Chapter VI (2)

A large number of the children and young persons who had been admitted during the prevalence of the famine, were discharged from the workhouses in the course of the last two years. These must be regarded with satisfaction as the fruits of the Poor Law, but for which, they would in all probability have fallen victims to want and disease. The children still remaining in the workhouses, a great proportion of whom were likewise rescued at the time of the famine, were chiefly orphans, or illegitimate or deserted, and without friends able or willing to take charge of them. The number of these children in the workhouses on the 2nd April 1853 under the age of fifteen, was 82,434, of whom 5,710 were illegitimate; and looking at the large proportion who were returned as being orphans or deserted, the commissioners say they “cannot but feel that the prospect of enabling a large number of them to leave the workhouses and obtain a permanent position in society, must depend in a great degree upon the exertion made to educate and train them in such a manner as to enable them to do this at an early age.” A child of twelve or thirteen is, it is observed, “more easily grafted into society, than if he resides in a public establishment till eighteen or nineteen, when he becomes too much accustomed to its routine to exert himself in a new position, where more labour and individual efforts have to be exacted, and greater hardships and privations endured.”

[Sidenote: Their education and industrial training.]

The literary education in the workhouse schools was considered to be on the whole satisfactory. But letters alone, without industrial training, will not, it is truly said, help a boy or girl of fifteen to get into employment; and the commissioners therefore encouraged the formation of agricultural schools, in connexion with the national education board. The boys were moreover in most of the workhouses taught some kind of trade, such as tailoring, shoemaking, carpentering &c. The girls were taught to wash, and make and mend their own clothes, and clean their own dormitories and day-rooms; but there is obviously more difficulty with them than with the boys, in regard to employment. As the country improves however, “and when the drain caused by the continued emigration is more felt,” there can be little doubt, the commissioners say, that in all the unions where proper attention has been paid to the education and training of the children, there will be a demand for those educated in the workhouses as soon as they are of an age fitted for being useful; and in the mean time it is satisfactory to learn, that during the year 1852, no less than 5,371 of these children under fifteen years of age, found employment out of the workhouse.

[Sidenote: Rate of wages and cost of subsistence.]

The drain of emigration just adverted to, must have given rise to an increased amount of employment for those who remained, but this was attended with a less apparent effect upon the rate of wages than might have been expected. Another circumstance had however occurred closely bearing upon wages which it is necessary to notice, for we find that the weekly cost of maintenance in the workhouses, the average of which in 1847, exclusive of clothing, was as high as 2_s._ 1½_d._ per head, had fallen to little more than 1_s._ per head in the years 1850, 1851, and 1852.[199] Comparing the cost of subsistence with the rate of wages, it will therefore appear that there has been relatively a very considerable rise in the latter, although the money-rate in 1852 and 1853 may not appear to differ very materially from what it was in 1845. Employment had likewise become more certain and more steady, so that the labourer’s actual earnings during the year were probably greater than before, which coupled with the general reduction in the price of provisions, would enlarge his command of the necessaries and conveniences of life, and tend to improve his condition.

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[199]

See table at p. 397.

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[Sidenote: Remittances from emigrants.]

Returns had been obtained from the several unions showing the extent of remittances from abroad, for enabling certain of the workhouse inmates to emigrate. From these returns it appeared, that in the last year 2,158_l._ was so remitted to enable 877 of such inmates to join their friends in America; 136_l._ to assist 489 to go to England and Scotland; and 221_l._ to enable 31 to proceed to Australia. When the sums remitted were insufficient, assistance was often afforded by the guardians under the provisions of the Poor Law, and 14,041_l._ was so expended for this purpose in the year ending 29th September 1852. In the following year (ending September 1853), 12,865_l._ was so expended by the unions for the emigration of 403 men, 1,202 women, and 996 children, making together 2,601 persons; and including the cost of free passages, about 3,500_l._ is known to have been remitted to enable more than 1,100 inmates of the workhouses to join their friends who had emigrated, or had settled in Great Britain. Others are likewise supposed to have left the workhouses in consequence of similar remittances, which were not made through or known to the boards of guardians.

[Sidenote: The valuations.]

The valuations of rateable property in the several unions had, as was to be expected, varied more or less with the changes which took place from time to time in the circumstances of the country. In 1845 they appear to have amounted to 13,404,403_l._, and to 13,187,421_l._ in 1847; but in 1851 the entire valuation of Ireland for the purposes of the poor-rate was only 11,500,000_l._, so great had been the change caused by the severe ordeal through which the country had passed. Although the principle on which the valuation of property in the several unions was originally founded, namely, what it would let for, was undoubtedly correct, there were counteracting influences at work, and the valuations made under it were rarely altogether satisfactory. Some persons denounced them as being too high, some as being too low, and others as being unequal or partial.

[Sidenote: Commissioner of valuations.]

In order to remedy these asserted defects, and place the valuations on what was expected to be a better footing, the _15th and 16th Vict. cap. 63_ was passed in 1852, ‘to amend the Laws relating to the Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland.’ The Act declares it to be expedient to make one uniform valuation of lands and tenements, which may be used for all public and local assessments and other rating. The lord-lieutenant is empowered to appoint a commissioner of valuation “who shall make or cause to be made a valuation of the tenements and hereditaments within every barony, parish, or other division when directed so to do.” But further legislation was still necessary, and in the following year the _16th and 17th Vict. cap. 7_, was passed to amend the above, and directing the clerks of unions to prepare lists of tenements proposed for revision by the collectors, and to transmit the same to the commissioner of valuation, together with the opinion of the guardians whether a revision is necessary, and the name of a person whom the guardians recommend as fit to revise the same. The combined provisions of these Acts are no doubt calculated to effect improvement in the valuations; but the principle of fair letting value as originally prescribed, must still be adhered to in whatever changes are made.

[Sidenote: 1852.
Amount of expenditure and numbers relieved.]

The expenditure for relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1852, was 883,267_l._, being 258,380_l._ less than in the preceding year,[200] and fully realizing the expectations then held out. The number relieved in the workhouses at the above date was 111,515 and the total number so relieved during the year was 504,864. The number then receiving out-door relief was 2,528, and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 14,911. A further reduction was likewise still expected. “But the reduction must not, it is said, be expected to go so far as it would have gone if 32 new unions had not been formed, inasmuch as a certain amount of establishment charges must be incurred to maintain the new workhouses, and the necessary staff of officers, in whatever degree the pauperism of the districts in which they are built may hereafter be found diminished.”

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[200]

Ante, p. 387.

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[Sidenote: 1853.
Amount of expenditure, and numbers relieved.]

The expected further reduction was again confirmed, the expenditure on relief of the poor during the year ending on the 29th September 1853, being 785,718_l._, or nearly 100,000_l._ less than in the previous year. The number relieved in the 163 workhouses was 79,600, and the total number so relieved during the year was 396,436. The number receiving out-door relief was 2,245, and the total number who received out-door relief during the year was 13,232—and now also, important as the reductions which have latterly taken place assuredly are, we are again told that still further reductions may be looked for.[201]

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[201]

Such in fact took place, the expenditure on relief of the poor for the
year 1854 being 760,152_l._, and for 1855 being still further reduced
to 685,259_l._

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A tabular statement[202] has been given of the annual expenditure and the numbers relieved, down to the end of 1846, after which time the date of the returns was altered to correspond with the half-yearly audits in April and September. The following is a continuation of the statement before given, but also including the number of persons who were relieved out of the work-house in the successive years under the provisions of the Extension Act—

─────────┬──────────┬────────────┬────────────┬───────────┬────────────┬──────────
│ │ │ │ Total no. │ No. │Total no.
The year │ No. of │Expenditures│ No. in the │relieved in│ receiving │ who
ending │unions in │ during the │ workhouses │ the │ out-relief │ received
Sept. 29.│operation.│ year. │on the 29th │workhouses │ on 29th │out-relief
│ │ │ Sept. │during the │ Sept. │during the
│ │ │ │ year. │ │ year
─────────┼──────────┼────────────┼────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼──────────
1847 │ 130 │ £ 803,684│ 86,376 │ 417,139│ — │ —
1848 │ 131 │ 1,732,597│124,003 │ 610,463│207,683 │ 1,433,042
1849 │ │ 2,177,651│141,030 │ 932,284│135,019 │ 1,210,482
1850 │ 163 │ 1,430,108│155,173 │ 805,702│ 2,938 │ 368,565
1851 │ │ 1,141,647│140,031 │ 707,443│ 3,160 │ 47,914
1852 │ │ 883,267│111,515 │ 504,864│ 2,528 │ 14,911
1853 │ │ 785,718│ 79,600[203]│ 396,436│ 2,245[203]│ 13,232
─────────┴──────────┴────────────┴────────────┴───────────┴────────────┴──────────

This table speaks at once to the eye, and by its ascending and its descending numbers indicates the circumstances of the period to which they severally refer. But in addition to the expenditure in the third column, it must not be overlooked that since the passing of the Consolidated Debts Act[204] in 1850, a considerably larger amount of rates has been collected than was required for the immediate relief of the poor. Thus the amount collected in the year ending in September 1853 was 1,000,312_l._, whereas the expenditure on relief was only 781,523_l._, the remainder being applied in payment of the consolidated annuities, and in defraying expenses incurred under the Medical Charities Act. At present, it is said, out of 357,858_l._ the entire amount of the two annuities payable in 1852 and 1853, only 28,768_l._ remains unpaid; and the advances made on security of the Rate-in-aid have been wholly repaid, with the exception of a trifling sum due on certain newly arranged townlands. But it is expected that in a short time “all the exceptional charges on the poor-rates will cease, and that thenceforward the rates will be exclusively applied to the relief of the poor, and the support of the medical charities.”

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[202]

Ante, p. 323.

[203]

The number in the workhouses on the 29th September 1854 was 66,506,
and at the same date in 1855 it was 56,546.—The number receiving
out-door relief on these days respectively was 926 and 655.

[204]

Ante, p. 374.

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[Sidenote: Further advance to the impoverished unions.]

Notwithstanding the general improvement, and the reduction of expenditure which has been shown to have taken place, assistance was still required by some of the western unions, and the government consented to an advance of 30,000_l._ being made to eleven of them,[205] to pay their debts and relieve them from financial embarrassments; but this was done however, on the express condition that they “should not expect further assistance, and should make rates to the satisfaction of the Poor Law Commissioners, to meet their immediate and future wants.” The condition and the assistance were alike well timed and judicious, and secured the objects for which they were intended.

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[205]

These were Cahirciveen, Dingle, Kenmare, Kilrush, Killadysert,
Ennistymon, Scariff, Tulla, Clifden, Newport, and Oughterard.

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[Sidenote: Average cost of maintenance.]

The cost of subsistence in the workhouse, may be considered to afford a fair criterion for judging of what is required for the subsistence of the labouring classes generally, there being in fact little difference between the food usually consumed by the peasantry, and that supplied to the inmates of the work-houses. The average weekly cost per head is ascertained half-yearly, when the union accounts are audited in March and September, and the following table shows the results on these occasions from 1847 downwards[206]—

────────────────────────────────┬────────────┬──────────┬───────────
│ Average │ Average │ Total.
│weekly cost │ weekly │
Half-year ending. │ of │ cost of │
│ provisions │clothing. │
│ and │ │
│necessaries.│ │
────────────────────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────
│ s. d. │ d. │ s. d.
1847. 25th March │ 2 1 │ 3½ │ 2 4½
29th September │ 2 1½ │ 3 │ 2 4½
1848. 25th March │ 1 7 │ 3¼ │ 1 10¼
29th September │ 1 5 │ 3¼ │ 1 8¼
1849. 25th March │ 1 4½ │ 3¼ │ 1 7½
29th September │ 1 2¾ │ 3 │ 1 5¾
1851. 25th March │ 1 0½ │ 2½ │ 1 3
29th September │ 1 0 │ 2¼ │ 1 2½
1852. 25th March │ 1 0½ │ 2 │ 1 2½
29th September │ 1 0½ │ 1½ │ 1 2
1853. 25th March │ 1 1¾ │ 1¾ │ 1 3½
29th September │ 1 2½ │ 1½ │ 1 4
1854. Week ended 22nd April[207]│ 1 9 │ │
────────────────────────────────┴────────────┴──────────┴───────────

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[206]

The returns for 1850 were not completed, in consequence of the
alterations which were then being made in the number and the
boundaries of the unions.

[207]

The average for the half-year ending 25th March 1854, was 1_s._
7½_d._, and for the half-year ending 29th September it was 1_s._
8½_d._ per head. For each of the corresponding periods in 1855, the
average was 1_s._ 10¼_d._

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[Sidenote: Cost of subsistence and rate of wages.]

In April 1854, we see there was a large increase in the cost of workhouse maintenance, arising no doubt from the increase which had taken place in the prices of provisions. This increase would bear hard upon the labouring classes, unless there were a somewhat proportionate increase in wages. To obtain information on this point, the Poor Law Commissioners caused inquiry to be made by the inspectors in their several districts; and we find it stated as the combined result of their Reports—“that there is now[208] observable a material increase in the money value of agricultural labour, to the extent of about 1_s._ per week on the average throughout Ireland.” It appears also, that agricultural employment was more continuous than formerly, and that in most parts of the country the wages of artizans had improved in a still greater ratio than those of common labourers. Unless there were some advance in the price of labour, it is probable that the great increase in the price of provisions would cause an increase in the numbers applying for relief, which does not appear to have occurred; and this may be regarded as a further proof, that on the whole the rate of wages had about kept pace with the increased cost of subsistence.

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[208]

That is on the 1st May 1854.

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[Sidenote: Changes in the poor law executive.]

Certain changes took place in the Poor Law executive in 1852, which it is necessary to notice. Mr. Ball resigned the office of Poor Law Commissioner, and was succeeded by Mr. Senior. The temporary inspectors were all discontinued. The number of these officers in 1847, on the passing of the Extension Act, was 48; but they had been subsequently reduced to 11, and of these 4 were now discontinued, and the remaining 7 were placed on the permanent staff, making the number of inspectors 16, each having the charge of a larger or smaller number of unions according to the circumstances of the district.

[Sidenote: New order of accounts.]

A new order of accounts adapted to the alterations made in the law had been completed, and was issued in April of the present year; and the commissioners remark in their Report that “the administration of relief to the destitute poor in Ireland, may be now looked upon as nearly identical with its normal state, as originally contemplated on the passing of the _Act 1st and 2nd Vict. cap. 56_. Such a result could hardly have been expected after the severe trials to which the country had so recently been exposed, but it was most satisfactory, and must be regarded as a proof of the enduring soundness of the principle on which that measure was founded.

I have now brought the narrative of the Irish Poor Law, down to a period coincident with my histories of the English and the Scottish Poor Laws; and here, as originally intended, I should conclude. But in the autumn of 1853 I again visited Ireland, and examined many of the unions, chiefly in the south and the west, in order to see and form my own judgment as to the working of the law, and the condition of the people. The results of what came under my own observation, and of the inquiries which I was enabled to make, were embodied at the time in a letter to Lord John Russell, by whom the measure of Irish Poor Law had been originally introduced and carried through parliament, and who always took a lively interest in everything connected with it; and it now appears to me that I cannot do better than give the substance of that letter, written with all the facts and incidents fresh before me, as a fitting close to the statements contained in the present work. The letter is dated Dublin 16th September 1853, and omitting a short introduction is substantially as follows—

[Sidenote: The author’s letter to Lord John Russell, September 1853.]

“Eleven years have passed since I quitted Ireland. In the interim the country has suffered from famine and pestilence, and the Poor Law has been subjected to a most severe trial. An examination of the present condition of the country and state of the law cannot therefore fail of being deeply interesting, and I should have been glad to have given more time to it, if other claims had permitted.

“The circumstance that now first arrests attention in passing through the country, is the comparatively small number of beggars. Formerly the roads were lined with them, and the traveller wherever he stopped was surrounded by clamorous miserable-looking solicitors of charity. This is now changed. Beggars are rarely seen on the roads, less frequently in the towns; and are not I think on the whole, more numerous than in England. The famine may have been partly the cause of this change, but another if not the chief cause is the workhouses, where the old the feeble the sick and infirm poor are now supported, as the law designed, and as sound policy required that they should be. The workhouses are entirely occupied by this description of paupers, and the very young—there are no able-bodied. The total number of inmates of all classes is now 84,000, which is about the number I estimated at the outset as requiring to be provided for. The cost of relief is moreover about the same as I then estimated that it would probably amount to; and it is not a little gratifying to find that our calculations in these respects are so far verified.

“The Poor Law appears to be now thoroughly naturalized in Ireland. Your lordship would have been delighted to have heard it spoken of as I have done, and that by persons who did not know me, and who praised it as having been the salvation of the country, exclaiming “what should we have done without it!”—Complaints of the expense are it is true sometimes heard, but these are directed rather against the inequality of the charge than against the general amount, some electoral divisions paying heavily, whilst others pay little or nothing, as is sometimes the case with English parishes.

“The changes which have been made, are not I think all of them improvements. Although the subdivision of a few of the unions might have been necessary, this as well as the subdivision of the districts of chargeability, has I fear been carried too far—it has added to the working friction, and swelled the aggregate charge.

“When settlement shall be abolished in England, and union rating established instead of parochial, as I trust will ere long be the case, we may hope to see a similar reform extended to Ireland, which would bring the law back nearly to what your lordship first proposed and carried through the house of commons; and most of the changes which were subsequently made, as well as some of those since added, have in my judgment served to detract from its simplicity, and tended to impede its effective operation.

“All the workhouses which I have seen are in good order and the buildings in perfect condition, and such also I am informed is the case with the others. It is not a little satisfactory to find this the case, after the complaints that were made of these buildings, which are now as much praised as they were at one time decried.

“The most pleasing circumstance connected with the workhouse is the state of the pauper children, who are there educated and trained up in habits of order cleanliness and industry, instead of being left as outcasts, with every likelihood of their becoming a burthen, and possibly a bane to the community. I wish you could have seen with me some of these workhouse schools, and witnessed the benefits they are conferring upon the country. In the rural districts there is little difficulty in getting the boys out to service as soon as they are of an age fit for it, and the girls likewise now generally obtain places, although not so readily; but in the large towns there is still a difficulty with these last, there being proportionally less employment for females in Ireland than in England. A considerable number of girls and young women have been assisted to emigrate within the last three years, and it is very desirable that others should be so assisted and sent out from such of the workhouses as are overstocked with this class of inmates.

“With respect to emigration, I think that it has been already carried farther than was desirable. There appears to be no excess of labourers anywhere, and now in the harvest season there is evidently a want of hands to do the work, and high wages are paid, as much in some instances as 2_s._ and 2_s._ 6_d._ a day; but this is only during the period of urgency. There is still a want of certain and continuous employment in Ireland, and the people do not rely upon regular daily labour as a means of support, although they are I think approximating to it; and the extensive emigration which has taken place, will no doubt help forward the change. The rage for emigrating however continues, although the occasion for it has ceased. It pervades every class, and is strongest with the best educated and most intelligent. I found this to be the case among the boys in the workhouse schools. The sharp active intelligent lads were all eager to emigrate. It was only the more dull feeble and inert who appeared content to remain at home. Yet I know of no country where labour can be applied with the certainty of a better return. Labour is here in fact the thing chiefly needed. It is impossible to pass through Ireland without seeing this, and lamenting the omission.

“It is encouraging to reflect however, that were there less room for improvement in this and other respects, there would be less incentive to exertion; and when the rage for emigration which still prevails shall have subsided, as subside it will, we may with greater confidence expect that the energies and increased intelligence of the people will be turned to the improvement of their own country, in which they will assuredly find a rich reward, and in furtherance of which they will, in the Poor Law, have a valuable auxiliary.”

Such were the impressions derived from what came within the limit of my own observation and inquiry, on again visiting Ireland in the autumn of 1853. That these impressions were not more favourable than the circumstances warranted, is proved by the progressive ameliorations which have since taken place, of the extent of which generally, the proceedings under the Poor Law may be regarded as an index; and these have shown a continual reduction, both in expenditure and in the numbers relieved. The total cost of relief in the year ending 29th September 1855, including every item of charge, was no more than 685,259_l._; and the total number of persons relieved on that day was 57,201, of whom 655 (being exceptional cases) were relieved out of the workhouse.[209] This reduction in expenditure has moreover taken place, notwithstanding the greatly increased cost of maintenance in the workhouses as compared with what it was in 1850 and 1851,[210] making a difference on the whole of probably not less than 150,000_l._; so that but for this increase, the entire cost of relieving the poor in 1855 might perhaps not have exceeded half a million, and in the event of prices falling to their former level, and other circumstances proving favourable, it may hereafter possibly range at about that amount.

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[209]

The weekly cost of the out-relief so given was 40_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._

[210]

Ante, p. 397.

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At present however the expenditure under the Irish Poor Law contrasts favourably with what is taking place under the English and Scottish laws—in Ireland it averages 2_s._ per head on the population, whilst in Scotland the average amounts to 4_s._,[211] and in England to 5_s._ 6_d._ per head—or if we take the valuations in the three countries as a standard of comparison, it will appear that the expenditure on relief of the poor in Ireland amounts to 1_s._ 2½_d._, in Scotland to 1_s._ 4_d._, and in England to 1_s._ 5½_d._ in the pound. These comparisons are I think satisfactory, and it is encouraging also to find the commissioners declaring in their last Report,[212] that—“a material diminution of pauperism in Ireland is still going on”—and that—“the improvement in the rate of wages and the increased constancy of employment have not only been sustained, but have further advanced and acquired a still more permanent and healthy aspect.” Emigration likewise, both spontaneous and that conducted at the expense of the poor-rates,[213] is considerably lessened, and seems likely ere long to be reduced within its natural limits. The future therefore appears in every way hopeful for Ireland—may the Irish people on their part, not be wanting in due effort for securing the benefits of which there is at present so fair a promise!

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[211]

See the tenth Report of the board of supervision.

[212]

The ninth, dated May 1st 1856.

[213]

The amount expended from the poor-rates in 1855, to assist in the
emigration of 830 poor persons from different unions, was 6,859_l._ In
the previous year the amount had been 22,651_l._, including 10,000_l._
from the rate in aid, to assist in the emigration of 1,500 young
females from the workhouses in the south and west of Ireland.

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TABLES OF THE NUMBERS RELIEVED IN AND OUT OF THE WORKHOUSE, WITH THE
EXTENT OF MORTALITY, ETC., REFERRED TO AT PAGE 389.

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│Numbers relieved in the workhouses │
│ houses in each of the weeks ending │
│ on the dates in the first column │
│ respectively; together with the │
│ number and the rate per 1,000 of │
│ the deaths. │
├──────────┬────────────┬──────┬──────┤
│ │ │ │ │
│ Weeks │Total number│Deaths│ Rate │
│ ending │ in the │in the│ per │
│ │workhouses. │week. │1,000.│
│ │ │ │ │
├──────────┼────────────┼──────┼──────┤
│ 1846.│ │ │ │
│ 4 April│ 50,861│ 159│ 3.0│
│ 4 July│ 50,693│ 146│ 2.9│
│ 7 Nov.│ 74,175│ 312│ 4.2│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1847.│ │ │ │
│ 2 Jan.│ 98,762│ 1,206│ 12.2│
│ 6 Mar.│ 115,645│ 2,590│ 22.0│
│ 3 July│ 101,439│ 1,239│ 12.2│
│ 4 Sept.│ 75,376│ 589│ 7.8│
│ 13 Nov.│ 102,776│ 523│ 5.1│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1848.│ │ │ │
│ 1 Jan.│ 117,568│ 1,362│ 11.6│
│ 12 Feb.│ 135,467│ 1,316│ 9.7│
│ 1 July│ 139,397│ 620│ 4.5│
│ 9 Sept.│ 107,320│ 350│ 3.3│
│ 2 Dec.│ 172,980│ 787│ 4.5│
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1849.│ │ │ │
│ 13 Jan.│ 191,445│ 1,477│ 7.7│
│ 3 Mar.│ 196,523│ 1,846│ 9.4│
│ 5 May│ 220,401│ 2,730│ 12.4│
│ 16 June│ 227,329│ 2,009│ 8.8│
│ 6 Oct.│ 140,266│ 488│ 3.5│
│ 1 Dec.│ 180,641│ 471│ 2.7│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1850.│ │ │ │
│ 5 Jan.│ 203,320│ 792│ 3.9│
│ 2 Feb.│ 230,348│ 994│ 4.3│
│ 2 Mar.│ 237,939│ 1,150│ 4.8│
│ 4 May│ 243,224│ 1,247│ 5.1│
│ 22 June│ 264,048│ 1,126│ 4.3│
│ 3 Aug.│ 219,231│ 808│ 3.7│
│ 28 Sept.│ 155,173│ 526│ 3.4│
│ 7 Dec.│ 191,341│ 501│ 2.6│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1851.│ │ │ │
│ 4 Jan.│ 206,468│ 654│ 3.2│
│ 22 Feb.│ 251,836│ 1,201│ 4.8│
│ 22 Mar.│ 248,501│ 1,512│ 6.1│
│ 7 June│ 263,397│ 1,264│ 4.8│
│ 2 Aug.│ 222,038│ 789│ 3.6│
│ 27 Sept.│ 140,458│ 386│ 2.8│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1852.│ │ │ │
│ 3 Jan.│ 168,248│ 407│ 2.4│
│ 21 Feb.│ 196,966│ 594│ 3.0│
│ 5 June│ 187,003│ 541│ 2.9│
│ 18 Sept.│ 111,117│ 261│ 2.3│
│ 25 Dec.│ 134,476│ 281│ 2.1│
│ │ │ │ │
│ 1853.│ │ │ │
│ 19 Feb.│ 160,774│ 627│ 3.9│
│ 30 July│ 113,099│ 272│ 2.4│
│ 1 Oct.│ 79,410│ 202│ 2.5│
└──────────┴────────────┴──────┴──────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Number of destitute persons relieved out of the workhouses │
│ under the 1st and 2nd sections of the Extension Act (_10th │
│ and 11th Vict., cap. 31_) respectively, in each of the │
│ weeks ending on the dates in the first column; together │
│ with the weekly cost of such relief. │
├──────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────────┬──────────────┤
│ │ Numbers │ Numbers │ │ │
│ │ relieved │ relieved │ │ │
│ Weeks │ under │ under │ Total │Weekly cost of│
│ ending. │Section 1 of│Section 2 of│ │ relief. │
│ │ Extension │ Extension │ │ │
│ │ Act. │ Act. │ │ │
├──────────┼────────────┼────────────┼─────────┼──────────────┤
│ 1848.│ │ │ │ £. s. d. │
│ 5 Feb.│ 337,665│ 107,811│ 445,476│12,788 9 0│
│ 4 Mar.│ 425,949│ 228,763│ 654,712│17,564 18 2│
│ 1 April│ 408,923│ 235,076│ 643,999│17,092 6 6│
│ 6 May│ 485,364│ 266,430│ 751,794│18,786 18 5│
│ 1 July│ 490,902│ 342,987│ 833,889│21,800 14 10│
│ 2 Sept.│ 279,567│ 96,523│ 376,090│10,335 14 5│
│ 7 Oct.│ 192,401│ 7,202│ 199,603│ 5,925 4 2│
│ 2 Dec.│ 246,125│ 31,859│ 277,984│ 7,845 12 10│
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 1849.│ │ │ │ │
│ 6 Jan.│ 327,733│ 75,622│ 423,355│11,170 7 5│
│ 3 Mar.│ 422,693│ 170,012│ 592,705│15,051 14 3│
│ 2 June│ 402,184│ 239,229│ 642,413│19,263 7 1│
│ 7 July│ 492,503│ 291,864│ 784,367│21,757 8 3│
│ 1 Sept.│ 425,197│ 50,796│ 276,793│ 6,493 13 11│
│ 13 Oct.│ 114,316│ 1,647│ 115,963│ 2,653 7 2│
│ 3 Nov│ 102,247│ 13│ 102,260│ 2,336 11 11│
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 1850.│ │ │ │ │
│ 5 Jan.│ 104,305│ 345│ 104,650│ 2,159 0 3│
│ 23 Feb.│ 148,909│ │ 148,909│ 3,216 8 8│
│ 1 June│ 127,727│ 128│ 127,855│ 2,805 9 2│
│ 3 Aug.│ 73,129│ 40│ 73,169│ 1,617 7 5│
│ 14 Sept.│ 3,794│ │ 3,794│ 96 14 2│
│ 19 Oct.│ 2,249│ │ 2,249│ 63 13 6│
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 1851.│ │ │ │ │
│ 4 Jan.│ 2,713│ 6│ 2,719│ 76 14 0│
│ 22 Feb.│ 9,103│ 20│ 9,123│ 229 4 6│
│ 3 May│ 11,145│ 7│ 11,153│ 268 17 4│
│ 5 July│ 19,454│ 28│ 19,482│ 486 4 11│
│ 4 Oct.│ 3,084│ │ 3,084│ 75 10 4│
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 1852.│ │ │ │ │
│ 3 Jan.│ 3,170│ │ 3,170│ 88 6 3│
│ 6 Mar.│ 3,396│ │ 3,396│ 100 0 10│
│ 3 July│ 3,579│ │ 3,579│ 102 19 0│
│ 9 Oct.│ 2,491│ 1│ 2,492│ 74 1 3│
│ 25 Dec.│ 2,998│ │ 2,998│ 87 12 10│
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 1853.│ │ │ │ │
│ 26 Feb.│ 4,152│ │ 4,152│ 116 16 10│
│ 30 July│ 3,092│ │ 3,092│ 96 5 2│
│ 8 Oct.│ 1,977│ │ 1,977│ 61 16 10│
└──────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────────┴──────────────┘

INDEX.

Able-bodied disorderly persons and vagrants to be compelled to provide
their own subsistence by strict workhouse discipline, 182.

Absconding from a workhouse, punishment for, 227.

Abuses of out-door relief, impossibilities of avoiding, 204.

Accounts, new order of issued in 1853, 398.

Acre, amount per, paid by farmer in relieving mendicancy, 192.

Act of 1 and 2 Vict., cap. 56, 222 _et seq._ ——- make further provision for the relief of the destitute poor in Ireland, 330. ——- to make provision for the punishment of vagrants, &c., 332. ——- to provide for the execution of the laws for relief of the poor in Ireland, 333. ——- for a rate-in-aid, summary of, 355, 356. ——- to amend the previous acts for the relief of the poor in Ireland, summary of, 367-9. ——- for a further advance of public money for distressed unions, summary of, 374, 375. ——- for the regulation of medical charities, summary of, 382, 383.

Actions under the Irish Poor-Law Act, preliminary notice of to be
given, 231;
to recover poor-rates, regulations as to, 368.

Adoption by government of the author’s first Report in December 1836,
188.

Agents empowered to sign notices of appeal, 369.

Agricultural labourers in Great Britain and Ireland, comparative
proportions of, 131.

Agriculture, recommendation to encourage by legislative grants, 88;
efforts of the Poor-Law Board to improve, 269.

Almsgiving, desirableness of bringing under a system, 149;
prevalence of in Ireland, 182;
discontinuance of anticipated, 183.

Alms, spontaneous, amounts bestowed by small farmers and cottars, 149.

Amended orders for the election of guardians, 302.

Amendment of the new poor-law, act for, 291.

Amount, total, contributed by England in 1847-8-9, for the relief of
Ireland, 356.

Amsterdam, account of the workhouse in, 212.

Amusements, love of, and reckless pursuit of by the Irish peasantry,
163.

Anglo-Saxons taught by Irish missionaries, 2.

Annuities under the Consolidated Debts Act, arrangements for paying,
380;
partial remission of, 381.

Apathy of the Irish peasantry, 162;
poverty not a real excuse for, _ibid._

Appeals, how and before whom to be brought, 231, 233.

Apprenticeship of poor children recommended for Ireland, 183, 184.

Architect engaged to erect workhouses, 243.

Ardent spirits, recommendations of the Commissioners of Inquiry for
lessening the inordinate use of, 146.

Assessment, instructions to the assistant commissioners relating to,
240.

Assistant barristers allowed to correct clerical errors in actions for
the recovery of poor-rates, 369.

Assistant commissioners, in 1833, appointment of and instructions for,
121;
enactment for the appointment of, 223;
duties of, _ibid._;
exertions of, 241;
additional provided, 246;
reports of, 247;
appointment of additional, 338.

Assistant guardians may be appointed by the commissioners at the
request of the guardians, 368.

Asylums for lunatics and idiots, the erection of in each of the four
provinces recommended, 83.

Audit of accounts, and half-yearly reports of, infirmaries and
hospitals recommended, 101;
report as to, 276.

Auditing of poor-law accounts, 222.

Auditors, enactment for the appointment of, 230;
appointment of four, 298;
regulations as to, 332.

Author’s first Report, Nov. 1836, 159;
second Report, Nov. 1837, 196;
third Report, 212;
second visit to Ireland in 1837, 195;
departure for Ireland as chief commissioner, 234;
departure from Ireland in 1842, 284;
visit to Ireland in 1853, 398.

Auxiliary workhouses, hired buildings ill adapted for, 379.

Average cost per head of paupers in the workhouses, 301;
of maintenance of the poor in workhouses, 396;
rate per head paid for the relief of the poor by the population of
England, Scotland, and Ireland, 403.

Badging the poor, act for, 51.

Ballinasloe union agricultural society, notice of, 269.

Barracks to be converted into workhouses, if suitable, 237, 239.

Bastardy, recommendation that no law should be enacted for Ireland,
183.

Bay and coast fisheries in Ireland, facilities for, 89.

Beadles and constables authorized to seize beggars and vagabonds in
Cork, and commit them to the workhouse, 43.

Becket’s murder, notice of, 4.

Bedford Level Corporation, a board on the principle of recommended, to
carry into effect a system of national improvement in Ireland, 137.

Beggars, act for the punishment of, 22.

Beggar’s curse, superstitious dread of the Irish peasantry of, 206.

Begging, not to be prohibited, where persons have asked for, and failed
in procuring, relief, 193.

Belfast, assistant-commissioners sent to, 234, 236.

Belgium, visit of the author to, 211 _et seq._;
report of the management of the poor in, 213.

Bicheno, Mr., remarks of upon the evidence submitted by the Inquiry
Commissioners, 151.

Bill, directions for the preparation of, embodying the measures
proposed in the author’s first Report, 188;
introduced to parliament in Feb. 1837, 189;
discussion on the first reading of, 194;
second reading of, and proceedings in committee on, 194, 195;
dropped in consequence of the death of William IV., 195;
of the Irish Poor Law of 1837-8 introduced to the house of commons by
Lord John Russell, 210;
passing of, 211;
introduced into the house of lords, 211;
for the relief of the Irish poor read a first time in the house of
lords, 217;
a second time, 218;
division upon in committee, 220;
read a third time and passed, 221.

Board of Charitable Bequests, recommendation to transfer the functions
of to the Poor Law Commissioners, 146.

——- of Education, recommendation for the appointment of, 111.

——- of Improvement, proposed duties of, 138.

—— of Works, proposed duties of, 138, 139.

—— of Works, efforts of to supply employment to the poor during the
distress in 1846, 314;
numbers employed under, 315, 316.

Boards of guardians, enactment for the appointment of, 223;
enactment constituting them corporations, 224;
enactment giving the commissioners power to dissolve, 332;
thirty-two dissolved in 1847, 341;
five in 1849, 360.

Bogs, Irish, act for reclaiming, 75.

Boundaries of unions, where changed, the commissioners to adjust the
liabilities, 368.

Boundary commission, appointment of to regulate the size of unions,
361;
recommendation of, to form fifty new unions, 362.

Boyne, the battle of, 10.

Bread and cheese, contrast of the English labourer’s meal of, with the
Irish labourer’s potato-bowl, 62.

Britain, strangers from, resort to the Irish schools, 2.

British Association, amount collected by to relieve the distress in
Ireland occasioned by the potato disease, 321;
number of persons relieved by in 1848, 346.

—— capitalists, inquiry into the circumstances which have prevented
their investing in Irish agriculture, 123.

Building of workhouses, means taken to secure a fair payment for, 254;
inspection of by the chief commissioner, 260.

Buildings and repairs of tenements, consequences of throwing the
expense on the tenants, 89.

Bureau de Bienfaisance, notice of, 216.

Burgesses, recommendation of Spenser that they should be nominated, 9.

Burke, quotation from, 139.

‘Burning corn in the straw,’ act against, 32;
punishment for, 33.

Cabinet, the author’s report on the state of the north of Ireland in
1837, considered by, 209.

Cabins, wretched construction of, in Ireland, 62, 64.

Caledonian Canal, beneficial effects of employing Highland labourers
on, cited, 107.

Capital, amount of, sunk upon the land in England, 60;
causes of the scarcity of, in Ireland, 88;
inducements required for the investment of, 208.

Carrick-on-Shannon, death of a poor man in the union of, from having
been refused relief, 296, 297.

Castlereagh union, board of guardians dissolved by the commissioners,
305.

Cattle, improvident care of, 32;
reared in Donegal to pay the rent, 201.

Cemeteries, guardians empowered to provide, 332.

Census of Ireland in 1851, decrease of population shown by, 386, 387.

Central authority, necessity for, in administering the poor-laws, 176.

Certificates to be given servants on leaving their employment, 41.

Certiorari, actions under the Irish Poor Law Act not removable by,
except into the Court of Queen’s Bench, Dublin, 231, 233.

Chapels for workhouses, guardians empowered to provide, 332.

Character and habits of Irish poor in English poorhouses, 158.

Charitable institutions, establishment of, 13;
recommendation to allow them to subsist as they are, 185.

Charity, private, tendency of, to encourage mendicancy, 140.

Charles the First, the Roman catholics of Ireland adhere to his cause,
10.

Chief commissioner of the Irish Poor Law Board, enactment for the
appointment of, in 1847, 333.

Children, punishment for the desertion of, 30;
required age of, for admission into the Dublin Foundling Hospital,
85, 86;
indiscriminate admission of, 85 _note_;
enactment making them chargeable, if able, for the support of their
parents, 227;
number of, in the Dublin Foundling Hospital, 249;
amount expended in feeding, 388;
number of, in the workhouses in 1851, 390.

Cholera, appearance of, in 1849, 350.

Cholesbury, the case of, cited, 136.

Christian monasteries, state of, in Ireland at an early period, 2.

Church collections for the relief of distress, 106.

—— holidays, meat eaten by the poor only on, 132.

Churchwardens to remove from their parish, or to confine in bridewell,
wandering beggars and vagabonds, 86.

Cities, towns, &c., of 10,000 inhabitants may be divided into wards for
the purpose of electing guardians, 233.

Clare, distressed state of, 365;
mortality in, 372.

Clergy of various persuasions to furnish religious instruction to the
children of their own faith, 112;
favourable to a system of poor-laws, 167.

Clergymen to preach sermons for the support of houses of industry, 55;
of whatever denomination not to be poor-law guardians, 175.

Clerks of workhouses to keep register books, 226.

Clothes of vagabond beggars to be washed and cleansed, 86.

Clothing of the labourers in Ireland, inferiority of, in Ireland, 63.

Coals imported into Cork, a duty imposed on, in 1735, for the support
of the workhouse, 43.

Cod-fishery, facilities for, on the coasts of Ireland, 89;
success of the encouragement of in Scotland, _ibid._, 90.

Corn, clamourings for a prohibition of the export of, in 1855, 17.

Collection of rates, no difficulty found in the, 277.

Colonization by Irish labourers, recommended to be undertaken by
government in 1830, 107.

Comforts and conveniences, the providing of, not the proper object of a
poor-law, 203.

Commission appointed in 1833 to inquire into the condition of the
poorer classes in Ireland, 118;
first Report of, in 1835, _ibid._ _et seq._;
heads of inquiry adopted, 119;
second Report of, in 1836, 125 _et seq._;
third Report of, in 1836, 131 _et seq._

Commissioners to inquire into the nature and extent of Irish bogs,
appointment of, 75;
utility of, 76;
Reports of, _ibid._

—-—-— of 1833, names of, 118.

—-—-— of Inquiry, differences of opinion among, as to the nature of
their Report, 129.

—-—-— to appoint guardians if not duly elected, 224.

—-—-— empowered to levy a rate-in-aid for the relief of distressed
unions, 356.

—-—-— of valuation, commissioners empowered to appoint one, 393.

Commissions for the Poor Laws, difficulty of union of purpose if
separate are appointed for England and Ireland, 188.

Committee of the house of commons on the poor in Ireland, Report of, 82
_et seq._

Compulsory and voluntary relief, agitation of the question as to the
advantages and disadvantages of, 129.

—— rates, enormous amount asserted to be necessary for relieving all
cases of distress, 149.

Con-acre, use to be derived from, in diminishing the number of small
holdings, 166.

Condition of the poor, variations of in different parts of Ireland, 97.

Confinement more irksome to an Irishman than an Englishman, 171.

Connaught, the province of, probably an ecclesiastical formation, 3;
unions, satisfactory state of, in 1851, 378;
and Munster, state of, in 1851, 390.

Consolidation of farms, good and evil effects of, 97;
of small holdings in Donegal, desirableness of, 202;
new Poor Law likely to assist in effecting, _ibid._

Constables to be appointed presidents of every town within the English
pale, by an Act in 1465, 16;
to make privy search for rogues, vagabonds, and idle persons, 29.

Contracts made by guardians not valid unless conformable to the rules,
230.

Contributions called voluntary frequently a real and unequal tax, 147.

Convicted persons, of felony fraud or perjury, ineligible for
guardians, 293.

Cooked-food system of relief, adoption of, 318;
number of persons fed under, _ibid._;
expense incurred under, 319.

Cork, surrendered to Cromwell, 10;
act for erecting a workhouse in, 42;
regulations for the government of, 43;
exempted from the provisions of the act for providing for deserted
children, 81;
assistant-commissioners sent to, 234, 236;
union, establishment of, 251;
progress of, 262;
workhouse, inconvenient state of, in 1841, 262.

Corn-laws, alteration of, 311.

Corporate bodies, boards of guardians constituted, 224.

—— to vote for guardians by their officers, 230.

Corporations in Ireland, act for the establishment of, 52;
regulations for, _ibid._

Correspondence of assistant-commissioners with the Dublin board, 241.

Cosherers, act against, 34.

Cost of relief, increase of in 1847, 329;
of subsistence in 1851, 391;
in 1853, 397.

Cottages in Donegal, miserable appearance of, 201.

Cottier-tenants, deterioration of the soil by, 160.

Cottiers, Irish, extreme charity towards mendicants, 206;
reasons of, _ibid._, 207.

Counties made answerable for robberies, 39.

County-cess collectors may be appointed to collect the poor-rates, 228.

County hospitals, act for the establishment of, 74.

—— infirmaries, number of, number of patients in, and incomes of, in
1830, 101.

—— magistrates to be ex-officio guardians, but not to exceed in number
one-third of the number of elected guardians, 174.

Coynie and liveries, grievances occasioned by, 23.

Cromwell, conquest of Ireland by, 10.

Crops, deficiency of, in Ireland, in 1839, 257.

Cultivated land in Great Britain and Ireland, comparative quantities
and produce of, 131.

Cultivation of land, extension of needed in Donegal, 201.

Cumulative voting, answer to the objections against, 207.

Customs, barbarous, existing in Ireland in 1634-5, 33.

Dancing, universality of among the labouring poor in Ireland, 64.

Danes, irruptions of, into Ireland, 3.

Day-labourers, no employment for, in Ireland, 161.

Deaf dumb and blind poor, recommendation of a provision for, 128;
to be sent to institutions, and their maintenance to be paid for by
guardians, 292.

Deceased poor, boards of guardians enabled to provide for the burial
of, 354.

Demoralization of the poor, fallacious objection that a system of
poor-laws would occasion, 163.

Depôts for emigrants, the establishment of recommended, 137.

—— de mendicité, in Holland and Belgium, defects of, 213.

—— for meal, determination not to establish government, in 1846, 313.

Dermod, king of Leinster, expelled by O'Connor, king of Connaught,
seeks the assistance of Henry the Second of England, 3.

Deserted children, provision for, 49;
act for providing for, 81.

Deserving poor allowed to beg, 56.

Destitute persons, means of emigration to be provided for, 143;
a legal provision for, an indispensable preliminary to the
suppression of mendicancy, 167;
danger of their flocking to one union in case of there being no law
of settlement, how to be obviated, 181;
Irish in England, strong disinclination of to the restrictions of a
workhouse, 196, 197;
poor, work to be provided for in workhouses, 225.

Destitution, inquiry as to why the Irish labouring poor do not provide
against, 122;
the workhouse the all-sufficient test of, 152.

Deterioration and misery of a too-rapidly increasing population, 90.

Dietaries, workhouse, order for, 252.

Difficulties in deciding upon objects for out-door relief, 204.

Distress, unexampled, of the Irish labouring poor in 1822, 91;
parliamentary grants in aid of, _ibid._;
amount of subscriptions to alleviate, 92;
government advances to be made to relieve in 1822, 80;
again occurs in Ireland owing to a failure of crops in 1839 and 1842,
256, 285;
amount of government relief afforded, _ibid., note:f114#_;
and again most severely in 1846 to 1849, 307 to 360.

Distressed unions, number of assisted, 360;
further advance to in 1853, 396.

Divisions on the Irish Poor Law bill in the house of commons, 210;
in the house of lords, 220.

Divisional chargeability, dissatisfaction with, 297.

Diocesses of Ireland, a free school to be established in each of the,
25.

Discussion on the first reading of the Irish Poor Law bill in 1837,
194.

Dispensaries, local, act for the establishment of, 74;
number of in 1830, and number of patients relieved by, 103;
number of in 1836, 126.

Dispensary districts, enactment for dividing unions into, 383.

Donegal, peculiar condition of the county of, 200.

Doyle, Dr., evidence of on the condition of the poor in Ireland, 98,
100, 106.

Draining of bogs and marshes recommended as a means of providing
employment for the labouring poor, 88, 89.

Drogheda stormed by Cromwell, 10.

Drunkenness or disobedience in a workhouse, punishment for, 227.

Dublin, assistant-commissioner stationed at, 234.

Dublin Foundling Hospital, account of, 85;
objects of, _ibid._;
means of support of, _ibid._;
parliamentary grants to, 86;
number of admissions of children to, _ibid._;
state of in 1839, 248;
formed into a workhouse, 250.

—— House of Industry, account of, 83;
means of support of, 84;
sums raised for, _ibid._;
management of, _ibid._;
number of admissions to, 85;
state of in 1839, 247, 248;
formed into a workhouse, 250.

—— Mendicity Society, difficulty of supporting, 165;
application of the officers of, for compensation, 253;
closing of, 261.

—— Society, grant of money to, 73.

—— workhouse, act for erecting in 1703, 35;
regulations for the government of, 36;
rate to be levied for the support of, 37;
merged in the Foundling Hospital, 38;
workhouses, establishment of, 250;
progress of, 261.

—— unions, examples afforded by, of the efficacy of the workhouse test,
343;
numbers relieved in, _ibid._

Dunmanway union, separate rating of electoral divisions abolished in,
305.

Dwellings, overcrowding of, productive of fevers, 78.

Earth-tillers, act of Henry VIII. for the protection of, 20.

Ebrington, Lord (now Earl Fortescue), exertions of, in favour of the
establishment of the new Poor Law, 250.

Ecclesiastical promotion, directions for regulating, 21.

Education adopted as a means of extending the Reformation, 25;
effects of, 26;
of the poor in Ireland, generality of, 63;
the necessity of not interfering with religious belief in, pointed
out, 110;
of workhouse children, arrangements for, 264;
nature of, 391.

Egyptians, or feigned Egyptians, to be punished as vagabonds, 30.

Eighth Report of proceedings in 1846 under the New Poor Law Act in
Ireland, 303.

Election districts for guardians, power of the Poor Law Commissioners
to form, 175.

Election of guardians, the first proceedings under the new Poor Law
Act, 242;
amended order for, 302.

Electoral divisions, difficulties arising from having adopted, 288;
number of in 1846, 304;
two or more may be combined for the election of a guardian, 368;
increase in the number of, 373, 384.

Electors of guardians, who ought to be, 173.

Elizabeth, assimilation by of the ecclesiastical establishments in
Ireland to those of England, 4.

Emigration, notice of, 65;
recommended as a means of alleviating the state of the poor in
Ireland, 100;
recommendation of as a government measure in 1830, 106;
recommended by the Commissioners of Inquiry as a means of relieving
the distress in Ireland, 136;
direct interposition in favour of, not recommended, 185;
probability of its weakening the parent stock, 186;
if necessary, to be promoted by the equal contributions of government
and the district relieved, 186;
rates for, how to be raised, 226;
view of the Irish Poor Law Commission as to, 255;
defects in the Irish Poor Relief Act for providing means for, 275;
want of funds for promoting, 287;
amount of, in 1846-7, 327, 328;
enactment giving guardians the power to assist, 331;
amount expended by unions in 1849 for promoting, 370;
numbers assisted in 1850, 373;
total amount of from 1847 to 1850, 386;
in 1851 and 1852, _ibid._;
amount expended on in 1855, 403, _note_.

Emigrants from Ireland to Canada in 1846-7, sickness and expense caused
by, 327, _note_;
mortality amongst, 328.

Employment, want of by the labouring poor, a cause of disease, 87;
act for providing, 80;
of pauper idiots in a workhouse recommended, 184;
increase of, beyond the duties of a poor-law, 185;
in workhouses, the nature of, 274.

England and Ireland, difference between as to provision for the poor,
13.

English adventurers in Ireland, conduct of, 4.

—— Poor Law Commission recommended to carry into effect a new Poor Law
for Ireland, 187, 188.