The Dublin unions.
The two Dublin workhouses had been opened upwards of twelve months, and the guardians had attended to the administration of relief and the union business generally, in a very exemplary manner. Before the houses were thoroughly completed and organized, the closing of the Dublin mendicity institution threw a sudden pressure upon these establishments, especially upon that of the South Dublin union, as many as 500 poor persons having been admitted there in one week, and 1,473 within the first month, a great majority of whom had been previously supported in the Dublin Mendicity. Such an influx could hardly fail of causing embarrassment and confusion, and it may be regarded as a proof of the efficiency of the workhouse system, that notwithstanding the want of preparation which necessarily prevailed, and the inexperience of the guardians and union officers, so large an admission was provided for, and order speedily established. Even after the first influx of mendicity paupers had ceased, there was great pressure for admission, on which account a cautionary letter was addressed to the guardians, recommending that from the numerous applicants they should at one time select such a moderate number only “as could be conveniently cleansed, classified, placed in their proper wards, and registered in course of that and the following day;” and likewise, that the visiting committee should report as to the condition of the inmates, and whether they had been disposed of in accordance with the regulations, previous to further admissions taking place on the days fixed for the purpose. In the absence of strict discipline, the workhouse will, they are told, become a place to which the idle would resort to the exclusion of those who are real objects of charity; and this was the more to be apprehended in the Dublin unions, from the circumstance of their workhouses being open while no relief was given in the neighbouring unions, and were consequently attracting from the surrounding country those poor persons who needed or who professed to need such relief. The number of inmates in the South Dublin workhouse on the 25th of March was 2,080, and in the North Dublin the number was 1,837.
The Cork union.
The case of Cork differed materially from the two Dublin unions. These had each a capacious workhouse in which classification could be established and order be enforced; but the Cork house was small, ill-arranged, and altogether insufficient for these purposes; and it was not without considerable misgiving, that in compliance with the wishes of the guardians, it had been permitted to be used as the temporary workhouse of the union, until the new house should be ready.[[102]] The inconvenience was certainly less felt than might be expected, the guardians having made the most of the old building, and established a tolerable degree of order among the inmates under circumstances extremely unfavourable for the purpose. The number of inmates on the 25th of March was 1,844, nearly the half of whom were former inmates of the old house of industry. This number was much beyond what could be properly accommodated, but owing to the severity of the winter and the high price of provisions there had been much distress among the poor, and the pressure for admission had consequently been very great. When relief shall be administered in the neighbouring unions, the pressure upon Cork may be expected to subside. The new house is calculated for 2,000 inmates, and will it is considered, when completed, be sufficient to meet the wants of the union.
The foregoing account of the proceedings in the Cork and Dublin unions, exhibits the actual working of the Poor Law in the only unions in which it had been in operation sufficiently long for showing any definite result. In each of these unions workhouse relief had been administered for upwards of a year, and the boards of guardians and other executives had mostly held office for double that period. The circumstances under which they had to act, were moreover peculiarly trying. These unions may therefore be regarded as average examples of the working of the law, and might be appealed to in proof of its sufficiency for the objects contemplated in its enactment. There was no doubt still in these three unions much to adjust and regulate, which it required time and watchfulness to effect. But the general establishment of the law throughout Ireland might now, it was considered, be looked forward to with confidence, nothing having hitherto occurred to raise a doubt as to its applicability; but on the contrary, all the proceedings had served to show that the system was suitable to the circumstances of the country, and adequate for the relief of the destitute poor.
By the 123rd section of the Relief Act it is directed, that an account of the expenditure upon the relief of the poor during the year, and the total number of persons relieved, in each union on the 1st of January, shall be annually laid before parliament, together with the commissioners’ General Report. On the 1st of January 1841, the returns showed that the expense of relief in the previous year, and the numbers relieved in the four unions then in operation, were as follows—
| No. in the workhouse on the 1st Jan. 1841. | ||||||
| Cork | £12,453 | 8 | 0 | 1,549 | ||
| North Dublin | 10,407 | 12 | 7 | 1,601 | ||
| South Dublin | 12,732 | 3 | 8 | 1,987 | ||
| Londonderry (two months) | 1,464 | 4 | 5 | 331 | ||
| £37,057 | 8 | 8 | Total | 5,468 | ||
Education and training of workhouse children.
The education of the children maintained in the workhouse, was from the very outset felt to be a matter of the utmost importance. In the North Dublin workhouse there were 500 children under sixteen years of age, and in the South Dublin workhouse there were 635. That these children should be trained up in moral and religious habits, and be fitted by education and by instruction in useful branches of industry for earning their own living, all must admit to be necessary; and for these purposes a protestant and a Roman catholic chaplain, and a schoolmaster and schoolmistress, were appointed to each workhouse. The girls were taught sewing, and were employed in the domestic work of the house, so as to fit them for service. The boys were taught tailoring, shoemaking, carpentering, and some were set to work in the garden: but the various employments to which boys reared in the workhouse are likely in after life to betake themselves, hardly admit of their being specifically trained for them, and little more can be done in the way of preparation than to send them forth imbued with habits of industry, their frames strengthened and inured to labour, their tempers and mental faculties duly cultivated, and above all with their minds duly impressed with a sense of their moral and religious duties. When thus prepared, they will be best fitted for entering upon the duties incidental to their position, on the right performance of which their future condition in life must depend. The earnest attention of the Dublin boards was given to this subject, and arrangements were made with the Commissioners of National Education for inspecting the workhouse schools, and for supplying them with books and other requisites on the most favourable terms. The Board likewise took advantage of every opportunity for impressing upon the guardians and union officers the great importance of attending to the education and training of these children, and of getting them out into service and other occupations as soon as they were fitted for it.
Mendicancy.