[112]. Although this was the total number in the 92 workhouses on the 1st of January 1843, no less than 56,000 had been admitted and discharged, and consequently relieved for a longer or shorter period, during the previous year.
[113]. The gentlemen selected for this duty were Mr. Gulson and Mr. Power; and the instrument of delegation is dated 20th April 1843.
[114]. The amount distributed by government on this occasion, in aid of local subscriptions, was 3,448l. See ‘The Irish Crisis’ by Sir Charles Trevelyan, p. 19.
[116]. See the author’s first Report on Irish Poor Laws, p. 160.
[117]. These numbers were ascertained by returns which the author had obtained in 1842, and caused to be tabulated by desire of the Irish government, with a view to the parliamentary franchise. The same returns show that the net annual value of property assessed to the relief of the poor in Ireland, was 13,428,787l.; but more exact returns subsequently obtained place the amount at 13,253,825l. The annual value of property assessed to the poor-rate in England and Wales at that time was 62,540,003l.—See return to an order of the house of commons dated 3rd May 1842. Both of these valuations are no doubt below the actual amount, probably by 20 or 25 per cent.; but of the two, the Irish valuation is perhaps somewhat nearer the truth than the other.