CHAPTER V.
Eighth Report of proceedings—Failure of the potato—A fourth commissioner appointed—Ninth Report—Potato disease in 1846—Public Works Act—Distress in autumn 1846—Labour-rate Act—Relief-works—Temporary Relief Act—Pressure upon workhouses—Emigration—Financial state of unions—First Annual Report of Poor-Law Commissioners for Ireland—Extension Act—Act for Punishment of Vagrants—Act to provide for execution of Poor Laws—General import of the new Acts—Change of the commission—Dissolution of boards of guardians—Report of Temporary Relief Act Commissioners—British Association—Second Annual Report of Poor-Law Commissioners—Recurrence of potato disease—Cholera—Rate-in-Aid Act—Further dissolution of boards of guardians—Boundary commission—Select committee on Irish Poor Laws—Expenditure, and numbers relieved.
1846.
Eighth report of proceedings in Ireland.[[125]]
The Report for 1845-6, like those of preceding years, is dated on the 1st of May, and represents the progress of the law during the previous twelve months as being on the whole satisfactory. All the workhouses were open and the rates in course of collection, except in the two small unions of Clifden and Cahirciveen, in each of which however the guardians had taken steps for making a rate and opening the workhouse.
Numbers relieved, and cost of relief.
The number of persons relieved in the several workhouses continued to increase throughout the present year, the total number amounting to 114,205. In the week ending 27th December 1845 the number so relieved was 41,218, whilst in the week ending 28th March 1846 (the last for which the returns were complete) the number was 50,717, being an increase of 9,499 in three months, and indicating that the distress which had now become very general was beginning to press upon the workhouses. The number described as able-bodied was 8,246, that is 1,984 males and 6,262 females. The total expenditure on relief of the poor during the preceding year in the 113 unions of which the workhouses were opened prior to 1845, amounted on the 1st of January 1846 to 298,813l. The number of inmates at that date was 40,876. In the 10 other unions the workhouses of which were opened in the course of 1845, the expenditure on relief amounted to 17,213l., and the number of inmates to 1,192,—so that on January 1st 1846 there were 42,068 poor persons relieved in 123 workhouses, and the entire cost of relief during the year amounted to 316,026l.
The financial state of the unions generally, appears to have been satisfactory. In the monthly returns for February 1846, comprising 128 unions, the rates collected during the month amounted to 41,871l., leaving 206,664l. in course of collection. The aggregate of the balances against the guardians in 25 unions was 5,294l., whilst in the remaining 103 unions, the whole of the balances were in favour of the guardians and amounted to 54,314l., thus showing a net balance of 49,020l. in the hands of the treasurers. This sum added to what was in course of collection, making together 255,684l., must be regarded as sufficient for covering an expenditure of say 320,000l. per annum, the rates in a great number of the unions being made half-yearly.
Electoral divisions.
The number of electoral divisions amounted to 2,049, each on an average containing a population of about 4,000 persons. The dissatisfaction expressed in many instances with the divisional system, and with the inequalities of charge to which it gave rise, has already been noticed.[[126]] The 44th section of the Poor Relief Act seeks to provide a remedy for, or at least a mitigation of such inequalities, by enabling the guardians of the several divisions of a union to agree to a common rating: but it is evident that wherever the inequality of rating is greatest, there will be the greatest difficulty in effecting such an arrangement. In fact the only instance in which it has been effected is in the Dunmanway union, where the guardians of all the electoral divisions signed an agreement in the terms of the statute, that the charges should thenceforth be borne in common. In this union therefore one great source of contention will have been removed, although at a sacrifice in some degree of that local interest which attaches to guardians representing a district separately chargeable: but enough of such interest will remain in a common chargeability to secure attention to the general interests of the union, in which all that is exclusively local will become merged; and it may therefore be expected that the well-working of the Dunmanway board will not be impeded through a want of harmony among its members.
The Tuam and Castlereagh boards dissolved.
The Tuam guardians, against whom judgment had been pronounced under the proceedings by mandamus, as noticed in the last Report,[[127]] although professing compliance with the peremptory order issued by the court, were still backward in fulfilling the duties which the law imposed upon them, as were also the guardians of the Castlereagh union. The commissioners therefore deemed it right to dissolve both these boards, on whom it was evident that reliance could not be placed for an effective administration of the law, in the impending season of scarcity and distress through the failure of the potato crop; and it was at the same time intimated, that if the boards elected in lieu of those dissolved “failed to discharge effectually their duties as guardians of the poor,” paid officers would be appointed under the 26th section of the Relief Act to carry its provisions into execution. “It is satisfactory (the commissioners observe), prepared as we are in case of necessity to resort to the exercise of those powers, that we have, in the first instance, always endeavoured to give effect to the views of the legislature, when resisted, by an appeal to judicial authority. We still trust that the decisions which the Court of Queen’s Bench has pronounced in vindication of the law, and which have invariably been followed by submission elsewhere, will finally have their due effect in the Tuam and Castlereagh unions, and render unnecessary the appointment of paid officers to perform the functions of guardians in those unions.”
Fever wards.
Considerable progress had been made in providing for poor persons afflicted with fever. In 50 of the unions, fever wards in connexion with the workhouses were either built or in course of building, and in others houses had been hired for the purpose, or temporary provision was made until fever wards could be erected. Arrangements had likewise been made for sending fever patients from the workhouses to county fever hospitals, and no pains were spared in urging upon the guardians the necessity of their being prepared for the occurrence of fever, which experience had shown to be always prevalent in seasons of distress, from whatever cause arising.
Failure of the potato.
We are now arrived at the period of the potato failure, some account of which as affecting England and Scotland has been given in the respective histories.[[128]] “The potato disease,” so called to distinguish it from the less general and entire failure of that root which has occasionally occurred, first appeared in America in 1844, but it did not show itself in Ireland until the autumn of 1845. The early crops generally escaped its ravages, but the late or main crop was found to be so far tainted with the disease, that although much of it was susceptible of being used at the time the potatoes were dug, they afterwards rotted in the pits, and became an offensive mass unfitted for the use of man or beast. This was especially the case in the western districts; and there as well as wherever the small cottier or the conacre systems prevailed, any failure in the potato crop, even although it were small and partial, would necessarily occasion much distress, the population being in such cases generally redundant, and subsisting nearly altogether on that root.
In the present instance there was not only a failure in the quantity raised, but the portion of the crop stored for future use was known to be in jeopardy, and the distress and alarm were proportionally increased. Both were in fact excessive, the one adding to the other, and causing the most serious apprehensions throughout the country. Government participated in these apprehensions, and took early steps for obtaining 100,000l. worth of Indian corn from America, in anticipation of the distress and difficulties sure to arise through the failure of the potato, and for which the country itself afforded no substitute.[[129]] This timely supply arrived in course of the spring of 1846, and in order to its distribution, depôts were established in various places along the coast under the direction of commissariat officers, with sub-depôts in charge of the constabulary and coast-guard.[[130]] Wherever the ordinary supplies of food were found to be deficient, Indian meal was sold from these depôts at a moderate price, to the relief committees if any such had been formed, and likewise to all who applied for it. The meal was not however at first relished by the people, for although far more nutritious than the potato, it was new, and they preferred that to which they had been accustomed. But necessity is ever a successful controller of taste, and Indian meal which was at first disliked, and about which the most absurd stories were promulgated, became ere long, and after the mode of preparing it came to be understood, a favourite description of food with the Irish people.
Although the potato had thus failed, not only in Ireland but in England and Scotland, and throughout the greater portion of Europe, the grain crops were generally abundant, and would in a great degree supply the deficiency caused by such failure, except where the potato constituted the chief or nearly sole article of subsistence, as was the case in many parts of Ireland. Here the void caused by the loss of the potato could only be supplied by imports from abroad, and this circumstance was adduced by Sir Robert Peel in January 1846 as one of the reasons for a reduction of the corn-duties, and led to Indian corn being admitted at a duty of 1s. per quarter, instead of being charged the same duty as barley, as it previously had been, and owing to which charge probably, it was little used or known either in England or Ireland.
In the autumn of 1845, as soon as the prevalence of the “potato disease” had been ascertained, government deputed three gentlemen of high scientific attainments[[131]] to examine into its nature, and to suggest means for checking its ravages. But the result showed that the evil was beyond the reach of human skill, for notwithstanding the application of every remedy which science could devise or experience dictate, the decay of the root continued with undiminished rapidity. On the appearance of the disease, the Poor Law Commissioners entered into active communication with the several boards of guardians on the subject, and endeavoured to mitigate the consequences of the potato failure, by authorizing the use of other kinds of food in the union dietaries. These were for the most part modified accordingly, and bread, or stirabout prepared from Indian meal, was substituted for potatoes.
A fourth commissioner appointed.
The circumstances of Ireland at this time, induced the government to exercise the power conferred by the 119th section of the Irish Poor Relief Act, and to appoint a fourth commissioner to act in that country. The gentleman selected was Mr. Twisleton, of whom mention has been made in connexion with the Scotch Poor Law;[[132]] and on his proceeding to Ireland, the powers previously delegated to the two assistant-commissioners[[133]] were revoked.
1847.
Ninth report of proceedings in Ireland.
The ninth Report (for 1846-7) is like the others dated on the 1st of May. It describes very fully the effects consequent on the potato disease of the previous autumn, so far as these effects bore upon the working of the Poor Law. The connexion between the two, although in one sense intimate, is in other respects limited; for where the land has ceased to be productive, the necessary means of relief cannot be obtained from it, and a poor-law will no longer be operative, or at least not operative to an extent adequate to meet such an emergency as then existed in Ireland. A poor-law, rightly devised and judiciously administered, will generally be found equal to the relief of destitution in the ordinary progress of events; but a state of famine, or a total failure of the means of subsistence is extraordinary, and the wide-spread destitution thence arising is beyond the powers of a poor-law effectually to relieve, although it may doubtless be applied to some extent in mitigation. Under the circumstances at that time unhappily existing in Ireland, other aid was necessary beyond what could be derived from any modification of the Poor Law; and the nature of those circumstances, and the means pursued in dealing with them, will be explained in the following pages.
The potato disease in 1846.
The potato disease made its appearance in 1846 much earlier than in the preceding year, and it was also much more general and destructive. Captain Mann in his narrative of events in the county of Clare at this period, says that the symptoms of the disease were first noticed in the latter part of July; but that the change which took place in one week in August was such as he shall never forget—“On the first occasion (he says) I had passed over thirty-two miles thickly studded with potato-fields in full bloom. The next time the face of the whole country was changed—the stalk remained a bright green, but the leaves were all scorched black. It was the work of a night. Distress and fear was pictured in every countenance, and there was a general rush to dig and sell, or consume the crop by feeding pigs and cattle, fearing in a short time they would prove unfit for any use.” And in a letter printed in the Parliamentary Papers, Father Mathew[[134]] states—“On the 27th of July I passed from Cork to Dublin, and this doomed plant bloomed in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest. Returning on the 3rd of August, I beheld with sorrow one wide waste of putrifying vegetation. In many places the wretched people were seated on the fences of their decaying gardens, wringing their hands and wailing bitterly the destruction that had left them foodless.”
The disease made its first appearance in the form of little brown spots on the leaves of the plant. These continued to increase until the leaves became withered, leaving the stem bare, and so brittle that it snapped off on being handled. The whole was effected in less than a week, the fields appearing as if they were burnt, and the growth of the root entirely destroyed. No potatoes were pitted this year, and the wheat crop barely amounted to an average, whilst barley and oats were decidedly deficient. “On the continent the rye and potato crops again failed, and prices rose there early in the season above those ruling in England, which caused the shipments from the Black Sea, Turkey and Egypt to be sent to France, Italy and Belgium; and it was not till late in the season that our prices rose to a point which turned the current of supplies towards England and Ireland. The Indian corn crop in the United States this year was however happily very abundant, and it became a resource of the utmost value to this country.[[135]]
Reduction of duty on corn imported.
In June 1846, The 9th and 10th Vict. cap. 22, was passed, providing for the gradual reduction of the import duty on corn, and fixing it at 1s. per quarter on every description imported after the 1st of February 1849. On the assembling of parliament in January 1847, two other Acts were passed[[136]] making further reductions in the duty on corn, and removing the restriction imposed by the Navigation Laws on the importation of corn in foreign vessels; and shortly afterwards the whole duty on rice and Indian corn and Indian meal was suspended.
Relief committees formed.
In the early part of 1846, relief committees were formed throughout Ireland, under the superintendence of a central commission established in Dublin, for the purpose of dispensing food, the requisite funds being furnished by private subscriptions assisted by donations from government. The months of June and July was the period of heaviest pressure, during which one of the central depôts established by government, issued in a single week no less than 233 tons of meal to its various sub-depôts, and one of these latter again retailed 20 tons to the public daily. If the people had lived by wages like the labouring classes in England, the providing a cheap substitute for the potato would have been sufficient for the present emergency. But money-wages were comparatively little known in Ireland, the people chiefly subsisting on produce raised by themselves; and it was therefore necessary to adopt some plan for enabling them to purchase the new description of food which had been procured for them.
The Public Works Act, 9th and 10th Vict. c. 1.
The plan adopted was by establishing public works, as had been done on former somewhat like occasions; and an Act was accordingly passed enabling the magistrates and principal cess-payers to obtain advances of public money for this purpose, one-half as a free grant, the other half as a loan to be repaid by the barony out of the grand-jury cess. The greatest number of persons employed under this system was 97,000. It was brought to a close in the month of August, and may be said on the whole to have answered its intended purpose, although not without considerable drawbacks, partly through the misapplication of public money, and partly by increasing the tendency which has always prevailed in Ireland to rely upon government aid. The entire amount expended by the government down to the 15th of August 1846, in affording relief to the Irish people during this season of distress was 733,372l., of which one-half was a free grant, and the other half a loan. The sum raised by voluntary subscription for like purposes was 98,000l., making together 831,372l., obtained from other than poor-law sources, and expended during this first season of severe pressure in relief of persons many of whom would else have perished through absolute want.
The autumn of 1846. Severe distress.
With the approach of autumn another period of distress commenced in Ireland, far heavier and more intense than the preceding, the potato crop having now almost universally and entirely failed. In the former season there were helps or palliatives, some districts having nearly escaped the disease and others being less generally affected by it; but in the present season there were no such exceptions, and neither help nor hope was to be found in the natural resources of the country. A new emergency may thus be said to have arisen, and the public works which had been put an end to in August were renewed in the following month, and the entire machinery of provision depôts and relief committees was reorganized on a more comprehensive scale than before.
The Labour-rate Act, 9th and 10th Vict. c. 107.
In order to check the exorbitant demands which had in many instances been made in the previous season, the whole expense of the public works was now under the new Labour-Rate Act made a local charge, to be defrayed by a rate levied and assessed in a manner similar to the poor-rate, which makes the landlord liable for the whole on tenements under 4l. yearly value, and for half the rate on tenements valued above that amount. It was also determined that as far as possible task-work should be adopted, and at a rate of payment below what was usual in the district. It was further determined in order to avoid embarrassing the operations of the private trader, that government should not order supplies from abroad, and that its interference should be confined to the western districts, in which no trade in corn for local consumption existed. Moreover, the government depôts were not to be opened for the sale of food so long as it could be obtained from private dealers, and no purchases were to be made in the local market, where the appearance of government as a purchaser would be certain to raise prices.
The board of works.
Such generally was the plan proposed to be pursued under the pressure of famine, and the other distressing circumstances consequent on the failure of the potato crop at the end of 1846; and it was expected that the resident proprietors and ratepayers would perform their part, by ascertaining the extent of destitution in the several localities, and determining what was necessary to be done in the way of relief, and the best mode of doing it. This expectation however was not fulfilled, and in almost every instance these duties were left to be performed by the board of works, which had thus to obtain the best information it could through hired agents, “to advance the necessary funds, to select the labourers, to superintend the works, to pay the people weekly, to enforce a proper performance of the labour, to ascertain the quantity of labour required for farm-works, to select and draft off proper persons to perform it, to settle the wages to be paid to them by the farmers and to see that they were paid, to furnish food not only for all the destitute out of doors, but in some measure for the paupers in the workhouses”—in short, “the board of works became the centre of a colossal organization, 5,000 separate works had to be reported upon, 12,000 subordinate officers had to be superintended, and their letters averaged upwards of 800 a day.”[[137]]
The relief-works.
The strain upon the executive through this system of centralization was excessive. Government had to bear the entire pressure of the masses on the sensitive points of wages and food. Task-work was generally objected to, and its enforcement gave rise to frequent struggles, in which the safety of the superintending officers was sometimes put in jeopardy. The number of persons employed on the works continued to increase—“Thousands upon thousands were pressed upon the officers of the board of works in every part of Ireland, and it was impossible for those officers to test the accuracy of the urgent representations which were made to them. The attraction of money wages regularly paid from the public purse, or ‘The queen’s pay,’ as it was popularly called, led to a general abandonment of other descriptions of industry, in order to participate in the advantages of the relief-works.|Evils of the system.| Landlords competed with each other in getting the names of their tenants placed on the lists; farmers dismissed their labourers and sent them to the works; the clergy insisted on the claims of the members of their respective congregations; the fisheries were deserted; and it was often difficult even to get a coat patched or a pair of shoes mended, to such an extent had the population of the south and west of Ireland turned out upon the roads. The average number employed in October was 114,000, in November 285,000, in December 440,000, and in January 1847, 570,000.” It was obviously impossible to exact from such a multitude the amount of labour that would operate as a test. Huddled together in masses they screened each other’s idleness. It was thought that the enforcement of taskwork would stimulate their industry; but when after a hard struggle this point had been carried, an habitual collusion between the labourers and the overlookers appointed to measure their work revived the former abuse, and the labourers were as idle as ever.
The Labour-Rate Act (9th and 10th Vict. cap. 107) was founded on the assumption that the owners and occupiers of land would themselves make efforts commensurate with the magnitude of the crisis, and that only a manageable number of persons would have to be supported on the public works. But including the families of those so employed, more than 2,000,000 persons were maintained by the relief-works, and there were others behind including the most helpless, for whom no work could be found. |Failure of relief-works.|The extent to which the rural population were thrown upon the relief-works, threatened likewise to interrupt the ordinary tillage of the land, and thus to perpetuate a state of famine. In short, a change of system had become necessary, and at the end of January (1847) it was announced that government intended to put an end to the public works, and to substitute another mode of relief. The pressure nevertheless continued to increase. The 570,000 men employed daily in January, became 708,000 in February, and 734,000 in March, representing with their dependents upwards of 3,000,000 of persons. The expenses were in proportion, and exceeded a million sterling per month.[[138]] At the end of February however preparation was made for a change of system by passing the Temporary Relief Act (10th Vict. cap. 7). In March the numbers employed were reduced by 20 per cent., and successive reductions continued to be made as the change of system was brought into operation. In the first weeks of April, May and June respectively, the numbers employed were 525,000, 419,000, and 101,000; and in the week ending the 26th of June the number was reduced to 28,000. The necessary labour was thus returned to agriculture, and a foundation was laid for the ensuing abundant harvest. “The remaining expenditure was limited to a sum of 200,000l. for the month of May, and to 100,000l. a month for June, July, and the first 15 days of August, when the Act expired.”
26th Feb. 1847.
Temporary Relief Act. 10th and 11th Vict. c. 7.
The system of affording relief through the agency of public works having broken down, while that of administering it in a direct form on the principle of the Poor Law had generally been found effective wherever it had been tried, it was as above stated determined to give validity to this mode bypassing the 10th and 11th Vict., cap. 7, which directs that a relief committee consisting of the magistrates, a clergyman of each persuasion, the poor-law guardian and the three highest ratepayers, shall be constituted in each electoral division, and that a finance committee of four gentlemen of character and knowledge of business should be formed to control the expenditure in each union. Inspecting officers are also to be appointed, and a central commission sitting in Dublin,[[139]] was to superintend and control the working of the whole system. The expense incurred was to be defrayed out of the poor-rates, and when these proved insufficient they might be reinforced by government loans, to be repaid by rates subsequently levied. But no loan is to be made, until the inspecting officer had certified that the guardians have passed a resolution for making the rate upon which the loan was to be secured. Such were the chief provisions of the Act, but free grants were also made in aid of the rates in the poorest unions, and when private subscriptions were raised the government made donations to an equal amount. The liability of the ratepayers would, it was considered, operate as a check to undue expenditure; and with regard to the recipients, the test applied consisted in requiring the personal attendance of all who needed relief, (excepting only the sick and impotent poor, and children under the age of nine) and that the relief should be given in cooked food,[[140]] in portions sufficient to maintain health and strength.
The cooked-food system of relief.
The cooked-food system of relief was found to a great degree efficacious in preventing abuse, but it was objected to at first, and the enforcement of it was in some cases attended with difficulty. Undressed meal might be sold or exchanged for other articles. “Even the most destitute often disposed of it for tea tobacco or spirits,” but stirabout soon becomes sour by keeping, and was not likely to be applied for except by persons who wanted it for their own immediate use. Depôts of corn and meal were formed—relief committees were established—mills and ovens were erected—huge boilers cast specially for the purpose were sent over from England for preparing the stirabout—and large supplies of clothing were collected. In July 1847 the system reached its highest point “3,020,712 persons then received separate rations, of whom 2,265,534 were adults, and 755,178 were children.” This vast multitude was however rapidly lessened at the approach of harvest,[[141]] which happily was not affected by the disease. |Cessation of famine.| Food became comparatively abundant, and labour in demand. By the middle of August relief was discontinued in nearly one-half the unions, and ceased altogether on the 12th September. It was limited by the Act to the 1st October.
This was the second year in which upwards of 3,000,000 of people had been fed “out of the hands of the magistrate” in Ireland, but it was now done more effectually than at first. The relief-works had been crowded, often to the exclusion of numbers who were really destitute; but a ration of cooked food was less attractive than money wages had been, and it also proved a more effectual relief to the helpless poor. “The famine was stayed.” Deaths from starvation no longer occurred. Cattle-stealing and other crimes connected with the want or insufficiency of food became less prevalent, and the system of relief which had been established is with allowable self-gratulation declared to be “the grandest attempt ever made to grapple with famine over a whole country.” Organized armies, it is said, had been rationed before; “but neither ancient nor modern history can furnish a parallel to the fact that upwards of three millions of persons were fed every day in the neighbourhood of their own homes, by administrative arrangements emanating from and controlled by one central office.”[[142]] The expense of this great undertaking amounted to 1,557,212l.,—a moderate sum in comparison with the extent of the service performed, and in which performance the machinery of the Poor Law unions was found to afford most important aid. Indeed without such aid, the service could hardly have been performed at all; and the anticipations of the advantage to be derived from the Poor Law organization in such emergencies,[[143]] were fully verified.
Fever.
Fever as usual followed in the train of famine, and in order to check its ravages the 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 22 was passed, “making provision for the treatment of poor persons afflicted with fever,” and enabling the relief committees to provide temporary hospitals, to ventilate and cleanse cabins, to remove nuisances, and to procure the proper burial of the dead, the funds necessary for these objects being advanced by the government in the same way as for furnishing food. Upwards of three hundred hospitals and dispensaries were provided under this Act, with accommodation for at least 23,000 patients, and the sanitary powers which it conferred were extensively acted upon. The expense incurred for these objects amounted to 119,055l., “the whole of which was made a free gift to the unions in aid of the rates.”
Advances by government.
The amount expended under the Public Works Act (9th and 10th Vict. cap. 1) was 476,000l., one-half a grant, the other half to be repaid by twenty half-yearly instalments. The expenditure under the Labour-Rate Act (9th and 10th Vict. cap. 107) was 4,850,000l., half of which was a grant and the other half to be repaid as before. The sum advanced under 9th and 10th Vict. cap. 2 for local purposes, was 130,000l., to be repaid in various periods out of grand jury presentments. Lastly the sums expended under the Temporary Relief Act, 10th Vict. cap. 7, in the distribution of food, and under the 10th Vict. cap. 22 in medical and sanitary relief, amounted to 1,676,268l., of which 961,739l. was to be repaid, and the remaining 714,529l. was a free grant. So that the entire amount advanced by government in 1846 and 1847 towards the relief of the Irish people under the fearful calamity to which they were exposed, was 7,132,268l., of which 3,754,739l. was to be repaid within ten years, and the remaining 3,377,529l. was a free grant.[[144]]
But it was not the government alone that contributed to the relief of the Irish people in this trying emergency.|Private subscriptions.| Individual subscriptions were poured forth from all parts of the British empire. Associations were formed, local committees were appointed, all were active in sympathy and benevolent efforts for the relief of Irish distress. The chief organ for receiving and dispensing these various contributions was “The British Association,”[[145]] which collected subscriptions to the amount of 269,302l., and to which was likewise committed the proceeds of two royal letters inviting contributions, amounting to 200,738l., making together no less than 470,041l., one-sixth of which was apportioned to Scotland,[[146]] and the remainder to Ireland.[[147]] Then there was the “Society of Friends” who collected 168,000l., which was distributed almost entirely in provisions, whilst a great number of persons in all parts of England acted independently of any association, but all directing their efforts to the same benevolent object.
The British Association.
In administering the funds placed at its disposal, the committee of the British Association acted concurrently with the government and the Poor-Law authorities, each of whom bore testimony to its great usefulness. It determined at the outset “That all grants should be in food, and not in money;” and “That no grant should be placed at the disposal of any individual for private distribution.” The committee conclude their Report to the subscribers by declaring, that although evils of greater or less degree must attend every system of gratuitous relief, they are confident that any evils which may have accompanied the application of this fund, will have been far more than counterbalanced by the benefits which have been conferred upon their starving fellow-countrymen. “If ill desert has sometimes participated in this bounty, a vast amount of human misery and suffering has (it is said) been relieved.”[[148]]
The foregoing account of proceedings by the government and by individuals for relieving the distress which prevailed in Ireland during the years 1846 and 1847, through the failure of the potato-crops, has been continued down beyond the date of the ninth Report in order to keep the subject together, and to obviate the necessity of again recurring to it. These proceedings form no part of the Poor Law administration, and are only so far connected with it as being directed to the relief of distress, and as having been latterly carried on very much in accordance with recognised Poor Law principles, and moreover to a considerable extent with the aid of the Poor Law machinery. We will now return to the detail of proceedings during the twelve months preceding the 1st of May 1847, as given in the commissioners’ ninth Report.
Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.
All the workhouses had been opened for the relief of poor, and every union had made a rate, so that the law might now be said to be in operation throughout Ireland. The amount of expenditure for the year ending 31st December 1846 was 435,001l., and the number of persons then receiving relief in the several workhouses was 94,437, which exceeds by 52,369 the number in the preceding year, and the expenditure is greater by 118,975l. The entire number of persons relieved during the year was 243,933.
All the unions being now in operation, and their accounts being made up and audited half-yearly on the 25th March and 29th September, it is intended hereafter to substitute the latter dates for the return which has hitherto been made up on the 1st of January, at which time no perfectly authentic account of the expenditure could be obtained, owing to its not corresponding with either of the audit periods. This therefore is the last occasion on which that statement will be given; and it may here be convenient to exhibit in a tabular form its progress from the commencement, as shown in the several annual Reports—
| The year ended December 31st. | Number of unions in operation. | Expenditure during the year. | Number in the workhouses on December 31st. | Total number of persons relieved during the year. |
| 1840 | 4 | £ 37,057 | 5,648 | 10,910 |
| 1841 | 37 | 110,278 | 15,246 | 31,108 |
| 1842 | 92 | 281,233 | 31,572 | 87,604 |
| 1843 | 106 | 244,374 | 35,515 | 87,898 |
| 1844 | 113 | 271,334 | 39,175 | 105,358 |
| 1845 | 123 | 316,026 | 42,068 | 114,205 |
| 1846 | 130 | 435,001 | 94,437 | 243,933 |
Reappearance of the potato disease in the autumn of 1846.
“The potato disease” having as before stated again appeared at the end of July (1846), letters were addressed to the boards of guardians requiring full information as to the state of the crop in the several electoral divisions. Early in September replies were received, which left no doubt as to the almost total destruction of the crop that had everywhere taken place, and the commissioners had anxiously to consider in what manner the poor-law could be made operative in mitigation of the distress which must inevitably ensue. Relief from the poor-rates being limited to accommodation in workhouses, it was manifest that such relief would be insufficient for meeting the present calamity, “and that the comprehensive remedial measures adopted by government in the establishment of a general system of public works, and the organization of relief committees, were to be looked to as the principal means.” |Measures taken by the commissioners.| The commissioners nevertheless considered that it was imperatively necessary to use all the powers provided by the law on this occasion, and they addressed letters to the several boards of guardians, drawing their attention to the probability of a great increase of distress, and requesting them “to be prepared to make the utmost use of the means of relief which the law placed at their command.” They were urged to look to the state of their contracts for provisions and other supplies, and to their stocks of bedding and clothing, and to base their financial and other estimates on the assumption that the whole accommodation in the workhouse would be required, probably for a considerable time. These recommendations were very generally acted upon. The total rates made in the months of September, October, November and December, amounted to 232,251l., and much activity was manifested in the collection of the rates, as well as in providing the necessary supplies.
Pressure upon the workhouses.
On the 29th August 1846, the returns for the week showed that the inmates of the several workhouses amounted to 43,655, and the numbers continued to increase until on the 17th October, four of the workhouses were reported to be full,[[149]] and most of the others became so shortly after, although they fluctuated in this respect from time to time. The aggregate weekly returns however showed a continual increase down to the end of February 1847, when the inmates amounted to 116,321. From that time the number decreased, but the decrease was probably owing to the distressed circumstances in which the unions were themselves placed, rather than to any abatement of the general distress. There can, it is observed, be few situations more painful than that of a board of guardians in the present condition of Ireland, surrounded by an appalling extent of destitution, yet without the means of relieving the sufferers. “Possessed of a workhouse capable of holding a few hundred inmates, the guardians are looked to with hope by thousands of famishing persons, and are called on to exercise the mournful task of selection from the distressed objects who present themselves for admission as their last refuge from death.” It was no longer a question whether the applicants were fit objects for relief, but which of them could be rejected and which admitted with the least risk of sacrificing life. Were persons in the last extremities of want to be denied admittance, or on the other hand were those already admitted to be made the victims of over-crowding?—The course which prudence dictated was the one most opposed to human sympathies. Eyewitnesses of the distress which was endured, the guardians could not always resist the appeals made to them; and applicant after applicant was admitted to the workhouse, long after the sanitary limit had been passed.
Overcrowding of the workhouses.
It was the duty of the commissioners to resist all such impulsive yieldings, and they failed not to urge upon the guardians the necessity for such resistance on their part, without which the limited means of relief at their disposal would be sacrificed. They were told that effectual relief, even to the extent of the existing accommodation could not be given, if contagious disease took possession of the workhouse; and that in attempting to go beyond due sanitary limits, the guardians would turn what was designed and adapted for good purposes into an active evil, and deprive themselves of the power of using effectually those means of relief which had been placed at their command. In some instances orders under seal were issued, prohibiting the guardians from admitting beyond a certain number. The commissioners likewise “called into action the proper functions of the medical officers of the workhouses, and placed upon them the direct responsibility of advising and warning the guardians of those limits, beyond which their admissions could not be extended without danger.” Notwithstanding these precautions however, such was the fearful prevalence of distress, especially in Connaught and the south of Ireland, that all considerations of this nature were borne down, and the workhouses became crowded to an extent far beyond their proper capacity, the consequences of which were in some cases very disastrous.
The workhouse hospitals were prepared for cases of sickness occurring among inmates, presumed to be in an average state of health, and they were generally found sufficient for the purpose. But now unhappily, almost every person admitted was a patient—was either suffering from dysentery or fever, or extreme exhaustion, or had the seeds of disease about him. Under such circumstances separation became impossible, diseases spread, and the whole workhouse was changed into one large hospital, without the appliances necessary for rendering it efficient as such. |Mortality among the union officers.| This state of things was not a little aggravated by the illness retirement or death of many of the principal officers. The usual difficulty of replacing a master or a matron, or medical officer when suddenly removed, was much increased by the dangerous nature of the service, there having been great mortality among these officers. During the first four months of the current year, at least a hundred and fifty were attacked with disease, of whom fifty-four had died, including seven clerks, nine masters, seven medical officers, and six chaplains—a number unusually large, and calculated no doubt to excite some indisposition to undertake such duties.
Mortality in the workhouses.
The weekly mortality in the workhouses went on increasing from 4 in the 1,000 at the end of October 1846, to 13 in the 1,000 at the end of January 1847,—20 in the 1,000 at the end of February, and 25 in the 1,000 at the middle of April; the number of inmates at these periods respectively being 68,839—111,621—116,321—and 104,455. In the last week of February, when the number of inmates attained its maximum, the deaths amounted to 2,267; whilst on the 10th of April, when the inmates had been reduced to 104,455, the deaths of the preceding week were 2,613, thus showing an increase of mortality notwithstanding a reduction in the number of inmates. The people had in fact become so exhausted by the severity of the distress, that in many cases death occurred immediately after admission. This was the time when to escape famine and pestilence at home, the great rush of immigrants to Liverpool and the western coasts of England and Scotland took place, and it is needless to say that the pressure must have been fearful to cause such an outpouring of the population.[[150]] We must not omit to state however, that at this time great exertions were being made in many, indeed it may be said in most of the unions to obtain increased accommodation for fever patients, by erecting or hiring buildings temporary or permanent according to the urgency and nature of the case; and also in like manner for increasing the means of workhouse accommodation, so as to bring it more nearly up to the wants of the period. The money expended upon these objects was in some instances obtained by way of loan, and in others was defrayed directly from the rates; but in all cases there was a considerable addition to the current expenditure by the provision thus made for affording additional relief.
Emigration.
Emigration was regarded by many persons as the most prompt and effective remedy, under the circumstances then existing in Ireland; and government was appealed to for assistance in promoting it, by defraying the expense of passage and outfit for the emigrants. But it was thought highly probable that the emigration which would take place independently of any such inducement, would be quite as large as the United States and Canada could with advantage receive; and the government therefore limited its interference to appointing additional agents to superintend the embarkation of the emigrants, and to increasing the fund applicable to the relief of the sick after their arrival in the colonies.[[151]] In 1846 the emigration from Great Britain amounted to 129,851. This was the largest ever then known; but in the first nine months of 1847 the number of emigrants was 240,461, nearly the whole of them from Ireland, and proceeding to Canada and the United States, whence large remittances had been sent by former emigrants to enable their relations and friends in Ireland to follow them. Within the same period 278,000 immigrants reached Liverpool from Ireland, of whom only 123,000 sailed from thence to foreign parts; and the remainder must therefore have continued a burden on the inhabitants, or wandered about the country begging, or died of disease the seeds of which they had brought with them, and which proved fatal to a great number of other persons as well as to the immigrants themselves. It was the same everywhere.[[152]] |Mortality among the emigrants.| In the United States, in Canada and on the voyage out, the poor emigrants seeking to escape from famine at home, were assailed by disease whithersoever they turned, and very many of them sunk under its ravages. During this fearful crisis, the deaths on the voyage to Canada increased from 5 in the 1,000, to about 60; and so many more arrived sick, that the proportion of deaths in quarantine to the numbers embarked, increased from a little more than 1 to about 40 in the 1,000, besides still larger numbers who died at Quebec, Montreal, and elsewhere in the interior.[[153]]
Financial state of the unions.
Reference is made in the Report of 1846, to the generally satisfactory state of the finances of the unions;[[154]] but such was no longer the case in 1847, the heavy pressure consequent on the potato failure having exhausted their resources, and in many cases caused the most serious embarrassment. The returns show, that instead of there being as before money in the hands of the treasurers to meet the current expenditure, there was now, taking in the whole of the unions, a considerable deficit. Even those unions which were accustomed to maintain their finances in a fair state of efficiency, had latterly failed to obtain funds from the ratepayers proportioned to their expenditure. In some instances, the commissioners say, they have been compelled by the extreme urgency of the case, to supply the guardians with bedding and clothing, and with the means of procuring food to satisfy the immediate wants of the inmates, “the means of doing so having been furnished by government;” and they close their observations on these financial difficulties by stating, “that while the total expenses have been at the rate of at least 756,000l. a year, the sums collected have not much exceeded the rate of 609,056.”
Increase in the cost of relief.
The effect upon prices caused by the failure of the potato, may in some measure be judged of by the weekly cost of maintenance in the workhouses, which instead of being about 1s. 5d. per head as in former years, averaged 1s. 8d. per head in March, and 1s. 9d. per head in September 1846, after which it exceeded 2s. per head. This increase of cost must have materially added to the difficulties of the unions, not only by augmenting the pressure of the poor-rate, but also by reducing the means of the ratepayers for satisfying its demands. On every side there appeared ground for alarm, and no one could venture to look forward without feeling the most serious apprehensions. A third failure of the crops, should such unhappily occur, would be attended with consequences the disastrous extent of which it must be alike impossible fully to estimate or guard against; and the period was approaching when uncertainty on this vital point would be removed—At the end of another three months it would be seen whether want disease and misery were again, but in a more aggravated form, to overspread the land, or whether the earth would yield forth its increase for the sustenance of man.
1848.
First annual Report of the Poor-law Commissioners for Ireland.
The Report for 1847-8 would, in the regular order, have formed the tenth of the series. But it had now been deemed necessary to establish a separate commission for Ireland, entirely independent of the English commission, and the Report is consequently entitled the first of the new executive. This Report like the nine preceding, is dated on the 1st of May; and as three Acts making very important changes in the law for the relief of the Irish poor had been passed early in the period to which the Report applies, (namely on the 8th of June and the 22nd of July 1847), the insertion of the following summaries of these three Acts will be a fitting preliminary to our consideration of the Report itself.
The Extension Act, 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 31.
The 10th and 11th Vict., cap. 31, is entitled ‘An Act to make further Provision for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland’—8th June 1847.
Section 1.—Directs the guardians of the poor to make provision for the due relief of all destitute poor persons disabled by old age or infirmity; and of destitute poor persons disabled by sickness or serious accident, and thereby prevented from earning a subsistence for themselves and their families; and of destitute poor widows, having two or more legitimate children dependent upon them. Such poor persons, being destitute, are to be relieved either in the workhouse or out of the workhouse as the guardians may deem expedient; and the guardians are also to take order for relieving and setting to work in the workhouse when there shall be sufficient room for so doing, such other destitute poor persons as they shall deem to be unable to support themselves by their own industry.
Sections 2, 3.—Whenever relief cannot be afforded in the workhouse owing to want of room, or when by reason of fever or infectious disease the workhouse is unfit for the reception of poor persons, the Poor Law Commissioners may by order empower the guardians to administer relief out of the workhouse to such destitute poor persons, for any time not exceeding two months; and on the receipt of such order, the guardians are to make provision accordingly—Relief to able-bodied persons out of the workhouse, is however to be given in food only, and the commissioners may from time to time regulate its application.
Sections 4, 5, 6.—The commissioners may direct the guardians to appoint relieving officers to assist in the administration of relief; and also medical officers for affording medical relief out of the workhouse, whenever they shall deem such appointments to be necessary or expedient. The commissioners may likewise, on application of the board of guardians, wherever an electoral division is distant six miles from the place of meeting, form such division into a district, with a committee to receive applications, and to report thereon to the guardians.
Section 7.—Relieving officers are empowered to give provisional relief in cases of urgent necessity, by an order of admission to the workhouse or fever hospital of the union, or only affording such relief as may be necessary in food, lodging, medicine or medical attendance, until the next meeting of the board of guardians, to whom the case is then to be reported, and their directions taken thereon. The guardians are to furnish the relieving officers with the necessary funds for the above purposes, in such manner as the Poor Law Commissioners direct.
Sections 8, 9, 10.—Relief to a wife or child is to be considered as given to the husband or parent, as the case may be; and children are liable for the relief afforded to their parents. Relief at the cost of a union, is only to be given within the union. Occupiers of more than a quarter of an acre of land are not to be deemed destitute, nor to be relieved out of the poor-rates.
Sections 11, 12.—Regulate the mode of charging out-door relief; and provide that no person shall be deemed resident in an electoral division, unless three years before he applies for relief, he shall have occupied some tenement within it for three months, or usually slept within it for thirty months.
Sections 13, 14, 15.—Prescribe the conditions on which assistance may be given to emigration, and the proportion of the expense that may be defrayed out of the rates. The provisions of 6th and 7th Vict. cap. 92, sec. 18,[[155]] for the emigration of persons who have been three months in a workhouse, extended to poor persons not in a workhouse, or who have been there less than three months. The expense incurred in aid of emigration not to be deemed relief.
Section 16.—The limitation of ex-officio guardians to one-third the number of elected guardians is repealed; but it is at the same time provided that the ex-officios shall in no case exceed the number of the elected guardians.
Sections 17, 18.—The commissioners empowered to dissolve or alter unions without consent of the guardians, and to form such other unions therefrom as they shall deem expedient, and to adjust the claims and liabilities consequent thereon. The commissioners also empowered to dissolve a board of guardians on their failing duly to discharge their prescribed duties, and to appoint paid officers to carry into execution the provisions of the law, without any intermediate election of guardians.
Section 19.—Enables the commissioners to provide a chapel, and to make such regulations as they deem expedient, for securing the religious worship of any denomination of Christians in the workhouses.
Sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.—Provide for the purchase of three additional acres of land to be used for a cemetery, or for the erection of fever wards. The commissioners are also empowered to hire or purchase, not exceeding 25 acres, for the purpose of erecting a school for the joint reception maintenance and education of the children of the North and South Dublin unions, the management of such school to be conducted by a board chosen from among the guardians of the two unions, in such manner as the commissioners shall by order direct. Other unions may also be formed into school districts in like manner, and for a like purpose.
Sections 25, 26.—The commissioners empowered to prescribe the qualifications and the duties of all officers, and to determine their continuance or removal, and to regulate their salaries, &c. The administration of relief is also subject to the commissioners’ direction and control.
Sections 27, 28, 29.—Accounts are to be kept and audited as prescribed by the commissioners. Any payment disallowed by an auditor, is to be recovered from the party debited therewith. And on or before the 1st of May in every year, an account is to be laid before parliament of the expenditure on relief of the poor, and of the total number relieved in each union, during the year ended on the 29th of September preceding.
The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 84.
The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 84, is entitled ‘An Act to make Provision for the Punishment of Vagrants, and Persons offending against the Laws in force for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland’—22nd July 1847.
Sections 1, 2, 3.—After declaring it to be expedient to make further provision for the punishment of beggars and vagrants &c., the 59th section of the Irish Poor Relief Act[[156]] is repealed, and it is enacted instead, that every person deserting or wilfully neglecting to maintain his wife or child, so that they become destitute and be relieved in or out of the workhouse of any union, shall on conviction be committed to hard labour for any time not exceeding three months. And persons wandering abroad begging or gathering alms, or procuring children to do so, and every person going from one union or electoral division to another for the purpose of obtaining relief, shall be liable on conviction to be committed to hard labour for any time not exceeding one month.
Sections 4, 5.—Offenders may be apprehended by any person whatsoever, and taken before a justice to be dealt with as is above provided. Or when apprehended, the offender may be delivered over to a constable or other peace officer, to be taken before a justice for like purpose. Justices may upon proof of offence, issue their warrant for the apprehension of any such offender, to be dealt with as the Act directs. Proceedings by or before any justice are not to be quashed for want of form, nor removable by writ of certiorari.
The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90, 22nd July 1847.
The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90, is entitled ‘An Act to provide for the Execution of the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland.’ After reciting the several previous Acts under which the administration of relief to the poor in Ireland is subject to the direction and control of the Poor Law Commissioners, whose commission will shortly expire, it declares it to be “expedient that the control of the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor in Ireland should be wholly separated from the control of the administration of the laws for relief of the poor in England,” and enacts that her Majesty may from time to time by warrant under the royal sign manual, appoint a fit person who, with the chief and under secretaries of the lord lieutenant shall have the control, and shall be styled “Commissioners for administering the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland,” and the person so appointed shall be styled the Chief Commissioner—
Sections 2, 3, 4, 5.—The appointment of every chief commissioner is to be published in the ‘Dublin Gazette.’ The commissioners are to have a seal, which shall have the same force and effect as the seal of the Poor Law Commissioners; and they may appoint a secretary, inspectors, clerks &c., and may assign to the inspectors such duties, and delegate to them such powers as they may think necessary.
Sections 6, 7, 8.—One of the inspectors is to be appointed an assistant-commissioner, to assist in the business of the office in such manner as the commissioners direct; and to him may be delegated the powers and functions of the chief commissioner in the latter’s absence. The inspectors are entitled to attend boards of guardians, and all meetings held for the relief of the poor, and may take part in the proceedings, but are not to vote. All salaries are to be determined by the Treasury.
Sections 9, 10.—The powers and duties of the Poor Law Commissioners are transferred to the new commissioners; and if any vacancy occur, the surviving or continuing commissioners or commissioner may continue to act. The commissioners are constituted a body corporate, and for all purposes connected with the administration of the laws for the relief of the poor throughout Ireland they are to be deemed successors of the Poor Law Commissioners, all property held by whom becomes vested in them accordingly.
Sections 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.—The commissioners are empowered to make rules orders and regulations, and to vary or rescind the same. Also to make general rules with the approbation of the lord lieutenant, who may at any time disallow the same or any part thereof, without prejudice however to things lawfully done under them before such disallowance. Every rule order or regulation directed to, or affecting more than one union, is to be deemed a general rule.
Sections 16, 17, 18.—The rules orders and regulations of the Poor Law Commissioners are to continue in force until varied or rescinded by the commissioners appointed under this Act, whose authority is in all cases to be substituted for the former, and is to have like force and effect in Ireland. Acts under seal not to be valid, unless signed by two of the commissioners, or by the chief commissioner, or in his absence by the assistant-commissioner.
Sections 19, 20.—The commissioners empowered to summon witnesses not exceeding twenty miles distant, and to make inquiries and call for returns, and examine on oath. Persons giving false evidence are subjected to the penalties of perjury; and on refusing to give evidence, or neglecting to obey the commissioners’ summons, or to produce books vouchers &c., are to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour.
Sections 21, 22.—The commissioners are annually to report their proceedings to the lord lieutenant. The Report is to be laid before parliament, and is to contain a distinct statement of every order and direction issued in respect to out-door relief. All lawful proceedings of the Poor Law Commissioners, and all things done under previous Acts, and not varied or repealed by this Act, are declared valid.
Section 23.—The chief commissioner and other persons to be appointed and employed under this Act, are not to hold office or exercise any of the powers hereby given, “for a longer period than five years next after the day of the passing of this Act, and thenceforth until the end of the then next session of parliament,” after which the power of appointing commissioners is to cease to operate or have effect.
These three Acts have, it will be seen, made very considerable changes in the law, and taken conjointly with the original Relief Act of 1838, and the Amendment Act of 1843,[[157]] may be considered as forming the entire code of Irish Poor Laws, and such moreover as they may be expected to continue, there being apparently no room for further alteration, or at least not to any material extent.
General import of the new Acts.
The sanction of out-door relief given by the first of the three Acts is a most important departure from the principle of the original statute, and was wrung from the legislature by the distressing circumstances in which the country was placed by the successive failures of the potato crop. With starvation raging almost universally around, it was felt that it would be impossible to maintain the restriction of relief to the limits of the workhouse. The concession made in the 1st and 2nd sections must however be regarded as exceptional, and as being intended to meet an exceptional case; for the necessity of workhouse relief being the established rule, never perhaps commanded more general assent, than at the time when a departure from it was thus sanctioned. The author was examined before a committee of the house of lords on this question, and he gave it as his deliberate opinion that under the circumstances existing in Ireland the concession was necessary, the preservation of life being paramount to all other considerations; but at the same time he considered, that the rule of in-door relief should be departed from only so far, and in such a way, as would secure its resumption with the least difficulty and at the earliest possible period; and the two first sections of the Act are not at variance with this view.[[158]] In sanctioning out-door relief under the then emergency, the legislature limited its application, imposing certain conditions and restrictions, and at the same time investing the commissioners with large powers for checking abuse. Nay more, as if distrusting the discretion of the commissioners themselves, the 21st section of cap. 90 provides that their Report, which is to be laid before parliament, “shall contain a distinct statement of every order and direction issued by them in respect to out-door relief.” The appointment of relieving and medical officers and of district committees, was no doubt a considerable extension of the union machinery, but it was necessary for giving effect to the law at the time, and either or all might be discontinued when no longer required. The limitation of relief by the 9th section, and the extension of assistance for the purpose of emigration to persons not in a workhouse by the 14th section, are both likely to be of use, as may also be the provision in the 16th section with regard to ex-officio guardians. But the power given to the commissioners by the 17th and 18th sections, to alter unions, and to dissolve boards of guardians and appoint paid officers to carry the law into execution, is by far the most important of the provisions of this Act, with the exception of those sanctioning out-relief.
The second of the above Acts (cap. 84) is in fact a resumption of the vagrancy clauses which were intended to form part of the original Relief Act,[[159]] and which have now been rendered more necessary by the sanctioning of out-relief. The third of the above Acts (cap. 90) providing for the appointment of a separate commission for Ireland, may be regarded as a consequence of the unfortunate condition of that country, which was now said to require all the care and undivided attention of distinct functionaries. I have already stated that such was not my opinion, and after all that has passed I still am satisfied that the Poor Laws of England and Ireland might be administered under the superintendence of the same commission, as efficiently as under separate commissions; and that there would be a weight of authority influence and other advantages arising from the combination of the two, which would not be found in a separate commission. The example of Scotland was much relied upon as warranting the separation, but the cases are not similar, the Scottish Poor Law differing essentially from that of England, whereas the Irish law is directly founded upon it, and in its working must to a great degree be regulated by English experience. But the separation having taken place, it would be difficult to retrace the step, unless indeed there should be, as has on high authority been proposed, an entire amalgamation of the two governments by abolishing the office of lord lieutenant, in which case the Irish commission would naturally if not necessarily become merged in the English. It is bootless however to speculate upon these or other possible changes, and we will therefore resume our task of tracing out the progress of the law, and inquiring into the circumstances under which it has to be administered.
Change of the commission. August 27, 1847.
On the passing of the first of the above Acts (10th and 11th Vict. cap. 31, commonly known as the Relief Extension Act), copies of it were forwarded to all the unions, and the attention of the several boards of guardians was called to the necessity of making provision on a much larger scale than heretofore for the relief of the poor, and pointing out the conditions on which the relief was henceforward to be administered to the classes of infirm and able-bodied. Five additional assistant-commissioners were also appointed[[160]] to attend to the large increase of duties now devolved upon the commission. On the 27th of August the appointment of Mr. Twisleton as chief commissioner, under the 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 90, was notified in the Dublin Gazette, and on the following day the administration of the law became vested in the new commission established by that Act, the ten gentlemen then acting as assistant-commissioners were appointed inspectors, and Mr. Power was appointed the assistant-commissioner.
Decrease of sickness and mortality.
The extent of sickness and mortality in the workhouses towards the middle of April, has already been noticed.[[161]] The returns continued to show a gradual decrease of deaths from that time, although there was no material decrease in the number of inmates or of fever patients until the month of July, when a decline rapidly took place in all three; and in the last week of August the number of inmates was reduced to 76,319, of sick (including 5,782 fever patients) to 15,240, and of deaths to 646, or 8 in every 1,000 weekly. In the first week of October the inmates had again increased to 83,719, but the deaths were only 433, averaging 5 per 1,000 weekly. These numbers show the extent of the pressure on the workhouses in the earlier part of 1847. But the extent of assistance afforded under the Temporary Relief and the Fever Hospital Acts (10th and 11th Vict. caps. 7 and 22) must also be stated, in order to show the universality of the distress. |Decrease of rations issued.|Under the former Act, on the 8th of May rations were issued to 826,325 persons; on the 5th of June to 2,729,684; on the 3rd of July to 3,020,712; on the 1st of August to 2,520,376; on the 29th of August to 1,105,800; on the 12th of September to 505,984; and at the end of September the issues altogether ceased. Under the latter Act accommodation was provided for the treatment of 26,378 fever patients, and the average number in hospital was about 13,000. The proceedings under these Acts, when viewed in conjunction with those under the Poor Law, will sufficiently explain the magnitude of the crisis through which the country passed at this period, and the fearful suffering and privations to which the people were unhappily and it may be added unavoidably exposed.
Financial state of the unions.
The financial state of the unions became greatly depressed during this trying period. The fact of the treasurers’ balances having turned against the unions is noticed in the Report of the previous year,[[162]] and this continued down to the end of September, when owing to great exertions in the collection, the returns again showed a credit balance of upwards of 10,000l. in favour of the guardians. There was still however a large arrear remaining for collection, and this continued to be the case throughout the succeeding half-year, notwithstanding that the large sum of 961,354l. was collected and lodged with the treasurers, a proof that the guardians were not backward in making provision for carrying out the law, although the impoverished state of many of the unions rendered the collection difficult after the rates were made.
A good harvest.
The harvest of 1847 proved to be a good one. Contrary to expectation the potato crop was free from disease, but the quantity grown was comparatively small, and the price continued so high that the peasantry were unable to purchase. The failure of the crop in the two previous years had discouraged them from planting, and they were consequently in great measure deprived of their usual means of living. The large importations of Indian meal had however so far reduced the price of that and other descriptions of food, that the general cost of subsistence was not much greater than in ordinary seasons, and in districts where the people found employment at moderate wages, they generally fared better than in former years. But in districts where there was no employment or money wages, and where the peasantry had been accustomed to subsist on potatoes raised by themselves, this resource being neglected, they would necessarily be in want of food, and would require assistance to preserve them from starvation. It was certain therefore, notwithstanding the non-appearance of the potato disease, that there would be much distress in many parts of the country long before the approach of harvest in the following year; and in order to be prepared for affording needful relief in such a contingency, without at the same time weakening the incentive to independent exertion in the labouring classes, it was necessary that a large increase of workhouse accommodation should be provided. This point the commissioners continued earnestly to press upon the attention of the several boards of guardians, and for the most part with success.
32 boards of guardians dissolved.
The extent and population of the Irish unions and the constitution of many of the boards of guardians, rendered it probable that the new and more laborious duties imposed upon them by the Extension Act (10th and 11th Vict. cap. 31) would not always be fulfilled, and that in some instances there might either be a failure of necessary relief, or a misapplication of the union funds. The power of dissolving a board of guardians, and at once appointing paid officers to discharge their duties, was given to the commissioners for the purpose of enabling them to deal with cases of this kind; and being armed with such a power, they were responsible for its exercise whenever the occasion called for it—“Although reluctant in the highest degree, (they say) to interfere even temporarily with a system of self-government involving the great principle of popular representation in the raising and expenditure of a public fund, it appeared to them that in the immediate circumstances of the country, a more imperative object demanded for a time the sacrifice of those considerations, and that it was their paramount duty by every means which the legislature had placed at their disposal, to provide for the effectual relief of the destitute poor.” Acting under these views, and on the occurrence of what they considered to be serious default on the part of the guardians, the commissioners dissolved thirty-two boards,[[163]] and appointed paid officers in their stead. The default in nearly every instance was either a failure to provide sufficient funds, or to apply them efficiently in relieving the destitute. Full details of each case were laid before parliament, and the necessity of the proceeding was generally admitted, although it was no doubt much to be lamented that such a necessity should have arisen.
Out-door employment.
It is, however, satisfactory to find that in a great majority of the unions relief was provided and administered by the guardians in an orderly and efficient manner. There were some exceptions in addition to the above, it is true, and the commissioners had to exert all their influence and authority in procuring the appointment of relieving officers to receive and inquire into applications for relief, as provided by the Extension Act and directed by their own order. Another point on which the commissioners found much difficulty in winning the acquiescence of the guardians was with regard to the mode of employing poor persons, for whose relief out of the workhouse under the 2nd section of the Extension Act, a necessity had arisen in some unions. The guardians wished the employment to be of a productive or profitable nature, and that it should be applied mainly with that view. The commissioners were desirous that the employment should serve as a test of destitution, and recommended stone-breaking as open to least objection, the food to be given not as the price of labour but in relief of destitution, the labour being required simply as the condition of the relief; and in the unions where out-door relief in food was given to the able-bodied on this principle, the numbers are said to have been for the most part kept within moderate limits.
Increase of workhouse accommodation.
But although the labour-test might so far have succeeded, the operation of the workhouse system in the present difficult circumstances had been found far less equivocal, and its efficiency was more universally acknowledged by those engaged in the administration of relief. A large extension of workhouse room, partly permanent partly temporary had been provided. The whole accommodation including additional workhouses and fever hospitals connected with the workhouses would be sufficient for upwards of 150,000 persons, “being an addition of more than one-third to the accommodation originally provided.” In consequence of this great increase of workhouse accommodation, it appears that in 25 of the unions no relief was given out of the workhouse, “except perhaps in the occasional exercise of the provisional powers of the relieving officers,” and yet the workhouses of none of these unions were said to be full. In 35 other unions, out-door relief was afforded only under the 1st section of the Extension Act, that is to the infirm, widows with two or more children, and persons disabled by sickness or accident. In the remaining 71 unions, orders had been issued under the 2nd section, authorizing out-door relief in food; but in only 23 of these was it authorized to be given without distinction of class.
The Dublin unions.
In proof of the efficiency of the workhouse in checking applications for relief, when not caused by actual necessity, the example of Dublin may be cited. In the first week of July, rations were gratuitously issued in the two Dublin unions to 57,509 persons, and the proportion of these classed as able-bodied amounted with their families to 46,432. In the South union the number on the relief lists was greatly reduced before the 15th of August, the day on which the issues under the Temporary Relief Act were ordered to cease; but in the North union more than 20,000 persons continued to receive rations, and the commissioners were entreated to issue an order under the powers given to them by the Extension Act sanctioning its further continuance, the guardians being apprehensive that so large an amount of relief could not with safety be suddenly discontinued. The commissioners deemed it to be their duty to resist the appeal, and recommended the guardians to convert a building then in their occupation and capable of accommodating 400 persons, into a subsidiary workhouse. This was accordingly done, and admission was offered to such of the able-bodied and their families as applied for relief when the rations were discontinued; but the new subsidiary workhouse was not filled by those who accepted the offer, and all the others found the means of living by their own exertions. The class receiving out-door relief under the 1st section of the Act (i. e. the aged and infirm poor and widows with two or more children) were at the same time, with some assistance from the mendicity institution, reduced to about 4,000 persons; and no necessity afterwards arose for issuing an order under the 2nd section in either of the Dublin unions.
Report of commissioners appointed under the
10th and 11th Vict. cap. 7.]
To this example of the efficiency of the workhouse in preventing undue applications for relief, may be added the testimony of the relief commissioners appointed under The 10th and 11th Vict. cap. 7,[[164]] as to the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility in the state of Ireland at that time, of guarding against gross abuse in the administration of relief without the corrective of the workhouse test, even although in the shape of daily rations of cooked food. In their third Report dated 17th June 1847, the commissioners make the following remarkable statement—“In several instances the government inspecting officers found no difficulty in striking off hundreds of names that ought not to have been placed on the lists, including sometimes those of servants and men in the constant employ of persons of considerable station and property. These latter are frequently themselves members of the committees, and in some cases the very chairmen, being magistrates, have sanctioned the issue of rations to tenants of their own of considerable holdings, possessed of live stock, and who it was found had paid up their last half-year’s rent.”... “In other districts, the measure is subject to deception and petty frauds practised by many of the order immediately above the class of actually destitute, and which cannot be entirely checked by the best exertions of the best committees. Even in the districts where the service is most correctly performed, the numbers on the lists will no doubt exceed those of the really destitute.” It was perhaps to be expected under the circumstances then existing in Ireland, that something like what is here described might occur; but it could hardly have been expected that it would have been to such an extent, or that persons in the positions named would have descended to practices at once so disgraceful and so unpatriotic. Against such frauds the workhouse seemed to be the only safeguard.
Expenditure on relief of the poor.
The entire expenditure from the rates on relief of the poor in the 130 unions during the twelve months ending 29th September 1847, was 803,684l. The number of inmates on that day was 86,376, and the total number relieved in the workhouses within the year was 417,139. There was some expenditure in a few of the unions shortly before the 29th September, although the issues under the Temporary Relief Act did not until then wholly cease. The relief under the Extension Act (10th and 11th Vict., cap. 31) which then commenced, continued to increase as the distress arising from the exhaustion of the small crops raised in many parts of the country became more and more severe. |Numbers in the workhouses.|On the 12th February 1848 the number in the several workhouses amounted to 135,467, and the mortality reached 11 per 1,000. This was perhaps to be expected from the great pressure upon the workhouses, and the wretched condition of very many of the poor persons at the time they were admitted. Contagious disease again prevailed, and the fatal effects again extended to the workhouse officers, ninety-four of whom died, chiefly of fever, and also two of the Poor Law inspectors, and one vice-guardian in course of the year.
Out-door relief.
Although the numbers in the workhouses went on increasing in the latter months of 1847, it was not until February and March 1848 that the houses became filled, and that out-door relief was largely administered. In February the cost of out-relief in money and food amounted to 72,039l., in March to 81,339l. The numbers and cost were then both at their maximum, and according to the best estimate which could be formed, the average daily number of out-door poor relieved was 703,762, and of in-door 140,536, making an aggregate of 844,298 persons. The description of food supplied to the poor in lieu of their habitual food the potato, consisted for the most part of a pound of Indian meal, that being the quantity of cereal food approved by the Central Board of Health in Ireland as necessary for the daily sustenance of an adult. The price of Indian meal was at that time about 1d. per lb., so that the cost of the food thus supplied probably did not exceed the cost of that to which the people had been accustomed. It appears therefore that in the early part of 1848 no less than 800,000 persons were relieved daily at the charge of the poor-rates, consisting chiefly of the most helpless part of the most indigent classes in Ireland; and the commissioners say they “cannot doubt that of this number a large proportion are by this means, and this means alone, daily preserved from death through want of food.” The above 800,000 is irrespective of the children supplied with food and clothing by “The British Association,” the number of whom in March 1848 amounted to upwards of 200,000.[[165]] So that the total number of persons then receiving eleemosynary support must have exceeded a million, or over one-eighth of the entire population.
Distress in certain unions.
The official returns of the collection and expenditure of the poor-rates are made up to the 31st March 1848, and comprise six months only of the parochial year which will end on the 29th September following. They show that in those six months 961,356l. had been collected, and 781,198l. expended, thus exhibiting an excess of collection over expenditure of 180,158l. The state of the balances appears therefore to have greatly improved,[[166]] and rates to the amount of 661,855l. still remained on the books for collection. “Up to this point therefore (the commissioners observe) the financial progress has been favourable”—But they add, “if we should have to sustain operations for five months longer, at the rate of expenditure exhibited for March, it is clear that great exertions have yet to be made in the collection of rates, in order to escape a large accumulation of debt at the close of the year.” The above statements apply to the unions in the aggregate. There are however the commissioners say, certain unions which “cannot for some years be cleared from present debt under the most favourable circumstances, and in unions which on the whole are well provided with funds, many electoral divisions are in a state of almost hopeless bankruptcy.”
British Relief Association.
The proceedings of the “British Relief Association” have already been noticed.[[167]] The committee of the association had still a considerable sum at their disposal in the latter end of 1847, and this it was determined to appropriate in aid of such of the distressed unions above adverted to as the Poor Law Commissioners should recommend for that purpose, and also in “affording food and clothing to children through the medium of schools.” Accordingly grants to the amount of 143,519l. were successively made to the distressed unions[[168]] in aid of their general expenditure; and with regard to the school-children, it is said—“by the 1st of January 1848 the system was in full operation in thirteen of the more distressed unions, 58,000 children were on the relief-roll of the association, and this number gradually increased, until in the month of March upwards of 200,000 children, attending schools of all denominations in twenty-seven western unions, were participating in this relief. The total expenditure for feeding the children amounted to 80,885l., in addition to which the sum of 12,083l. was spent in clothing, making a total expenditure during the second period of the relief operations of the association of 236,487l.”[[169]] Treasury grants to the extent of 114,968l. had also been made in aid of the distressed unions, during the present year.
Total amount of rates raised.
It may not be irrelevant here to state, that the entire of the rates made in all the unions from the first introduction of the Poor Law down to the date of the present Report, have (exclusive of the last rate) amounted to 2,496,412l., of which not more than 48,804l., or 2 per cent., has been lost—143,046l., or 6 per cent., of arrears having been carried into the rates last made. The last-made rates amounted to 1,462,878l., which added to the above makes a total of 3,959,290l. assessed upon the property of Ireland for the relief of the poor, in course of the ten years since the introduction of the Poor Law, the last three being years of such intense distress as it was perhaps never before the lot of an entire people to be subjected to.
1849.
Second annual report of Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland.
The Report for 1848-9 is dated, not on the 1st of May, as before, but on the 14th July. At the end of their last Report, the commissioners adverted to the great efforts which were made to restore the potato to its former position of the staple crop of Ireland, as being a circumstance at once hopeful and alarming. The policy of a people’s relying for subsistence on a crop so uncertain in its produce, and which so soon decays, is no doubt a question of momentous importance. But this was lost sight of in the promise of an abundant harvest; and as the disease had done little mischief last year, it was hoped the country would be equally free from its ravages in the present.|Recurrence of the potato disease.| At the beginning of August however, the appearance of blight was reported from many parts of the country, and although not so general nor so destructive as in 1846, the disease proved much worse than in 1847, and there can be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the crop was destroyed by it. In October sound potatoes were sold at 8d. per stone, a price at which the ordinary rate of wages would not allow a labourer to purchase them for the support of his family. Another season of distress was therefore evidently impending. The out-relief lists had been reduced from 830,000 in July, to 200,000 on the 1st of October, when the numbers again began to increase, and on the last day of December they amounted to nearly 400,000. The numbers in the workhouses increased in the same period from 114,000 to 185,000, with a weekly rate of mortality of 6½ per 1,000. Statements of the numbers relieved, and the cost of the relief afforded, were periodically submitted to parliament throughout the whole of this trying period.
Great distress and sickness.
In the earlier months of 1849 there was greater privation and suffering among the population of the western and south-western districts, than at any time since the fatal season of 1846-7. “Exhaustion of resources by the long continuance of adverse circumstances, caused a large accession to the ranks of the destitute. Clothing had been worn out or parted with to provide food, or seed in seed-time; and the loss of cabins and small holdings of land, either by eviction or voluntary abandonment, rendered many thousands of families shelterless and destitute of fuel as well as food.” The distress hence arising, aggravated by the inclement weather which then prevailed, was not we are told effectually met by the system of out-door relief. Where the workhouses were full, poor persons receiving out-relief were often compelled to part with a portion of their food to obtain a lodging. The cabins became crowded with ill-fed, ill-clothed, sickly people, and epidemic disease found victims prepared for its attacks. A great proportion of those who died in the workhouses at this period, had previously suffered from fever and dysentery, and entered the workhouse weakened by extreme privation, or in an advanced state of disease.
Cholera breaks out.
In the month of March a new enemy appeared, cholera having broken out in the western and south-western unions, whence it afterwards extended to other parts of the country. The disease however assumed its most virulent form in the above unions, and proved extensively fatal to the inmates of the workhouses, as well as to the population generally. Great exertions were made to check its ravages; but the commissioners express their regret that a want of means had crippled their efforts, and in some urgent cases they had been obliged to apply for permission to appropriate a limited portion of the funds placed at their disposal by government, to provide the means of treatment for cholera patients, at a time when they were anxious to apply every sum remitted to them to the purchase of food for the in-door and out-door poor in the distressed unions. After a time the cholera disappeared from most of the unions in the west and south, but at the date of the Report it still prevailed with much virulence in other parts of Ireland.
Extent of relief and mortality.
The inmates of the several workhouses in the first week of March 1849 amounted to 196,523, and the weekly mortality to 9½ per 1,000. In the first week of May the number of inmates was 220,401, with a mortality of 12½ per 1,000. At the end of June the inmates were 214,867, and the mortality was reduced to 6¼ per 1,000. The numbers receiving out-relief at the three periods respectively were 592,705—646,964—and 768,902. These numbers show the extent of distress to which the people had been reduced by famine and disease in the last four disastrous years. This is also evidenced by the inquests held in cases of alleged death through actual want, the number of which in the first five months of 1849 amounted to 431. The suffering must necessarily indeed have been greater in each successive year than in the one preceding, since the general means were being continually reduced by the failure of the crops, the weakest and poorest of the people suffering first, then those a degree above them, and so on, until the comparatively well-to-do occupier of a few acres of land who had contributed to the relief of others, is himself dragged down to the condition of the lowest.
Extension of workhouse accommodation.
A conviction appears to have become very general, that the abuses and shortcomings incidental to out-door relief, especially when administered on a large scale, cannot be altogether prevented; and that in-door relief is preferable, not only under ordinary circumstances, but in seasons of severe distress like the present. Hence the guardians had hired building after building in aid of the workhouses at first provided; and the entire accommodation, which was originally calculated for 100,000 inmates, and which during the previous year had been increased to 150,000, had now been so far extended as to be equal to the accommodation of 250,000. On this circumstance and the convictions out of which it arose, the commissioners chiefly founded their hope of securing an effective and economical administration of the law. It will be their duty, they say, to give a right direction to these views, by endeavouring to make the auxiliary establishments effective in point of classification and discipline, and to reduce where practicable the expenses of management; and if their efforts should be assisted by the gradual return of agricultural prosperity in the western and south-western parts of Ireland, they confidently expect at no very distant period to be enabled to withhold the exercise of the exceptional power confided to them in the 2nd section of the Relief Extension Act,[[170]] or at least to confine its operation within very narrow limits.
Restriction of relief to the workhouse.
The fact that in 25 of the unions no relief was given except in the workhouse is mentioned in the Report of the preceding year.[[171]] Several unions which then gave out-relief have since ceased to do so, and the number in which relief is restricted to the workhouse was now 35. In the great majority of these unions the result of such restrictions had been in all respects satisfactory. The applications of proper objects were not refused, and yet there had been sufficient means for relieving all the really destitute, whilst except in cases where epidemic disease had prevailed in the neighbourhood, and been thence imparted to the inmates, the workhouses of these unions had generally been healthy. In some instances however where the destitution was severe and wide-spreading, and where the auxiliary houses had been insufficient or defective, the adherence to in-door relief exclusively was less satisfactory. The insufficiency of workhouse accommodation led to overcrowding, and thence arose disease, fed and aggravated by the continual influx of destitute persons in a state of utter exhaustion, or bearing about them the seeds of the prevalent malady. In all such cases, and they were not many, the guardians were urged to resort to those provisions of the Act which empower them to afford out-door relief, until they had provided the necessary accommodation for enabling them to restrict it to the workhouse without endangering life, or violating the principle of the Poor Law.
Mortality among the administrators of the law.
In connection with workhouse relief, the mortality which took place among the officers and other poor-law officials ought to be noticed, as illustrating the duties which the exigencies of the service required from them. The subject has already been adverted to as creating difficulty in obtaining suitable persons to fill these offices.[[172]] Although not so great in the present year as in 1846-7, the deaths of workhouse officers by fever or cholera amounted to no less than seventy, including nine chaplains and eight medical officers. Seven of the vice-guardians likewise fell victims to disease in the discharge of their arduous duties, as well as eight of the temporary inspectors, together with Mr. Hancock, who had acted under the commission from the commencement, first as assistant-commissioner and then as inspector.[[173]]
Emigration.
An increased disposition had latterly been evinced by the boards of guardians for promoting emigration, under the provisions of the Extension Act.[[174]] The steady progress of the measure for sending orphan girls from the Irish workhouses out to the Australian colonies, the commissioners considered highly satisfactory. The number of these girls embarked for Adelaide and Sydney since the spring of 1848 was 2,219, at a cost to the unions of about 5l. each for outfit and conveyance to Plymouth, the remainder of the charge being defrayed from the colonial funds. Many other unions were desirous that the orphan girls from their workhouses should participate in this arrangement, but the number at first was limited to 2,500. A hope is however expressed that means will be found for continuing to remove from this country a class of emigrants so eligible in every respect, and so much required in the colonies. The entire amount expended on emigration during the year ending on the 29th September 1848, was 2,776l.—a sum, it is observed, “less important in its direct effects, than as showing a growth of opinion in favour of this method of relief.” Spontaneous emigration, chiefly to the United States, and irrespective of aid from the poor-rates, was exceedingly active from all parts of Ireland at this time, the natural love of country having been deadened by the pressure of want and disease.
The 11 and 12 Vict. caps. 25 and 47.
In the session of 1848 two short Acts were passed which it is necessary to notice. The 11th and 12th Victoria, cap. 25, extends the powers for hiring or purchasing land for the use of workhouses to 25 acres, in addition to the 15 acres previously authorized. It likewise empowers the commissioners to combine unions for the maintenance and education of poor children, and also enables boards of guardians to provide for the burial of deceased poor persons. The 11th and 12th Vict., cap. 47, provides “for the protection and relief of the destitute poor evicted from their dwellings,” and directs relieving-officers forthwith to take order for the relief of such persons, either in or out of the workhouse, and to report the circumstances to the guardians at their next meeting. The power of purchasing an additional 25 acres of land given by the first of these Acts, was chiefly with a view to the establishment of industrial schools, and was not intended to be used as a means of employing the workhouse inmates. Few things would be more objectionable on principle, or more conducive to lax management, than adding such a quantity of land to a workhouse for the purpose of being cultivated by the inmates.
The 12 and 13 Vict. cap. 4.
In the session of 1849 likewise two Acts were passed requiring our attention. The first of these,—The 12th and 13th Vict., cap. 4, relates to the appointment of vice-guardians. It provides that when a board of guardians shall have been dissolved, and paid officers appointed, before the 25th of March 1848, the commissioners may direct the continuance of such paid officers until the 1st of November 1849, and no election of guardians is to take place in the interim. But it also provides that the commissioners may if they think fit discontinue the paid officers, and direct the election of a board of guardians at any time. The second of these Acts is known as ‘The Rate-in-Aid Act,’ and its provisions require to be more fully explained.
The Rate-in-Aid Act. 12 and 13 Vict. cap. 24.
The ‘Rate-in-Aid Act,’ 12th and 13th Vict. cap. 24, makes provision for levying “a general rate in aid of certain unions and electoral divisions in Ireland,” and it enacts as follows:—
Section 1.—The Poor Law Commissioners, with the approval of the lord lieutenant, may during each of the years ending the 31st of December 1849 and 1850, from time to time declare the amount they deem necessary for the above purposes, and may assess the same upon the several unions in proportion to the annual value of the property in each rateable to the relief of the poor; but the sum levied in any union in either of the two years is not to exceed 6d. in the pound on such annual value. The commissioners are to transmit to the guardians of each union an order under seal, stating the amount so assessed, and the portion leviable in each electoral division, according to the value of its rateable property.
Section 2.—In the rate next made on each electoral division, the guardians are to provide for the sum so leviable; and the treasurer of the union, out of all lodgments made with him of such rate, or any subsequent rate, on account of any division, is to place one moiety thereof to the credit of such division in an account to be entitled “The Union Rate-in-Aid Account,” until the whole sum leviable on such division shall have been so placed. And the treasurer is to pay over all sums so from time to time received by him to a separate account at the bank of Ireland, entitled “The General Rate-in-Aid Account.”
Sections 3, 4, 5.—The commissioners of the Treasury may order the whole or any part of the money standing in such separate accounts at the bank of Ireland, to be paid to such persons, at such times, and under such conditions as they may think fit, for affording relief to destitute poor persons in any union or electoral division, or for assisting emigration, or for repaying advances made for any of these purposes. And for the more speedy affording of such relief, the commissioners of the Treasury are empowered to advance out of the consolidated fund, any sums not in the whole exceeding 100,000l., the same to be repayable out of any rates levied in pursuance of the Act. Accounts of all receipts and payments under the Act are to be made up to the 31st December, in the present and the following year respectively.
This Act was passed on the 24th May 1849, and its duration is limited to the 31st December 1850. It must therefore be regarded as a temporary measure directed to a temporary object, and it was accompanied by a vote authorizing an advance by the Treasury of 50,000l. for relief of the distressed unions in the west of Ireland. The calls which had been made upon England during the three preceding years, amounting altogether to probably little short of 10,000,000l. in the shape of loans advances or donations by the government, and contributions and subscriptions of one kind and another by individuals, for the relief of Irish distress, had evidently excited alarm, and appear to have given rise to a determination on the part of the legislature to revert to the precedent of the Elizabethan law, and to make the property of Ireland answerable for the relief of Irish poverty. This was certainly open to no objection in point of principle, although it may be questioned whether the most suitable time was selected for its application. We have seen the calamities to which Ireland had been exposed by the successive failure of the potato crop. Such failures were unprecedented and exceptional. The calamity had been emphatically designated as imperial; and if it were so, there would be no violation of principle, but rather the fulfilment of a duty, in one part of the empire coming to the assistance of the other. It was in fact a common cause, and was so regarded throughout England, until the repeated failures caused apprehensions as to the perpetuity of the burden, and seemed to point to the necessity of compelling the Irish people to abandon the treacherous potato, which it was thought they would hardly do, so long as they could turn to England for help whenever it failed them. The rate-in-aid was calculated to effect this object, by casting the consequences of the failure entirely upon Ireland itself, which in such case would be unable to persist in its reliance upon a crop so treacherous and uncertain as the potato.
A subscription promoted by government.
Such it is believed were the impressions under which the Rate-in-Aid Act was passed. Its duration was limited to a little over a year and a half, and yet within that period, indeed within less than a month after it had passed, a subscription was set on foot by the government, each of its members subscribing 100l. and her Majesty 500l., in the belief, it is declared, “that there are ways in which this money may be expended most usefully, without interfering with the relief administration through the Poor Law, such as the supply of clothing, which has now become a matter of paramount importance, especially to the children.” The prospects of the next harvest were said to be favourable, but the promoters of the subscription declare “that the short intervening period must be one of such overwhelming misery, as to afford a strong claim for the exercise of private charity.”[[175]] The distribution of the money subscribed on this occasion, which did not quite amount to 10,000l., was intrusted to the same benevolent gentleman who had superintended the application of the funds of the “British Relief Association,” and who deservedly possessed the confidence of all parties, as well in Ireland as in England. That the urgency was great, as is above stated, there can he no doubt; and if it were susceptible of effectual relief by such means, it may be lamented that the remedy was not earlier resorted to, as it probably would have been but for the alarms which gave rise to the Rate-in-Aid Act, and prevented the intervention either of the government or individuals in furnishing eleemosynary aid.
It must not however be supposed that the whole of Ireland was in a state of “overwhelming misery.” Distress more or less severe was doubtless very prevalent, and everywhere arising from the same cause; but distress so intense and overwhelming as to require immediate assistance from some extraneous source, only prevailed in certain of the western unions, where the people had depended entirely on the potato, and when that crop failed became poverty-stricken and helpless in the highest degree. The potato constituted the chief, or it may almost be said the only source of wealth in these unions, and its failure left them without other resource. Rates could not be levied, for the land yielded no available produce; and the population, accustomed to subsist in a semi-civilized state upon the potatoes raised by themselves, would nearly all have perished, as numbers of them did perish, but for the assistance which was afforded to them from England.
The western unions.
It was chiefly with reference to these western unions that the Rate-in-Aid Act was passed. There were 22 of them,[[176]] comprising a population of 1,468,248, thus giving an average of nearly 67,000 to each union; and they stood in much the same relation to the other unions in Ireland, as a pauper stands in towards the independent labourer. The other unions were generally equal to the occasion, trying as the period undoubtedly was, and supported themselves through it, although not without undergoing severe privations. But these western unions were utterly destitute and without resource, and aid of some kind was necessary to prevent a fearful sacrifice of life. The aid had hitherto been furnished by England, and chiefly from the imperial treasury. The legislature now determined that it should be derived from Ireland itself, a determination that seems only open to objection, on the ground of the distress being so general and severe as to constitute an exceptional case, warranting a recurrence to extraneous sources.
A rate in aid of 6d. in the pound.
The power which had been given of levying a rate in aid was forthwith acted upon, a general order being issued on the 13th of June, declaring the sum to be levied in each union and electoral division throughout Ireland, according to the value of the rateable property for the year 1849. The whole amount so assessed was 322,552l. 11s., being at the rate of 6d. in the pound. The commissioners say that the resources thus placed at their disposal, and the advances by the Treasury on security of the rate in aid, “have been most seasonable, and have enabled the guardians of the unions assisted, to provide the necessaries of life during the last two months for a large mass of recipients of in-door and out-door relief, who must otherwise have been without food, the money and credit of the unions having been previously quite exhausted,” and the continuance of such assistance until the period of harvest, is declared to be necessary for the relief of pressing destitution in these impoverished and overburdened districts.
Boards of guardians dissolved.
In the year preceding 32 boards of guardians had been dissolved, and paid officers appointed to execute the law.[[177]] It became necessary likewise to dissolve some others in the present year;[[178]] but two of the preceding boards (Trim and Cavan) were revived under the provisions of the original Relief Act, and another (Mullingar) was revived under the 12th and 13th Vict., cap. 4. By the operation of the latter Act, the boards of guardians will, on the 1st November next, be reinstated in all the unions now under the management of paid officers, except the five last dissolved, which will continue under paid officers until the 25th March 1850, unless previously re-established by order of the commissioners.
Sanction of out-relief.
The orders issued authorizing out-relief under the 2nd section of the Extension Act had, the commissioners say, been more numerous during the present year than was intended at its commencement. “But the rapid filling of the workhouses in certain unions, and the pressure of the representations of distress, left them no alternative but to intrust once more this extraordinary and exceptional power of affording relief to the able-bodied out of the workhouse, to those charged with the administration of relief in the western and south-western unions.” |Distressed unions.|The financial state of many of these unions was a source of continual anxiety. In the last year 23 of them had been furnished with assistance in aid of their rates, by grants from government and from the funds of the British Association, and they required like assistance in the present. The sums remitted for this purpose from time to time by the Treasury, were guarded by the condition that they should not be used in payment of debts already incurred, but be applied in purchasing the means of preserving the lives of the people, when in danger of perishing through want of the necessaries of life. There were other unions also whose finances were much embarrassed, although they had not yet received assistance; but all, whether assisted or not, are said to require perpetual watchfulness on the part of the commissioners and their inspectors.
The Boundary Commission.
The difficulties and distresses to which the country had latterly been exposed through the failure of the potato, together with the sanction given to out-door relief by the Extension Act,[[179]] had led many persons to consider that the unions and electoral divisions, as originally formed, were too large for the convenient and effectual administration of relief under existing circumstances. Representations to this effect were made to the government, and in March 1848 commissioners[[180]] were appointed for the purpose of inquiring and reporting—“whether the size and other geographical circumstances of the unions, are such as to prevent the guardians and relieving officers from attending the boards without serious interruption to their other duties”—“whether the same circumstances prevent the applicants for relief, who desire or who may be required to attend the board, from doing so without serious inconvenience”—“whether the amount of population and pauperism in each union is greater than would render it possible for the guardians in ordinary times to transact the business of the union conveniently in one day of the week”—and lastly, “what alterations it would be advisable to make in the boundaries of existing unions, and what new unions it would be desirable to form, in order to meet the wants of the country on the points adverted to, or any others which may present themselves in the course of the inquiry: due regard being had to the position of the existing workhouses, and the charge to be incurred in the erection of new workhouses.” Similar inquiries were likewise to be made with respect to the electoral divisions. |Fifty new unions recommended.| Early in 1849 the commissioners reported the result of their inquiries, and recommended the formation of 50 new unions, the details of which, together with maps explanatory of the system on which the recommendation was made, were appended to the Report.
Select committee on the Irish Poor-laws.
Early in the session of 1849, a select committee on the Irish Poor Laws was appointed in the commons, and empowered “to report their opinion and the minutes of evidence taken before them from time to time, to the house.” Many intelligent witnesses were examined, and much information was elicited with regard to the immediate object of the inquiry, and as to its bearing upon the state of the country generally. The recommendations of the boundary commissioners were also much canvassed, and there appeared to be considerable diversity of opinion on the subject, some preferring large areas both for unions and electoral divisions, and others being favourable to small ones. This is of course in some measure a question of degree, and must likewise depend very much upon local circumstances. |Size of the unions.| The size of a union or an electoral division might be perfectly suitable at one time, or under one class of circumstances, and yet may be unsuitable at another. When the unions were formed, we were aware that some of them were too large, and we reckoned upon these being afterwards divided, and the district readjusted. For instance, in the case of Ballina, the materials for constituting two efficient boards of guardians could not be found, and so an extent of territory sufficient for two unions, was formed into one, until adequate executives could be found for two, when a division might readily be effected. It was so likewise in other cases, that of Dingle, now taken from Tralee union and constituted a separate union, being one; and for my own part I always reckoned upon five or six additional unions being created after the law had come into orderly working. I certainly never thought it likely that 50 new unions, or anything like that number, would be required; but neither did I foresee the fearful visitations to which Ireland has latterly been subjected, or the sanctioning of out-door relief under the Extension Act.
Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.
The expenditure from the rates on relief of the poor in the 131 unions, (Dingle being now added to the former number) during the twelve months ending 29th September 1848, was 1,835,634l. The number of inmates on that day was 124,003, and the total number relieved in the workhouses within the year was 610,463. The number receiving out-door relief on that day was 207,683, and the total number relieved out of the workhouse during the year was 1,433,042. There is here a large increase both of expenditure and numbers relieved, over the amounts in the preceding year; but the excess is perhaps in neither case greater than might be expected under the circumstances, the cause of the distress continuing, and its pressure consequently becoming year by year more severe. In proof of the great efforts which had been made to meet this distress, it is only necessary to state the amount of the poor-rates collected during the three last years, each ending on the 29th September, viz.:—
| 1846 | £371,846 |
| 1847 | 638,403 |
| 1848 | 1,627,700 |
Change in the commission.
Mr. Twisleton who had ably discharged the duties of chief Poor Law Commissioner since the separate establishment of the Irish board, resigned office in the month of May in the present year, and was succeeded by Mr. Power, the assistant-commissioner, whose vacated office was filled by the appointment of Mr. Ball, one of the inspectors.