In order to keep in check, as far as possible, the social evils incident to an extensive system of relief, it is indispensably necessary that the relief committees should not sell the meal or other food provided by them, except in small quantities to persons who are known to have no other means of procuring food; that the price at which the meal is sold should, as nearly as possible, be the same as the market prices which prevail in the neighbourhood; that the committees should not give a higher rate of wages, nor exact a smaller quantum of work, in any works carried on by them from funds at their own disposal, than is the case in respect to the works carried on under the superintendence of the Board of Works, and that works should be carried on by them only to the extent to which private employment is proved not to be available.
The serious attention of every person who will have to take a part in the measures of relief rendered necessary by the new and more complete failure of the potato crop should be particularly called to this important fact, that the limitations and precautions which have been prescribed to the Government boards and officers in carrying out the relief operations, with the object of rendering the necessary interference with the labour and provision markets productive of the smallest possible disturbance of the ordinary course of trade and industry, will be rendered nugatory if the same prudence and reserve are not practised by the relief committees in the administration of the funds placed at their disposal by private or public benevolence; and their Lordships therefore feel it to be their duty earnestly to request that every person concerned will, to the extent of the influence possessed by him, endeavour to secure such a restriction of the measures of relief to cases of real destitution, and such a just consideration for the interests of merchants and dealers, in the free exercise of whose callings the public welfare is so deeply concerned, that instead of the habitual dependence upon charitable aid which might otherwise be apprehended from the extensive measures of relief in progress, every description of trade and industry may be stimulated by them, and the bonds of society may become more firmly knit, by the benevolent and intelligent cooperation of the different orders and ranks of which it is composed, to avert a common calamity, and to prepare for recommencing the ordinary occupations of social life with advantages which are at present only imperfectly enjoyed in some parts of Ireland.
The limited grant fund, provided by the 10th Vic., cap. 109, entitled, "an Act to authorise a further issue of money in aid of public works of acknowledged utility in poor districts in Ireland," is, according to the terms of the Act, applicable only to the case of unimproved districts, like parts of the Counties Kerry, Galway, Mayo, and Donegal, where, although roads and other works would be productive of more than usual public advantage, the districts are too poor to bear the whole expense of them; and the Act therefore directs that in cases in which the repayment of loans to the amount of at least a moiety of the estimated expense of such works shall have been secured, and such further contributions shall have been made as the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall think fit to require from the individuals principally interested in the projected works, such aid shall be afforded from this fund in the shape of grants, as the occasion may appear to require.
The applications which may be received for grants under this Act will have to be carefully examined and inquired into by the Commissioners of Public Works, who will recommend for sanction those works which appear to them to combine the greatest permanent utility with the relief of urgent distress, taking care that the proprietors specially interested are required to contribute in addition to their share of the general assessment for the repayment of half the expense of the works, sums proportioned in some degree to the special benefits they will derive from them.
My Lords have considered with the careful attention which the importance of the subject demands the measures proper to be taken, with a view to continue the late commissariat operations to the extent which may be absolutely necessary for the purpose of providing supplies of food for sale in districts to which the ordinary operations of the provision trade cannot be expected to extend, the strictest regard being at the same time paid to the pledge which has been given, not to interfere in any case in which there is a reasonable expectation that the market will be supplied by mercantile enterprise; and they will proceed to state the course which appears to them to be the best adapted to secure the important object in view.
Their Lordships have already given directions that no portion of the stock of meal remaining in store in the different depôts should be sold merely for the sake of disposing of it, of which depôts they will relieve Commissary-General Coffin, who will remain on full pay, with a view to his being employed hereafter, as the occasion may require.
It has been fully established by the experience of the late operations, that the ports on the northern, eastern, and southern coasts, from Londonderry to Cork, and those parts of the interior which are ordinarily supplied from them, may safely be left to the foresight and enterprise of private merchants; and it will only be necessary to the government, so far as this part of Ireland is concerned, to take effectual precautions that the supplies introduced by private traders from abroad are properly protected, both while they are in transit and when they are stored for future consumption; and for this purpose their Lordships rely upon the Lord Lieutenant making every necessary arrangement in communication with the Commander of the Forces in Ireland, and the Inspector-General of the Constabulary Force.
Acting on this principle, their Lordships have directed that the supplies of food now in store should be concentrated without delay at the following depôts:—
In the interior—Longford, Banagher.
On the coast—Limerick, Galway, Westport, Sligo.