1833.
Commission to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland.
On the 25th September 1833, commissioners were appointed “to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, and into the various institutions at present established by law for their relief; and also whether any and what further remedial measures appear to be requisite to ameliorate the condition of the Irish poor or any portion of them.”[[58]] An extensive field of inquiry was thus laid open to the commissioners, who forthwith entered upon the duties confided to them; and it must be admitted that there could hardly have been any more important, or more highly responsible.
1835.
The commissioners’ first report.
In July 1835 the commissioners made their first Report—“as to the modes in which the destitute classes in Ireland are supported, to the extent and efficiency of those modes, and their effects upon those who give, and upon those who receive relief.” A large body of evidence is appended to the Report, which evidence the commissioners say is now complete, containing parochial examinations made in one parish in each of seventeen counties, relative to the present modes of relieving—
“Deserted and orphan children.
“Illegitimate children and their mothers.
“Widows having families of young children.
“The impotent through age or other permanent infirmity.
“The sick poor, who in health are capable of earning their subsistence.
“The able-bodied out of work.