A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people

by Sir George Nicholls

The Public Works Act, 9th and 10th Vict. c. 1.

The plan adopted was by establishing public works, as had been done on former somewhat like occasions; and an Act was accordingly passed enabling the magistrates and principal cess-payers to obtain advances of public money for this purpose, one-half as a free grant, the other half as a loan to be repaid by the barony out of the grand-jury cess. The greatest number of persons employed under this system was 97,000. It was brought to a close in the month of August, and may be said on the whole to have answered its intended purpose, although not without considerable drawbacks, partly through the misapplication of public money, and partly by increasing the tendency which has always prevailed in Ireland to rely upon government aid. The entire amount expended by the government down to the 15th of August 1846, in affording relief to the Irish people during this season of distress was 733,372l., of which one-half was a free grant, and the other half a loan. The sum raised by voluntary subscription for like purposes was 98,000l., making together 831,372l., obtained from other than poor-law sources, and expended during this first season of severe pressure in relief of persons many of whom would else have perished through absolute want.

The autumn of 1846. Severe distress.

With the approach of autumn another period of distress commenced in Ireland, far heavier and more intense than the preceding, the potato crop having now almost universally and entirely failed. In the former season there were helps or palliatives, some districts having nearly escaped the disease and others being less generally affected by it; but in the present season there were no such exceptions, and neither help nor hope was to be found in the natural resources of the country. A new emergency may thus be said to have arisen, and the public works which had been put an end to in August were renewed in the following month, and the entire machinery of provision depôts and relief committees was reorganized on a more comprehensive scale than before.

The Labour-rate Act, 9th and 10th Vict. c. 107.

In order to check the exorbitant demands which had in many instances been made in the previous season, the whole expense of the public works was now under the new Labour-Rate Act made a local charge, to be defrayed by a rate levied and assessed in a manner similar to the poor-rate, which makes the landlord liable for the whole on tenements under 4l. yearly value, and for half the rate on tenements valued above that amount. It was also determined that as far as possible task-work should be adopted, and at a rate of payment below what was usual in the district. It was further determined in order to avoid embarrassing the operations of the private trader, that government should not order supplies from abroad, and that its interference should be confined to the western districts, in which no trade in corn for local consumption existed. Moreover, the government depôts were not to be opened for the sale of food so long as it could be obtained from private dealers, and no purchases were to be made in the local market, where the appearance of government as a purchaser would be certain to raise prices.

The board of works.

Such generally was the plan proposed to be pursued under the pressure of famine, and the other distressing circumstances consequent on the failure of the potato crop at the end of 1846; and it was expected that the resident proprietors and ratepayers would perform their part, by ascertaining the extent of destitution in the several localities, and determining what was necessary to be done in the way of relief, and the best mode of doing it. This expectation however was not fulfilled, and in almost every instance these duties were left to be performed by the board of works, which had thus to obtain the best information it could through hired agents, “to advance the necessary funds, to select the labourers, to superintend the works, to pay the people weekly, to enforce a proper performance of the labour, to ascertain the quantity of labour required for farm-works, to select and draft off proper persons to perform it, to settle the wages to be paid to them by the farmers and to see that they were paid, to furnish food not only for all the destitute out of doors, but in some measure for the paupers in the workhouses”—in short, “the board of works became the centre of a colossal organization, 5,000 separate works had to be reported upon, 12,000 subordinate officers had to be superintended, and their letters averaged upwards of 800 a day.”[^[137]]

The relief-works.

The strain upon the executive through this system of centralization was excessive. Government had to bear the entire pressure of the masses on the sensitive points of wages and food. Task-work was generally objected to, and its enforcement gave rise to frequent struggles, in which the safety of the superintending officers was sometimes put in jeopardy. The number of persons employed on the works continued to increase—“Thousands upon thousands were pressed upon the officers of the board of works in every part of Ireland, and it was impossible for those officers to test the accuracy of the urgent representations which were made to them. The attraction of money wages regularly paid from the public purse, or ‘The queen’s pay,’ as it was popularly called, led to a general abandonment of other descriptions of industry, in order to participate in the advantages of the relief-works.|Evils of the system.| Landlords competed with each other in getting the names of their tenants placed on the lists; farmers dismissed their labourers and sent them to the works; the clergy insisted on the claims of the members of their respective congregations; the fisheries were deserted; and it was often difficult even to get a coat patched or a pair of shoes mended, to such an extent had the population of the south and west of Ireland turned out upon the roads. The average number employed in October was 114,000, in November 285,000, in December 440,000, and in January 1847, 570,000.” It was obviously impossible to exact from such a multitude the amount of labour that would operate as a test. Huddled together in masses they screened each other’s idleness. It was thought that the enforcement of taskwork would stimulate their industry; but when after a hard struggle this point had been carried, an habitual collusion between the labourers and the overlookers appointed to measure their work revived the former abuse, and the labourers were as idle as ever.