The money required for providing the workhouses, being under the provisions of the Relief Act, and with consent of government, advanced by the exchequer-bill loan commissioners, arrangements had been made for its reception, safe custody, and correct appropriation, through the medium of the Bank of England and the Bank of Ireland. A separate loan was in the first instance granted to each union, and as the money was successively required to pay for land purchased, or to pay the stipulated instalments to the contractor, the amount was transmitted to the Bank of Ireland for the credit of the person to whom it was payable in Dublin; and thus these loans passed from her Majesty’s exchequer into the hands of the parties severally entitled to receive them, without ever departing from the custody of one or other of the two great national banks, and consequently without risk, or the possibility of malversation. On the completion of the buildings, and after the accounts had been duly examined and certified, they were together with all the original documents laid before the boards of guardians, in order that every step which had been taken in the matter might be distinctly seen by them—the amount claimed, the amount deducted, and the quantity and price on which the deduction was founded or the claim allowed, all appeared on the face of the accounts; and a statement was at the same time delivered showing in detail the amount of the several receipts from the loan, and the expenditure on account of the union, and exhibiting the excess if there were a balance in hand, or the deficiency if there was not enough to cover the expenditure, in which case a further order to the guardians to raise or borrow the sum deficient was necessarily issued.
Cost of the workhouses.
It was originally estimated that the cost of the workhouses would not exceed a million sterling, and provision had been at the outset made to that extent: but as the buildings advanced, it became evident that this amount would not be sufficient, and application was made for a further loan of 150,000l.. One cause of the excess was, that it had not been originally proposed to finish and fit up the workhouses in so expensive a way as was afterwards found to be necessary. As the general condition of the people with respect to their habitations and mode of living, was inferior to that of the corresponding classes in England, it was thought that the workhouses might properly be of a somewhat less finished and costly character, and the arrangements for the buildings were framed in accordance with this view. Further experience however showed it to be necessary that the Irish workhouses should be made in all respects as complete as those in England. Indeed the guardians very generally wished that the finishing and fittings should be more costly and complete than was the case in the English houses; and if the prevalent desire on this point had been complied with, the workhouses in Ireland would have been finished and fitted up after the model and with all the appliances of an hospital or infirmary. This will account for much of the excess beyond the original estimate in providing the Irish workhouses.
Workhouse employment.
In connexion with the workhouses, the difficulty of always finding suitable employment for the inmates requires to be noticed. That pauper labour is unprofitable, was generally admitted; and if it were so in England where there is a constant demand for labour, it could not fail of being so in Ireland where the labour market was for the most part overcharged. All that had hitherto been done in this respect in the Irish workhouses, was to keep the inmates occupied as far as possible in employments of the commonest kind. The aged and infirm of both sexes who constituted a great majority of the inmates, were generally employed in oakum-picking, in the picking carding and spinning of wool, in knitting, and some few in making and mending the clothes belonging to the establishment. There were scarcely any able-bodied men in the workhouses, although there were many partially disabled, who were mostly occupied in the kitchen or doing the rougher work about the yards, and where this did not afford sufficient occupation they were employed in breaking stones. The able-bodied women were employed in household work, and there were not always a sufficient number of these to clean and keep the house in proper order; but where the number was greater than could be so employed, they were set to work with the needle, or in carding spinning or knitting. With regard to the children of both sexes, when not at school, they are employed in occupations suited to their age and strength—the girls under the matron in household work, or in working with their needle; the boys working in the yards, or in the garden, or at some trade in the house, thus accustoming their hands to labour, and fitting them for the everyday occupations of life. Much difficulty had always been found in getting young persons out into service or other occupation in Ireland. The better the workhouse children are trained and educated however, the better will be their chance in this respect. With the boys there will probably be less difficulty than the girls. Emigration would seem to be the suitable remedy for an excess of numbers in either case; but emigration, contrary to what was originally intended, was by the 51st section of the Relief Act made a charge upon the electoral division. The board of guardians collectively had no power to deal with it. And hence, although there were a number of friendless young persons, mostly females, the residuum of a former system, in the workhouses of the two Dublin unions, and at Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Belfast, for whom no employment could be found, the money necessary for defraying the expense of their emigration could not be raised, and they continued a burden upon the unions instead of becoming useful as colonists.
Sanitary state of the workhouses.
The sanitary condition of the workhouses had generally been good, although they were in some instances much crowded during the winter. This was especially the case with the Dublin and Cork houses. Yet the inmates had on the whole been remarkably healthy, and fewer deaths occurred than might have been expected, looking at the advanced age and generally depressed physical condition of a large proportion of the individuals admitted. But the absence of all exciting influences, the regular hours, due supplies of food and clothing, and the warmth and ventilation which are found in a workhouse in a superior degree to what can be obtained by the same class out of it, no doubt conduce to the preservation of the health, and the extension of the life of its inmates. Such is not always the case however with respect to children. In the Dublin workhouses, a large proportion of the infants were in a diseased or extremely emaciated state when admitted, and very many of them in their then condition could hardly be expected to live. The mortality which took place was accordingly so considerable as to lead to an inquiry being instituted, the result of which showed—“that although the mortality among the infants under two years of age in the workhouse was large, it yet had not exceeded, but rather fallen short of the average mortality among infants of the same age and class in foundling hospitals and other like institutions, or even at large under the care of their parents.”
Audit of the accounts.
The accounts of the unions in which workhouses were in operation were severally audited by the assistant-commissioners, and duly reported upon. These reports showed the working of the system in all its details, pointing out and commenting upon the good and bad parts of the administration, and exhibiting and explaining the general results. The audit reports are in fact calculated to afford a complete view of the working of the Poor-law, wherever the administration of relief under its provisions had been brought into operation. Several of these were appended to the fourth annual Report.
Amount of expenditure and number relieved.