The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-01 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

A scene so;;;;l;a7sinilar7oth;;l;lirecently occurred
at Bethke&le, county Limerick, but attended with lam vio-
lence, was witnessed at Neugh workhouse on Thursday.
While the board we, sitting, upwards of 200 persona, princi-
pally able-bodied labourers, with some women and children,
presented themselves at the workhouse, and (arced their way
'to the entrance of the board-room. The guardians came for-
ward in alarm, and despatched a messenger for a small
police force, but the people manifested no disposition to riot,
and confined themselves to demanding relief. They. stated
that they were in great destitution, and the local journal
says : " Their miserable appearance plainly bespoke
extent of their sufferings." The guardians represented
to them that there were vacancies in the work-
house for one hundred paupers ; they exhibited to them
some bread of the quality supplied to the inmates, and they
asked them if any man ought to hesitate to enter and enjoy
the fare. Notwithstanding their misery, aye the =
of the scene, strange to say, they would not seek M
it by admission into the house; and they refired Mani.
mously this offer of the guardians, demanding labour at sot-
door relief. The guardians said the hoses must be feII hr
fore out-door re:iZ: WAS tT!', Vr°4. their sees
should meet the immediate attention oldie uttering Aar
of their district. One of the guardians pledged bloodies'',
to his knowledge, there were in a division different from
whence the applicants came 1,700 destitute out of a p=
lion of 4,000. The treasurer of the Tralee
of guardians has refused any forthir advances to I
the Union, as it owes already 1,9001. Mr. Keane Idahony, a
gladness Illiddint near Killarney, has made a proposition
to the gewilemew of his neighbourhood, characterised by
provident economy, and humanity. He asks
each landed proprietor shall expend in employment on
his estate In this time of distress, a sum equal to one year's
income. The result of such a course would be the improve-
ment of the land, the employment of all the labourers, and
the saving of the whole or nearly the whole poor-law rate.
Michael Cummins, the man who was walking with Ryan,
lately shot near Fetheerd, county Tipperary, at the time el
his murder, and who wee wounded ,haa since died of his wool&
The papers to-day contain more then one proof of tie &a-
cuity ofeollecting rates, and the spirit in which the lisilerde
seem disposed to regard thou levies for the sapput of the
poor The whole rate applotted upon Nenagb asks is
25,0001, of which the collectors hare not ban abls dim*

the lag three weeks to eollect more than 20001. Many of
the ex-officio guardians owe of the late 3a. rate amounts
varying from ROI. to 1001. and upwards, so that the diffi-
culty of collecting • new rate from the same partial may be
estimated. A IG. Luke Joseph Shea, • magistrate of the
Cork county, and a very prominent member of the con-
federate repeal body, has been proceeded against for poor-rate,
decreed, and threatened withimprlsonment, before he paid.
Mr. Shea offered to enter an appeal to the decree, but the
amistentharrister refused to receive it, and Ran an order for
immediate execution against him. In the Union of Ballicia,
Mayo, one of the most impoverished in Ireland, we find
the ratepayen set a different example, as they are paying
cheerfully.