Poor Law Act in Ireland, 303.
Election districts for guardians, power of the Poor Law Commissioners to form, 175.
Election of guardians, the first proceedings under the new Poor Law Act, 242; amended order for, 302.
Electoral divisions, difficulties arising from having adopted, 288; number of in 1846, 304; two or more may be combined for the election of a guardian, 368; increase in the number of, 373, 384.
Electors of guardians, who ought to be, 173.
Elizabeth, assimilation by of the ecclesiastical establishments in Ireland to those of England, 4.
Emigration, notice of, 65; recommended as a means of alleviating the state of the poor in Ireland, 100; recommendation of as a government measure in 1830, 106; recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry as a means of relieving the distress in Ireland, 136; direct interposition in favour of, not recommended, 185; probability of its weakening the parent stock, 186; if necessary, to be promoted by the equal contributions of government and the district relieved, 186; rates for, how to be raised, 226; view of the Irish Poor Law Commission as to, 255; defects in the Irish Poor Relief Act for providing means for, 275; want of funds for promoting, 287; amount of, in 1846-7, 327, 328; enactment giving guardians the power to assist, 331; amount expended by unions in 1849 for promoting, 370; numbers assisted in 1850, 373; total amount of from 1847 to 1850, 386; in 1851 and 1852, _ibid._; amount expended on in 1855, 403, _note_.
Emigrants from Ireland to Canada in 1846-7, sickness and expense caused by, 327, _note_; mortality amongst, 328.
Employment, want of by the labouring poor, a cause of disease, 87; act for providing, 80; of pauper idiots in a workhouse recommended, 184; increase of, beyond the duties of a poor-law, 185; in workhouses, the nature of, 274.
England and Ireland, difference between as to provision for the poor, 13.
English adventurers in Ireland, conduct of, 4.
—— Poor Law Commission recommended to carry into effect a new Poor Law for Ireland, 187, 188.
—— and Scottish provisions against vagrancy, similarity of the Irish legislation to, 56.
—— Poor Law, asserted unfitness of for Ireland, 133.
Escapes from houses of correction, to be followed by a fine on the governor, 29.
Evidence presented with the second Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry, value of, 124.
Excess of population in Donegal, 201.
Expenditure, probable amount of under a poor-law, would not exceed what is now given in mischievous alms, 164; for relief in 1841, 276; in 1842, 283; total, for the relief of the distress occasioned by the potato disease in Ireland, 320.
_Ex-officio_ guardians, reasons for having, 208; to be elected in cases of vacancies, 293; extension of, but not to exceed the number of elected guardians, 331; guardians, non-resident justices may be appointed where a sufficient number are not resident, 368.
Expense, probable, of maintaining the Irish poor on the English poor-law system, 134.
—— of emigration, where necessary to be borne equally by the government and the district relieved, 186.
Expenses of the Cork and Dublin workhouses in 1840, 263.
Falsehood and fraud, parts of the profession of mendicancy, 161.
Families, punishment for the desertion of, 30; to be relieved as a whole, and not separately, 177.
Famine, annual occurrence of between the exhaustion of the old crop of potatoes and the ripening of the new, 166; cessation of in Ireland in 1847, 318.
Farming societies of Ireland, grant of money to, 73.
Farms, large, small number of, 160.
Fathers made answerable penally for the offences of their sons by an act in 1457, 15.
Fatherless poor children under eight years old, to be sent to the charter school nursery and to be apprenticed, 54.
Female foundlings, instructions for, 45.
Fermoy barrack, taken for a workhouse, 244, _note_.
Fertility of Ireland and England, causes of difference in, 60.
Fetters gyves and whipping, punishments for rogues and vagabonds, 28.
Fever, dangerous prevalence of in Ireland, 86; number of patients passing through the Dublin Fever Hospital in one year, 102; numbers suffering from and dying of in 1817, 102; act for making provision for persons afflicted with, 319.
—— hospitals, act for providing and for the support of, 77; number of in 1836, 126; dispensaries, &c., commissioners to report on the management of, 226.
Fever patients, numbers of, in 1847, 339.
—— wards in workhouses, number of provided in 1846, 306.
Fevers in Ireland, increase of, 77.
Fifth Report of Proceedings in Ireland under the new Poor Law Act, 282.
Fifth Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland, 378 _et seq._
Finances of unions, depressed state of in 1847, 339, 340; state of in 1848, 347.
First Report of Proceedings in Ireland under the New Poor Law Act, 242.
First Report of Medical Charity Commissioners, 384.
First Report of the Irish Poor Commissioners, 1848, 330 _et seq._
Fiscal boards, proposed establishment of in each county, 139.
Fisheries, recommendation to encourage by legislative grants, 88; utility of as a nursery for seamen, 89.
Flax, grown, prepared, and spun by the small farmers in the north of Ireland, 63.
Flax and hemp, bogs to be reclaimed for the purpose of growing, for the use of the navy, and for the support of the linen manufacture, 75.
Flitting, practice of, to defraud the revenue and the landlords, 33.
Food of Belgian peasantry, 215.
Forfeitures, costs, &c., to be levied by distress if not paid, 231.
Form of valuation, difficulties arising from, 289.
Fortune-tellers to be punished as vagabonds, 30.
Foundling hospital and workhouse in Dublin, act for the establishment of in 1771-2, 46; endowment of and regulations for the government of, _ibid._; regulations for the admission of children into, 47; increased rate for, 49; to receive deserted children, 81; charge for in 1833, 128.
Foundling hospitals on the continent, notice of, 45.
—-—-—, enactment for appropriating as workhouses, 225.
—-—-— of Cork and Galway, expenses of in 1833, 128; number of children in, _ibid._
Foundlings, provision for the care of, 44; male, to be apprenticed, and to have the freedom of the city on the expiration of their apprenticeship, _ibid._
Fourth Report in 1842 of Proceedings under the new Poor Law in Ireland, 270.
Fourth Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland, 371.
France, the workhouse test principle not adopted in, 197.
Free distribution of labour, impediments offered by a law of settlement to, 202.
Free-schools, act for the erection of, 24; expenses of, how to be defrayed, 25.
French wars prevent the attention of the English to Ireland, 4; agents lead to the rebellion in 1798, 11; troops landed in Ireland in 1798, surrender of, 67.
Funds, founded on voluntary contribution, advantages of for the relief of distress, 149; difficulty of supplying to afford means of emigrating, 287.
Galway, effective fever hospital established in, 300.
Gauls or Celtes, from Spain supposed to have peopled Ireland, 1.
Geese, plucking the feathers from live, 32, _note_.
General rules for management of workhouses, &c., to be issued by commissioners, 222.
General Merchant Seamen’s Act, extended to workhouse boys in Ireland, 385.
Gentlemen, idle, mode of living, oppressions occasioned thereby, and transportation made a punishment for, on the presentment of a grand jury, 34, 35.
Germany, strangers from, resort to the Irish schools, 2.
Ghent, manner of living of a small occupier near, 216.
Goods and chattels to be liable to distress for poor-rate to whomsoever belonging, if found on the premises, 291.
Governors to be appointed by the justices for houses of correction, 28.
—— and guardians of Dublin workhouse, donors of 50_l._ to become, 37.
—— of Cork and Dublin workhouses empowered to exchange children in order to prevent parents interfering with the protestant education of their children, 45.
Government loans to be made to relieve the distress in Ireland in 1822, 80; for the erection of workhouses, mode of managing, 272; amount of, 273.
—— interference with labour, though not generally advisable, recommended for Ireland, 95.
—— supervision of schools supported wholly or partly at the public expense, necessity for, 111.
—— relief afforded to the west of Ireland, during the distress in 1839, 256; afforded to alleviate the distress in 1842, 285, _note_.
—— measures to alleviate the distress occasioned by the potato-disease, 307.
Grain, act against the exportation of, 1472, 16; erroneous policy of, 16, 17; exportation of from Ireland during the distress of 1823, 92.
—— crops, deficiency of in 1841, 281.
Grand juries empowered to assess rates for erecting and supporting county hospitals and dispensaries, 74; to present sums for the support of fever hospitals, 78; and for lunatic asylums, 79.
Grants to distressed unions, amount of in 1848, 347, 348.
Gratuitous relief, an encouragement to pauperism and indolence, 93.
Greek church, probability of the Irish church being derived from, 2.
Guardians, boards of, recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry, 141; who should be electors of, 173; clergymen of whatever description not to be chosen, 175; and paid officers of unions not to furnish supplies for the union under a penalty, 230; directions as to the number of and qualifications for, 238; number of elections contested and not contested, 267; may employ rates in apprehending or prosecuting offenders against the Poor Law Act, 292; or may employ the rates in assisting emigration, 293; warning of the commissioners to, against overcrowding the workhouses, 325; commissioners empowered to fix different amounts of qualification in different electoral divisions, 368.
Habitations of the poor, wretched condition of, 132.
Hackney coaches licensed for the support of Dublin workhouse, 37; licensed for the support of the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 48; number increased for, 49.
Hair, act against the Irish fashion of wearing, 20.
Hamburgh, the workhouse-test principle not adopted in, 197.
‘Handbook of Architecture,’ notices of, 2, _note_.
Harbours, the formation of recommended, 95.
Harrowing by the tail, practice of, 60.
Harvest in Great Britain, Irish labourers seek employment at, 132; beneficial effects of a good, in 1847, 340.
Hedge-schools, notice of, 63.
Helpless children, act for the apprenticing of, 41; remedy for in cases of ill usage, 42.
—— poor to be maintained, 56.
Henry the Second, submission of Ireland to, in 1172, 1, 3.
Henry the Seventh, exertions of to restore order in Ireland, 4.
Henry the Eighth assumes the title of king of Ireland, 4.
‘History of the English Poor Laws,’ cited, 5, 21, 23, 31, 38, 42, 118, 241, 306, 327, 328.
Holland, visit of the author to, 211 _et seq._; report of the management of the poor in, 212.
Holy Scriptures, objections of the Roman catholics to the indiscriminate reading by their children, 114.
Hood, act against wearing the Irish, 20.
Hospitals for the poor to be provided, 53; how to be divided, _ibid._
House of lords, bill for the relief of the Irish poor read a first time in, in 1838, 217; read a second time, 218; division in committee upon, 220; read a third time and passed, 221.
Houses to be cleansed and purified, 78.
—— of the peasant farmer in Belgium, contrast of with those of Ireland, 215.
—— of correction to be built or provided in every county, 1634-5, 28.
—— of industry to be provided, 53; imperfect provision of, 82; number of in 1830, 105; ineffectiveness of while combining the functions of hospitals and prisons, _ibid._; number of and total income of, in 1833, 127; number of inmates in, _ibid._; to be made available as workhouses, recommended, 186; enactment for using as workhouses, 225.
Husbandmen and labourers, act in 1447 for preventing the sons of, from changing their profession, 15.
Husbands, enactment for making them chargeable for the support of their wives and children, 227; deserting their wives and families, enactment for the punishment of with imprisonment, 333.
Idiots and insane persons, wards not provided for, 83.
Idle persons, to be brought to be justified in law, 23.
Illegitimate children to be dependent on their mother, recommendation of, 183.
Immigration of Irish poor into England, necessity occasioned by of improving their state in their own country, 153.
Immigrants to England during 1846-7, expense and sickness caused by, 326, 327.
Impatience of the public for the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry, 124.
Impediments to emigration, propriety of removing, 185.
Implements, agricultural, rude nature of, 95.
Impositions practised under the Temporary Relief Act, 345.
Imprisonment a punishment for begging without a licence, 53.
Improved circumstances of the country in 1851, 378.
Incapacitated persons empowered to convey land, &c. for workhouses, 225.
Incorporations, formation of to provide and maintain fever hospitals, 77.
Incumbrances on estates of proprietors a cause of distress and want of employment, 94; on Irish landed property, great extent of, 145.
Incumbrancers on Irish estates, recommendation that they should be rated for the support of the poor, 140.
Indian corn, importation of to mitigate the distress occasioned by the potato disease, 307; reduction of the duty on, 308; prices of in 1847, 318, _note_.
—— meal, daily amount supplied to each person, 346.
Indirect means adopted for charging property for the relief of destitution, 51.
Indolence of Irish peasantry, 162.
Industrial schools, enactment enabling additional land to be provided for, 354.
—— training of children in workhouses, nature of, 391.
Industry, what branches of may be safely encouraged by legislative means, 88.
Infants, poor, deserted by their parents, provision for, 49.
Infectious fevers in Ireland, increase of, 77.
Infirmaries and hospitals, act for the management of, 74; required to make annual returns, 75.
—— number of, in 1836, government grants to, and constitution of, 125.
Inmates of workhouses, not to be compelled to attend religious services not of their own creed, 226; number of, in the Cork and Dublin workhouses in 1841, 263; number of in, on January 1, 1841, 1842, and 1843, 283; in 1844, 299; in 1845-6, 303; in 1848, 322; in 1847, 345; in March 1848, 346; in September 1848, 363; in March 1849, 351; in June 1849, 365; in 1848-9, 366; in September 1849, 371; in March 1850, 366; in September 1850, 371; in September 1850, 376; in September 1851, 387; in September 1852, 394; in 1853, _ibid._; in 1854, 402.
Inspection of workhouses by the author, 284.
—— of rate-book, how and to whom allowed, 292.
Inspectors, medical, commissioners empowered to appoint, 362; enactment empowering them to visit and examine dispensaries, to examine witnesses upon oath, and to execute the powers of the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts, 383.
Institutions supported by voluntary charity, notice of, 105; established for the relief of the poor, Report of the inquiry commissioner on, in 1836, 125; total amount of charge for in 1833, 128.
Instructions, letter of, from Lord John Russell to the author, relative to his investigation of the state of Ireland, 157.
Investigation, unsuccessful, as to the cause of the potato disease, 308.
Ireland, supposed to have been peopled from Spain, 1; not attacked by the barbarians who dismembered the Roman empire, 2; ancient division of, into four provinces, 3; how differing from England and Scotland in making no provision for the poor, 13; state of, in 1776-78, 59 _et seq._; various opinions as to, 61; the real improvement of, must spring from herself, 151; distress of, in 1839, through an unfavourable season and deficiency of crops, 257; extreme distress of, 1846 to 1849, 307 to 360; population of, in 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851, 387.
Ireton, completion of the conquest of Ireland by, 10.
Irish, supposed to have occupied great part of Britain, 1; known by the name of Scots, 2; description of by Spenser, 6 _et seq._; character, summary of, by Arthur Young, 64; parliament, acts of, 13 _et seq._; bogs, act for the reclaiming of, 75; peers, alarm of at the supposed extent of the poor-rate, 217; government, applications to, for relief, and schemes and suggestions for relieving the distress in 1839, 257.
‘Irish Crisis,’ by Sir Charles Trevelyan, notice of, 256, _note_; 285, _note_; 307, 311, 314, 319, 320, 328.
Irish Poor-Law Commission, re-formation of, 338.
—— Poor-Law board delegated to assistant-commissioners, 284; establishment of, 330, 333; powers of the previous commissioners transferred to, 334.
Irishrie, five of the best, to bring all idle persons of their surname to be justified by law, 23.
Irishry, feuds and disorders of the, 14.
Island Bridge barrack adapted for the reception of lunatics, 249.
James the First, insurrection of Ireland during the reign of, 9.
James the Second, the Roman catholics of Ireland adhere to the cause of, 10.
Joint-stock companies to vote for guardians by their officers, 230.
Judges of assize to impose rates on parishes refusing to provide for poor deserted infants, 50.
Justices of the peace to regulate wages, 21; empowered to decide disputes between masters and employers, and servants, artificers, and labourers, 40; enactment for their being _ex-officio_ members of the boards of guardians, 223; time and mode of electing, 224; empowered to proceed on summons for recovery of penalties, 230.
Kay, Dr., visit of to Holland and Belgium, 211; report of on education, _ibid._
Kearns and idle people, act relating to in 1310, 13.
Kildare Street Society, notice of, 113, _note_; Mr. Stanley’s (Earl of Derby) remarks on, 114 _et seq._
King’s speech, in relation to Ireland, on opening parliament in 1836, 154.
Kinsale surrendered to Cromwell, 10.
Labour, act for the regulation of the wages of, 21; impolicy of, 22; method of paying for in Ireland, 61.
—— Rate Act, passing of, 313.
Labouring poor in Ireland, description of the state of in 1823, 94; legislative interference with to be avoided if possible, 88; proportion of out of employment, 96; in Ireland, condition of, 132.
La Cambré, account of the workhouse of, 213.
Land, enactment that not more than twelve acres be annexed to workhouses, 225.
Land, rise in the value of, 98.
Landlord and tenant, relations between, 97.
Landlords, ill effects apprehended from imposing a poor-rate on, 136.
Landowners, advantages of making them contribute to the support of the destitute, 190.
Lands, limitation of the quantity of, to be held by corporations for the use of the poor, 52.
Lascelles, Rowley, notice of, 2, _note_.
Legal claims to relief, advantage of not giving the poor, 149.
—— provision recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry for sick and infirm poor, for emigration, and for casual destitution, 140, 141.
—— proceedings taken against unions for neglecting to collect rates, 296.
Legislation, Irish, for the relief of the poor, summary view of, 57, 58.
Leinster, Duke of, Mr. Stanley’s (now Earl of Derby) letter to, announcing the formation of a national system of education, 113.
—— the province of, probably an ecclesiastical formation, 3.
Lessor made liable for the poor-rate in certain cases, 291.
Letter of author to Lord John Russell in 1853, 399 _et seq._
Lewis, G. C. ‘Remarks on the Third Report of the Irish Poor Inquiry Commissioners,’ 151.
Lezers (gleaners) of corn, act against, _temp._ Hen. VIII., 19.
Liability of persons to support their destitute relatives, 278.
‘Liber Munerum Publicorum Hibernie,’ notice of, 2, _note_.
Licences to beg, how and to whom to be granted, 52.
Limerick, the surrender of, 10; assistant-commissioners sent to, 234, 236.
Limited relief for the poor, adoption of, 51.
Linen manufacture in Ireland, ill consequences of a mixture of with agricultural pursuits, 89.
Lingard, Dr., statement as to the early learning of Ireland, 2.
Lismore, council at, submits to Henry the Second in 1172, and receives the English laws, 3.
Livery, act of 1495 against retainers, 18; penalty for transgressing, _ibid._
Living in Ireland, cheapness of, as compared with England, 65.
Loan funds, recommended for the assistance of the poor, 142.
Loans to families, by way of relief, recommended in certain cases, 178; for erecting workhouses, mode of managing, 272; amount of, 273; amount of from government in 1845, for the erection of workhouses, 302; may be raised on the security of the rates, to defray the expenses of emigration, 369.
Local machinery for the administration of relief, proposed to be the same as in England, 178.
—— acts to cease on the establishment of workhouses under the New Poor Law Act, 226.
London subscription to alleviate the distress in Ireland in 1823, amount of, 92.
Londonderry, Marquis of, opposition to the Irish Poor Law bill, 219.
—— ——, assistant-commissioners sent to, 236.
Lunacy more prevalent in Ireland than in England, 79.
Lunatic asylums, act for providing, 79; increase of in 1830, and effectiveness of, 103, 104; number of in 1836, and expenditure of in 1833, 126.
Magistrates, why some should be _ex-officio_ members of boards of guardians, 208.
Mann, Capt., account of the appearance of the potato during the disease, 310.
Mantle, act against wearing the Irish, 20.
Manufacturing and farming, prejudicial effects of the union of, 63.
Market-towns to be fixed on for centres of unions, 237.
Marriages, early, facilities for and encouragement of in Ireland, 55; prevalence of in Ireland, 99.
Marshes and bogs, increased advantages of draining on a large scale, 168.
Mary, accession of in 1553, 4; retards the Reformation, _ibid._
Mathew, Father, his account of the appearance of the potato during the disease, 310.
Meal, amount of distributed in 1846, 312.
—— and medical aid, government supply of to relieve the poor in Donegal, 200.
Measures for the relief of the poor, necessity of considering the good of society in general in the construction of, 133.
Meat seldom eaten by the Irish labouring poor, except at seasons prescribed by the Roman catholic church, 132.
Medical and surgical aid, provision for the supply of to the poor, 74.
Medical charities, Report of the Inquiry Commissioners on, 125; total expense of supporting in 1833, and number of cases relieved, 126; inquiry into, 268; report on in 1842, 279; act, summary of, 382, 383.
—— commissioner, enactment for the appointment of, 383.
—— practitioners, remuneration of for vaccination cases, 268.
—— relief for the poor, inequality in the distribution of, 127.
Melbourne, Lord, speech of on introducing the new Irish Poor Law bill to the house of lords in 1838, 218.
Mendicancy, measures for the repression of, 44; prevalence of, in Ireland, 161; filth and squalor the accompaniments of, 162; means taken for the repression of under the new Poor Law, 254; bill introduced to the house of commons for the suppression of in Ireland, 265; not proceeded with, _ibid._; continued existence of, 280, 281.
Mendicants, poor-law relief necessary for the suppression of, 181; prevalence of and encouragement of in Ireland, 182; to be removed as soon as possible into workhouses, _ibid._
Mendicity Society of Dublin, income of, 106.
—— the sole resource of the aged and impotent poor, 132.
—— institutions, examples of the inefficiency of, 148.
Middle classes, almost entirely the supporters of the poor in 1830, 106, _note_.
Middlemen, practice of employing, 60; injurious consequences of, 61.
Migration of mendicant poor, tends to diffuse contagious fevers, 86.
Migratory habits of the Irish opposed to a law of settlement, 181.
Milk, use of by the labouring poor in Ireland, 61.
Ministers and churchwardens of every parish to bind helpless children as apprentices, 41, 42.
Minute of the Poor Law Board of Ireland, of Dec. 5, 1849, 257.
Missionaries, Irish, teachers of the Anglo-Saxons, 2.
Model schools, agricultural, proposed establishment of, 138.
Monasteries in Ireland, oasis of civilization, 2.
Money to be raised for building and supporting houses of correction, 28; provision for borrowing by boards of guardians, 230.
—— wages, the disadvantages of not paying, 35.
Morpeth, Lord, announcement by of the intentions of government, 155; introduces a bill to the house of commons for the suppression of mendicancy in Ireland, but it is not proceeded with, 265.
Mortality, greatly increased ratio of in workhouses during the distress occasioned by the potato disease, 326; decrease of in 1847, 338; in workhouses, increased ratio of in Feb. 1848, 345; in 1849, 351.
Munich, the workhouse test principle not adopted in, 197.
Munster, the province of, probably an ecclesiastical formation, 3; unions, embarrassed state of in 1851, 378; and Connaught, state of in 1851, 390.
Musgrave, Sir Richard, introduction of a bill by for the relief of the poor in Ireland, 154; consideration of postponed, 155.
National Board of Education, formation of in 1831, 113; powers of, 116, 117; incorporated in 1844, 118.
—— distinctions between Irish and English, act for abolishing, 26.
—— establishments, recommendation of providing, for lunatics, deaf dumb and blind poor, vagrants, and persons willing to emigrate, 142; the whole of Ireland to be rated for, _ibid._
—— improvement of Ireland, a board recommended for carrying into effect, 137.
—— schools, regulations for applications for aid, 116; debate in the house of commons in 1832 on the government plan for, 117; parliamentary grant in favour of, 118.
Navigation laws, alteration of, 311.
Needy but not destitute persons, not objects of poor-law relief, 203.
Newport, Sir John, chairman of the select committee to inquire into the state of disease and the condition of the labouring poor in 1819, 86; chairman of the select committee of the house of commons in 1827, on education in Ireland, 108.
Nicholls, Mr. G. ‘Suggestions’ of, in 1836, 130; recommendation of Lord John Russell to the house of commons to adopt the means proposed by, in order to relieve the distress in Ireland, 191; Second Report of, 196 _et seq._
Ninth Report of the proceedings in 1847 under the new Poor Law Act in Ireland, 309 _et seq._
Nobility and gentry of Ireland, measures of Henry VII. for reducing the power of, 19.
Non-residence of proprietors in Ireland a cause of distress, 90.
North of Ireland, difference between and the south and west, 63; the author’s examination of the state of, 199; alleged inapplicability of the new Poor Law to, refuted, _ibid._
Northmen, irruptions of into Ireland, 3.
Notice of claims to vote for guardians, term for making extended, 293.
Nottinghamshire, continued efficiency of the workhouse test in two parishes of, 164.
Oatmeal, moderate price of during the famine in Ireland in 1823, 92.
Oats, cultivation of in Donegal, to procure whiskey, 201.
Objections to the establishment of the English workhouse system in Ireland, combated by Lord John Russell, 192, 193; to the new Irish Poor Law bill answered by the author, 197 _et seq._
O'Brien, Smith, bill introduced by for a system of poor-laws, 154.
Occupiers, to pay one-half of the poor-rate, 180; rated under 5_l._, reasons for exempting from payment of poor-rates, 205; to pay the poor-rate, 228; and to deduct half from the owner, _ibid._; under 5_l._ annual rent, regulation as to, 290; of more than a quarter of an acre not to be deemed destitute, 331.
O'Connell, Mr. D., opposition of to the Irish Poor Law bill of 1837-8, 210; difficulties arising in the execution of the poor-laws from his agitation for a repeal of the Union, 294.
Officers of health, appointment of, 78; recommendation that they be elected in all towns having 1000 or more inhabitants, with power to direct the cleaning of streets, removing of nuisances, &c. 87; to cause foundlings and orphan children to be taken care of, and when of suitable age to be sent to some British colony, 144.
—— of unions, commissioners empowered to fix salaries, prescribe duties, &c. 332.
Opinions, various, respecting the causes of distress in Ireland, and the means of relieving, 120.
Order of proceedings of boards of guardians, a new, issued, 384.
Orders and regulations of the commissioner acting in Ireland forwarded to the London board, 241.
—— issued in 1850 for forming twenty-four new unions, 367.
Orphan-girls, number of enabled to emigrate, 353, 370.
Out-door compulsory employment, not adapted for Ireland in the opinion of the commissioners of inquiry, 135; employment, difficulty in providing for the poor, 342.
—— relief not to be given, 176; objections to affording in any case, 204; decision of the board against affording during the distress of 1839, 258; limited power given to the guardians for distributing, 330, 331; necessity for allowing, 336; amount expended on, in 1848, 346; number of persons receiving, _ibid._; in 1849, 365; in 1850, 376; in 1851, 387, 388; in 1852, 394; in 1853, _ibid._; in 1854, 402.
Outlaws, maintained by the lords to annoy each other’s rule, 23.
Out-relief lists, number of persons on in 1848, 349; in 1849, 349; in March 1850, 366; in 1850, 376; in 1851, 387, 388; in 1852, 394; in 1853, _ibid._; in 1854, 402.
Overcrowding of workhouses, dangerous results from, 325.
Overseers to collect assessed rates to provide for poor deserted infants, 50.
Owners of property to pay one-half of the poor-rate, 180, 229; objections to charging the whole of the poor-rate on, 204.
Paid officers, recommendation of employing in administering relief, 178; Commissioners to direct the appointment of, to carry the poor-law into effect, 224; of unions, the importance of the provision enabling the Commissioners to appoint, 337.
Pale, English, notice of, 11.
Pamphlets, on the relative value of compulsory and voluntary relief, 129.
Parish rates, recommendation that they should be levied for sanitary purposes, 87.
Parishes refusing to provide for poor deserted infants, how to be proceeded against, 50.
Parliament, prorogation of, 156; prorogation of on the death of William IV., 195.
Parliamentary franchise, proposition to found upon the poor-law valuations, 266.
—— grants for educational purposes in Ireland, total amount of in 1827, 109.
Parochial machinery for union management, necessity for varying in Irish parishes, 172.
Pasturage, favourable climate of Ireland for, 60.
Pauper idiots and lunatics, permission to be retained in workhouses under certain regulations, 184.
—— labour, impolicy of endeavouring to make it a source of profit, 370.
—— lunatics, wards in workhouses appropriated to, 266.
Paupers affected with fever or contagious diseases may be maintained by the guardians in an asylum, or houses may be hired for them, 292.
Pay-schools, number of scholars taught at in 1827, 109.
Peace not to be made with Irish enemies without consent of the governor, 18.
Peasantry, the desirableness of exciting to depend on their own exertions, 93; the necessity of their obtaining plots of land, the occasion of crime, 161; indolence and apathy of, 162; desultory habits and love of amusement of, 163.
Penal colonies in Holland, account of, 214, _et seq._
Penalties, justices empowered to proceed on summons for the recovery of, 230.
Perjury, witnesses giving false evidence to the poor-law commissioners, subjected to the penalties for, 334.
Personal property, difficulties of subjecting to a rate, 145.
Persons relieved in 1847, number of, 339.
Peter’s-pence, not paid by the Irish at an early period of their history, 2.
Petitions of the Roman catholic hierarchy for means of education, 108.
Phelan, Mr., investigation by into medical charities, 268.
Phœnician colonies, probable existence of in Ireland, 1.
Pitt, Mr., speech of on proposing the Union, 68; speech of on submitting resolutions for, 69, 70.
Players of interludes and minstrels, found wandering, to be punished as vagabonds, 30.
Plots of land, strong desire of the Irish peasantry for, 161.
Ploughing by the tail, act against, 32.
Political influence, the desire for, leading to the subdivision of lands, 161.
Poor in Ireland, no provision for, until a recent period, 13.
—— children in Dublin above five years old, to be apprenticed to protestants, 36.
Poor-laws, a modified system recommended for Ireland, 100; English commissioners recommended for carrying into execution, 187, 188.
—— Law Commissioners of England to be Commissioners of Ireland, 231; changes in 1852, 398.
—— rate to be recovered from the occupier, who may deduct it from the rent in certain cases, 291.
Poor-rates, amount of charged and collected in 1844, 298.
Poor relief, amount expended on in the year ending Sept. 1847, 345; to March 1848, 347; to Sept. 1848, 363; to March 1849, 351; to Sept. 1849, 371; to Sept. 1850, 376; to Sept. 1851, 387; to Sept. 1852, 394; in 1853, _ibid._; in 1854, 402.
Population of Ireland, amount of at various periods, 11, 12; decrease of between 1841 and 1851, 12; in 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851, 357.
——, too rapid increase of, a cause of distress, 94.
Porters and messengers to be licensed for the support of the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 48.
Potato, the facility of procuring, leads to a boundless multiplication of human beings, 90.
—— crop, distress occasioned by the failure of in 1823, 92; evils of a total dependence on, 93; in 1839, estimate of the state of, 259; deficiency of in 1841, 281.
—— disease, occurrence of in 1845-6, 306; distress occasioned by, 307; re-appearance of in the autumn of 1846, 323; recurrence of in 1848, 349.
Potatoes, the food of the labouring poor in Ireland, 61.
Poverty, conclusive evidence as to the state of in Ireland, 158; not the sole cause of the condition of the Irish peasantry, 162.
Poyning’s Act, 1495, effect of, 17.
Presidents and assistants for the relief of the poor, institution of, 52.
Price of labour in Ireland in 1830, 96.
Private trade in corn, determination not to interfere with, 313.
—— subscriptions, amount of for the relief of the poor in Ireland during the prevalence of the potato disease, 320, 321.
Progress of population in Ireland, 11, 12.
Promotion, spiritual, to be given to such only as speak English, 21.
Property, feeling prevalent in Ireland in favour of taxing for the relief of the poor, 165; what is to be assessed for poor-rates, 228; amount of, rated to the poor in Ireland and England, 269, _note_.
Prostitutes, strolling, to be sent to houses of industry and kept to hard labour, 55.
Protestant settlers in Ireland, massacre of in 1641, 10.
—— Charter Schools Society to receive poor children, 54.
—— clergy, favourable to the introduction of a system of poor-laws, 167; salaries to be appointed for in workhouses, 226.
—— and Romanist classes, division of the kingdom into, 26.
—— and Roman catholic children, separate religious instruction recommended for, 111.
Protestantism, church establishment of in Ireland, 25.
Provisions, high price of, in 1840, 269.
Proxy, reasons for allowing owners to vote for guardians by, 207.
Public works, the extension of recommended in 1830, as a means of employing the Irish poor, 107.
—— act, passing of, 312; amount expended under in 1846, _ibid._
“Queen’s pay,” ill effects of under the relief works, in withdrawing labourers from their proper employment, 315.
Rapparees, act for suppressing, 38.
Rate to be levied in Dublin for the support of the workhouse, 37; for the support of the Foundling Hospital, 48; increase of for that purpose, 49.
—— in aid, amount of the levy of, 359; amount of the second, 375.
—— of wages in 1851, 391; in 1853, 397.
—— payers, joint, empowered to vote according to the proportions borne by each, 229.
Rateable property, amount of in 1845, 1847, and 1851, 393.
Rates to be assessed in every county and town for the support of houses of industry, 55; for emigration, how to be raised, 226; for the support of the poor, guardians empowered to levy, 227; to be a poundage rate, 228; to be recovered by distress if not duly paid, 229; collection of, apprehended difficulties proved groundless, 277; amount of, collected for the poor in 1845-6, 304; total amount raised for the poor, up to 1848, 346; in 1846, 1847, and 1848, 363; may be raised for defraying the expenses of emigration, 369.
Rating, power of vested in the board of guardians, 179; valuation for the purposes of, 180; under the new Poor-Law bill of 1837, objections to the plan answered, 204.
Reasons against the voluntary system, by a portion of the Commissioners of Inquiry, 147.
Rebellion of 1798, notice of, 11, 67.
Reclamation of waste land, need of on a large scale in Donegal, 201.
Reformation not so successful in Ireland as in England, 4; education adopted as a means for extending, 25.
Register-book, enactment for the keeping of in workhouses, 226.
Relatives, liabilities of, to support their destitute parents, &c., 278.
Relief, imperfect recognition of the right of to the poor, 31; to be effectual must be uniform and prompt, 147; destitution to form the only grounds for, 176; rules for to be issued by the central authority, 177; amount expended in during 1841, 276, 277; in 1842, 283; in 1843 and 1844, 299; in 1845, 301; amount of afforded from various sources under the Public Works Act in 1846, 312.
—— committees, formation of in 1846, 311.
—— Extension Act, copies of sent to all the unions, 338.
—— works, failure of, 316; amount expended on, _ibid._ _note_.
Relieving-officers, enactment for the appointment of, 331.
Religious persuasions, importance of bringing together children of different, for purposes of education, 110; zeal, difficulties offered by in raising voluntary funds and in affording impartial relief, 148; service, to be performed in workhouses by clergymen of different denominations, 226.
Remark on the evidence of the Inquiry Commissioners, by Mr. Bicheno, 151.
‘Remarks’ by Mr. G. C. Lewis on the Third Report of the Inquiry Commissioners, 151.
Remittances from emigrants, amounts of, 392.
Rental of Ireland in 1776-78, 65.
Rents, comparative, in England and Ireland, 60; arising from exempted property, to be rated to the extent of half the poundage, 368.
Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the state of the poor in Ireland, 82 _et seq._
—— of the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1823 for providing funds for the useful employing of the labouring poor in Ireland, 91.
Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on education in Ireland, 108 _et seq._
——, the first, in 1835, of the Commissioners appointed in 1833 to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, 118 _et seq._; the second, in 1836, 125 _et seq._; the third, in 1836, 131 _et seq._
—— of the Poor Inquiry Commissioners, rejection of the means proposed by them for alleviating distress in Ireland, 190, 191.
——, the first, of Mr. G. Nicholls on the state of Ireland in 1836, 159; the second, 196; the third, 212.
—— of Commissioners for Ireland to be annually laid before parliament, 232.
—— of Commissioners under the Temporary Relief Act, 344.
Residence required to give a claim to relief, 292.
Residents for less than three years, if receiving relief, to be charged to the union, 367.
Resistance to the law, instances of unions offering, 295.
Resolutions submitted by Mr. Pitt for effecting an Union with Ireland, 69; agreed to, 71.
Returning-officers, instructions to, under the new Poor-Law Act for the first elections, 242.
Revenue, comparative proportions raised by Ireland with that of Great Britain, 147.
Revolution of 1688, the Roman Catholics of Ireland support James II., 10.
Rice, Mr. Spring (now Lord Monteagle), chairman of the select committee of the house of commons in 1823, 91.
Richmond Lunatic Asylum, notice of, 84.
Rick-burning, Act against, temp. Hen. VIII., 19.
Road-making to be undertaken in order to employ the distressed poor in 1822, 80.
Roads in mountainous districts, the formation of recommended as providing employment for the labouring poor, 88.
“Robbery-money,” frauds exercised in order to obtain, 39.
Rogues vagabonds and beggars, act for the punishment of, 28; who are to be deemed, 29.
Roman Catholic clergy, notice of their opposition to the Kildare Street Society schools, 115; favourable to the introduction of a system of poor laws, 167; clergymen in workhouses, salaries to be appointed for, 226.
Roman Catholics of Ireland adhere to the cause of Charles I., 10.
Romans, never extended their conquests to Ireland, 2.
Rome, the supremacy of the see of, not acknowledged by the early Irish, 2.
Royal message to the parliament recommending an Union, 67; congratulating them on the measure being effected, 71; assent given to the Irish Poor-Law bill in 1838, 221.
Rumford, Count, attempts of to make pauper establishments self-supporting, failure of, 198.
Russell, Lord John, announcement of the necessity of some government measure respecting the poor of Ireland, 155; letter of instructions to the author, 157; speech of on introducing the new Irish Poor-Law bill in 1837, 189; introduction by of the Irish Poor-Law bill in 1837-8 to the house of commons, 210; interview of the author with, urging the carrying of the new law into immediate operation, 234; letter of the author to in 1853, 399 _et seq._
Salaries, estimated scale of, for union officers, 209.
—— to be paid to persons employed to seize persons begging without a licence, 54.
Sanitary state of workhouses, 275.
Scale of voting for guardians, 229.
Scholars, found begging, to be punished as vagabonds, 29; number taught in the various public schools in Ireland in 1827, 109.
School-houses to be built in each of the shire-towns, 25.
Schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, appointed for workhouses, 264.
Schools, supported by Roman Catholics, number of scholars taught at in 1827, 109; for union children, permission given to provide with land, 332; number of children attending in 1848, 348.
Scotland and Ireland, difference between as to provision for the poor, 13.
——, alleged success of the system of voluntary contributions for the poor in, 150; number of parishes assessed and unassessed in 1855, _ibid._ _note_.
Scots, ancient name for the Irish, 2.
Scottish rebellions of 1715 and 1745, the Irish take no part in, 10.
Scrope, G. P., introduction of a bill by for the relief and employment of the poor in Ireland, 154; resolutions proposed by as to the necessity of providing relief for the Irish poor, 155.
Sea-sand and sea-weed, use of as manure in Donegal, 200.
Sea-service, male foundlings in certain cases to be apprenticed to, 44.
——, guardians in Ireland empowered to apprentice poor boys to, 385.
Seaweed and sand, carried on the backs of the poor for manure, 94.
Second Report of Proceedings in Ireland under the New Poor-Law Act, 245.
Second Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland in 1849, 349.
Secretaries, enactment for the appointment of, 223.
Security of property, necessary to induce the investment of capital, 208.
Sedan-chairs licensed for the support of Dublin workhouse, 37.
Select Committee of the house of commons in 1819, to inquire into the state of disease, and the condition of the labouring poor in Ireland, report of, 86; in 1823, to facilitate the application of the funds of private individuals and associations for the employment of the labouring poor in useful and productive labour, report of, 91; in 1830, to consider the state of the poorer classes in Ireland, and the best means of improving their condition, report of, 93; heads of the report, 96; in 1828, on education in Ireland, report of, 108 _et seq._; resolutions adopted by, 112.
Separate instruction in their religious duties for protestant and Roman Catholic children recommended, 111.
—— Poor Law Commissioners, not necessary, 338.
Servants, drunken, idle, or quitting their employment improperly, to be punished with the stocks or imprisonment, 40; agricultural, not hired in Ireland, 161.
Settlement, law of, to be dispensed with altogether, 181; litigation caused by the law of, 193; not intended to be introduced into the new Irish Poor-Law bill, _ibid._; provision for decided against in the house of commons, 210.
Seventh Report of proceedings in 1845 under the new Poor-Law Act in Ireland, 299 _et seq._
Sexes, the separation of, practised in houses of industry, 192.
Sheep, reared in Donegal to pay the rent, 201.
Sickness, inquiry as to why the Irish labouring poor do not make provision for, 122; prevalence of in 1849, 349.
Single women, enactment making them chargeable with the support of their children, 227.
Sixth Report of proceedings under the new Poor-Law, 291.
Sixth Annual Report of the Poor-Law Commissioners of Ireland, 389.
Skibbereen, resistance to the payment of rates in, 295.
Small holdings, the work required easily performed and therefore constantly neglected, 163; prevalence of in Donegal, 200.
Social importance of the Irish Poor-Law, 156.
Society, the disordered state of in Ireland a consequence of the want of a well-regulated poor-law, 168.
—— of Friends, amount contributed by to relieve the distress in Ireland occasioned by the potato disease, 321.
Soil of Ireland, peculiarities of, 59.
Southwell and Bingham, encouragement of the workhouse test principle afforded by the example of, 198.
Spain, Gauls or Celtes from, supposed to have peopled Ireland, 1.
Spanish emissaries and troops, disquieting effects of, temp. Eliz., 5.
Speeches of Mr. Pitt on proposing the Union, 68; on submitting resolutions for, 69, 70.
Speech of Lord John Russell on introducing the new Irish Poor-Law bill in 1837, 189 _et seq._
Spenser, the poet, grant of lands to, 5; his description of Ireland, 5, _et seq._; proposals of for securing the quiet of Ireland, 8.
Stage-coaches licensed for the support of the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 48; number increased for, 49.
Stamp-duty, exemptions from in poor-law proceedings, 230.
Stanley, Mr. (now Earl of Derby), letter of to the Duke of Leinster, announcing the formation of a system of national education, 113.
Stanley, Mr., communication from respecting the state of the poor in Ireland, 196 _note_.
Starvation, near approach to of the population of Donegal, 200.
State of Ireland in 1776-78, 59 _et seq._; various opinions as to, 61.
Statements of numbers relieved and chargeable to be posted weekly on workhouse doors, 369.
Statistical returns, instructions for to the assistant-commissioners, 240.
Statutes at Large, notice of, 13, _note_.
Statutes cited.— Edw. II. 1310, 13; Hen. VI. 1440, 13; Hen. VI. 1447, 15; Hen. VI. 1450, 14; Hen. VI. 1457, 15; Edw. IV. 1465, 16; Edw. IV. 1472, 16; 10 Hen. VII. cap. 4, Poynings’ Act, 17; 10 Hen. VII. cap. 6, 18; 10 Hen. VII. cap. 17, 18; 13 Hen. VIII. cap. 1, 19; 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 12, 22, 31; 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 1, 19; 28 Hen. VIII. cap. 15, 20; 33 Hen. VIII. cap. 9, 21, 52; 33 Hen. VIII. cap. 15, 22, 30; 11 Eliz. cap. 4, 23; 12 Eliz. cap. 1, 24; 18 Eliz. cap. 3, 31; 43 Eliz., 31; 7 Jas. I. cap. 4, 31; 11 and 12 Jas. I. cap. 5, 26; 10 and 11 Chas. I. cap. 4, 27, 52; 10 and 11 Chas. I. cap. 15, 32; 10 and 11 Chas. I. cap. 16, 34; 10 and 11 Chas. I. cap. 17, 32; 2 Anne, cap. 19, 35, 248; 6 Anne, cap. 11, 38, 101; 2 Geo. I. cap. 17, 40; 9 Geo. II. cap. 25, 42; 11 and 12 Geo. III, cap. 11, 45, 83, 248; 11 and 12 Geo. III. cap. 15, 49; 11 and 12 Geo. III. cap. 30, 23, 51, 101, 104; 13 and 14 Geo. III. cap. 24, 49; 25 Geo. III. cap. 48, 48 _note_; 45 Geo. III. cap. 111, 73; 46 Geo. III. cap. 95, 74, 104; 49 Geo. III. cap. 101, 75; 51 Geo. III. cap. 101, 76; 54 Geo. III. cap. 112, 76; 57 Geo. III. cap. 106, 78, 103; 58 Geo. III. cap. 47, 76, 102, 104, 144; 59 Geo. III. cap. 44, 78, 144; 3 Geo. IV. caps. 3 and 84, 80; 6 Geo. IV. cap. 102, 81; 7 Geo. IV. cap. 74, 225; 1 and 2 Vict. cap. 56, 222, 398; 2 Vict. cap. 1, 233, 244; 3 and 4 Vict. cap. 29, 268; 6 and 7 Vict. cap. 92, 291; 9 and 10 Vict. cap. 1, 312; 9 and 10 Vict. cap. 22, 311; 9 and 10 Vict. cap. 1, 312; 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 7, 320, 339, 344; 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 22, 319, 339; 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 31, 330, 338, 341, 345; 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 84, 332; 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 90, 333; 11 and 12 Vict. caps. 1 and 2, 311 _note_; 11 and 12 Vict. cap. 25, 354; 11 and 12 Vict. cap. 47, 354; 12 and 13 Vict. cap. 4, 355, 360; 12 and 13 Vict. cap. 104, 367; 13 and 14 Vict. cap. 14, 374, 380; 14 and 15 Vict. cap. 35, 385; 14 and 15 Vict. cap. 68, 382; 15 and 16 Vict. cap. 16, 381; 15 and 16 Vict. cap. 63, 393; 16 and 17 Vict. cap. 7, 393.
Stirabout, found to be the best form of food for distribution, 318.
Stirpes or septs, heads of, to be answerable for the rest, 24.
Stocks, a punishment for idle, drunken, or dishonest servants, 40; for begging without a licence, 53.
Stone-breaking, recommended as a test for relief to the able-bodied poor, 342.
Streets, recommendation for the cleaning of, 87.
Strigul or Strongbow, expedition of against Ireland, 3.
Strolling beggars, Act for lodging, 51.
Strongbow, expedition of to Ireland, 1.
Stuarts, the Irish take no part in the movement in their favour in 1715 and 1745, 10.
Subdivision of land, excessive prevalence of in Donegal, 201.
Subdivisions of lands, by lowering the standard of living, productive of fevers, 78.
Sub-letting of land, evils consequent on, 98.
Subscriptions to alleviate the distress in Ireland, 1823, amount of the London, 92; promoted by government for the relief of Ireland, 357.
Sufferings of the population of Ireland between 1841 and 1851, 12.
‘Suggestions’ by the author in 1836, 129, 130.
Summary of act of 1 and 2 Vict. cap. 56, 222 _et seq._; of the 2 Vict. cap. 1, 233; of the 6 and 7 Vict. cap. 91, 291; of the act to make further provision for the destitute poor in Ireland, 330; of the act to make provision for the punishment of vagrants, &c., 332; of the act for the execution of the laws for the relief of the poor in Ireland, 334, 335; of the Rate-in-Aid Act, 355, 356; of act to amend the previous acts for the relief of the Irish poor, 367; of an act for the further advance of public money to distressed unions, 374, 375; of the Medical Charities Act, 382, 383.
Supervisor of rates, appointed in large towns, 279.
Suppression of mendicancy, answer to the objections against the measures for, 206.
Surgeons and physicians for infirmaries and county hospitals, generally provided, 83.
Surveys, new ones to be made where necessary, 228.
Table of the numbers of persons in workhouses, of the number and rate of deaths per week, of the numbers relieved, and of the weekly cost of relief, from 1846 to 1853, both inclusive, 404.
Tabular view of number of unions, of the expenditure, of the number of workhouses, the number of inmates, and the number relieved, in the years from 1840 to 1846, both inclusive, 323.
Tabular statement of number of unions, expenditure, number of inmates, number receiving out-door relief, and total cost from 1847 to 1853, both inclusive, 395.
—— statement of average cost of maintenance from 1847 to 1854 both inclusive, 397.
Tally, the use of by the labouring poor in Ireland, 62.
Task-work, adoption of as a test, 313; inefficiency of, 315.
Tax, levied under the new Poor Law not likely to exceed greatly that now levied by mendicants in Ireland, 192.
Taxes in Ireland, lightness of previous to the Union, 66.
Teachers of schools, recommendation that they be selected without regard to religious distinctions, 111.
Temporary Relief Act, passing of, 316; provisions of, 317.
Tenants, ejected, deplorable condition of, 99; disease generated thereby, 100; for life, proposed empowering of to grant leases for certain terms, and to charge the property for permanent improvements, 138, 139.
Tenantry, not able to bear the burden of a rate for the support of the poor, 136.
Thieves, reward for killing or capturing in 1450, 14; robbers and rebels, act against in 1440, 14.
Third Report of proceedings in Ireland under the new Poor Law act, 259.
Third Annual Report of the Irish Poor Law Commissioners, 364.
Threshing, custom of burning the corn in the straw instead of, 33.
Tillage, inferiority of in Ireland, 60.
Time of election for boards of guardians, enactment for fixing, 223.
Tipperary, peculiar state of as a county palatine, 7; resistance to the payment of rates in, 235.
Tithe-owners, influence of in passing the act in favour of earth-tillers, 20.
—— composition, plan for purchasing and making the surplus available to the relief of the poor, 146.
Tithes to pay poor-rate, 229.
Townlands, enactment for the union of, 223; regulation with regard to the boundaries of, 233.
Towns, recommendation of Spenser that they should be built, 9; increase of and wealth in, 160; a voluntary poor-law established in the principal of the north of Ireland, 200.
Transition-period, difficulties to be overcome during, 166.
Transportation, act for the punishment of rogues and rapparees by, 89.
Treasurers, guardians, &c. to furnish accounts, 230.
Trevelyan’s (Sir Charles) ‘Irish Crisis,’ notice of, 256, _note_; 285, _note_; 307, 311, 314, 319, 320, 328.
Twisleton, Mr., appointed as fourth Commissioner of the Poor Law Board, and sent to Ireland, 309; appointed chief of the Irish Commission, 338.
Tuam union, neglect of to collect poor-rates, 295; legal proceedings commenced against, 300; board of guardians dissolved by the commissioners, 305.
Tyrone, rebellion of, 5.
Ulster, the province of, probably an ecclesiastical formation, 3; plantation of by James I., 9.
Uncultivated land, the existence of a favourable circumstance for the introduction of a poor-law, 168.
Unemployed labourers in Ireland, number of, 133; numbers dependent on, 134.
Union agricultural societies, plan for the formation of, 269.
—— of Ireland with England, in 1800, 11, 71.
—— officers, mortality among during the distress in Ireland occasioned by the potato disease, 326; in Feb. 1848, 345; in 1849, 353.
Unions, suggested size of in Ireland, 172; principles to be observed in forming, 178; answers to the objections to proposed size of in the Report of 1836, 205; estimated expenses of, 209; enactment for the formation of by Commissioners, 223; directions to the assistant commissioners for the formation of, 236, 237; number of, in 1839, 245; in 1840, 245; difficulties in forming, 246; number of in 1841, 259; number of declared in 1842, 271; number of, in which resistance to the payment of rates were made, 295; unsatisfactory state of the finances of in 1847, 328, 329; number of, in which no out-relief was given, 343, 352; numbers of, not giving out-relief in 1850, 366; where new ones are formed, the commissioners to make arrangements for the joint use of the workhouse till a new one is built, 368; eight new formed in 1850, 373.
United Kingdom of England and Ireland, the assembly of the first parliament of in 1701, 72.
Vaccination, act for extending, 268; number of unions in which it had been introduced, 280; extension of in 1845, 300; amount expended on, _ibid._
Vagabonds, act for the punishment of, 22; and beggars to be kept separate in bridewells from the children, 46.
Vagrancy, recommendation for an amendment of the laws relating to, 100; clauses in the Poor Law Bill of 1837, postponement of, 195.
Vagrants and vagabonds, to be sent to houses of industry and kept to hard labour, 55; recommendation of their being sent as free labourers to some British colony, and no longer to be punishable by transportation, 143.
Valuation of lands and houses recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry, 141.
Valuations, new, to be made where necessary, 228; and ratings, instructions for, 244; progress made with, 265; difficulties arising from the form adopted, 289; not to be increased in consequence of improvements, for seven years, 368; number of unions in which they had been completed, 278; objection to the correctness of, _ibid._
Valuators, enactment appointing, 291.
Victoria, Queen, subscription of for the relief of the poor in Ireland, 357.
Visiting committee of Dublin work-houses directed to report on their state, 261.
Voght, Baron de, attempt of to make pauper establishments self-supporting, 198.
Voluntary charity, institutions supported by, 105.
—— associations for the relief of the poor, recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry, 145; rules to be framed for, 146.
—— system of relief, reasons against recommending by some of the Commissioners of Inquiry, 147; reasons for, 149.
Votes, scale of according to property, in the election for guardians, 179, 229.
—— doubtful, for guardians, may be refused by the returning officer, 293.
Voting papers for guardians, improper interference with, 266; penalty for destroying or defacing, 293.
Wages, act for the regulation of, 21; impolicy of, 22; of agricultural labourers in Ireland, rate of, 62; average rates of in 1836, 131.
Wanderers, idle, act against, 34.
Wardens, enactment for the appointment of in townlands and parishes, 226.
Wards in workhouses appropriated to pauper lunatics, 286.
——, towns with 10,000 inhabitants may be divided into, for the purpose of electing guardians, 233.
Wars, private, not to be made without consent of the governor, 18.
Waste lands in Ireland, quantities of, 89.
Waterford, resistance to the payment of rates in, 235.
Wealth and distress may be concurrent in a country, 97.
Wellington, duke of, support given by to Irish Poor Law bill, 219, 220.
West of Ireland, portion taken by the author in his First Report, 159; severe distress in during 1839, 256; amount of government relief to, _ibid._ _note_.
Western unions, total destitution of in 1849, 358.
Wexford, stormed by Cromwell, 10.
Wheat, average price of in Mark Lane in November 1853, 1854, and 1855, 17, _note_.
Whipping, a punishment for begging without a licence, 53.
Widows, helpless, mendicity-houses and almshouses recommended for, 145; enactment making them chargeable with the support of their children, 227.
Wild herbs, used as sustenance by the distressed poor, 132.
Wilkinson, Mr., engaged as architect for the Irish workhouses, 243 _note_.
William the Conqueror, design of for bringing Ireland under subjection, 3.
William the Third opposed by the Roman Catholics of Ireland, 10.
William IV., death of, 195.
Witnesses, Commissioners empowered to summon, 334.
Wool, act against the pulling from living sheep, 32.
Work to be provided for the destitute poor in workhouses, 225.
Workhouse, act for erecting one in Dublin in 1703, 35; regulations for the government of, 36; rate to be levied for the support of, 37.
—— relief, advantages and disadvantages, as regards Ireland, 134; not recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry, 135.
Workhouse system recommended for Ireland by G. C. Lewis, 152.
—— masters in London, testimony of as to the characters and habits of Irish poor, 158.
—— system of England, doubts whether practicable in Ireland, 169; assurance arrived at that it is, 170; doubts whether fitted for a test of destitution, _ibid._; assurance arrived at that it would be more so in Ireland than in England, 171; expense occasioned by adopting not likely to be inordinately large, 172.
—— officers, estimated expenses of salaries for, 209; dietaries, order for, 252; employment, nature of, 274.
—— expenditure in the years 1842 to 1846, 323; in 1847, 329, 345; in 1848, 363; in 1849, 366, 371; in 1850, 376; in 1851, 387; in 1852, 394; in 1853, _ib._
—— accommodation, extreme pressure upon, occasioned by the potato disease, 324; necessity for an increase of in 1847, 342, 343; auxiliary establishments provided in 1849, 352; amount expended in procuring increased, 366; extent of, from 1847 to 1851, 377.
—— hospitals, insufficiency of during the prevalence of the potato disease, 325.
—— mortality, greatly increased ratio of during the distress of 1846-7, 326.
Workhouses to be provided in each county, 53; recommendation that houses of industry should be made available for, 186; estimated expenses of constructing, 209; architect engaged to erect, 243; number of provided in 1840, 245; in 1841, 260; number of in operation in 1842, 271; cost of up to 1842, 273; sanitary state of, 275; number in operation in 1843, 282; inspection of by the author in 1842, 284; amount of government loans for the erection of in 1845, 302.
Works, useful, recommended as a means of employing the distressed poor in Ireland, 100.
Young, Arthur, his account of the state of Ireland in 1776-78, 59 _et seq._
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES & SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS.
Footnotes
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Transcriber’s Note
On p. 215, the quoted material refers to the Belgian ‘bleuse’ (blouse). This may be a misprint, however the report being quoted is closely paraphrased in other texts using the same spelling.
On p. 398, a quoted passage introduced by “commissioners remark in their Report” opens with a quotation mark which has no corresponding close. It is not obvious where that passage closes.
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. References with three numbers refer to corrections to footnotes.
46.26 or within the same walls with child[r]en, Inserted.
99.11 An apprehension was more[o]ver Inserted.
99.25 to a greater certain[t]y of crop Inserted.
215.38 The men universally wear the [bleuse] _Sic._
106.52.1 Dr. Doyle in his eviden[e/c]e before the Replaced. committee
158.29 to adduce any ad[d]itional proofs Inserted.
211.4 me[n]dicancy Inserted.
224.8 from the time of such app[p]ointment Removed.
380.15 de[c]laring that Inserted.
416.58 Ninth Report of the proce[e]dings in 1847 Inserted.