The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-02 00:00:00

THE IRISH POOR IN LIVERPOOL.

Theisßowing is the report of Alfred Austin, Esq.,
• be Wield the Irish poor is Liverpool :
"Tomb the end of January (1847), there were mesons
ebb biased the belief that amongst the epplications for
sammteas eases eleSitisa. An emarate
e 1 aAI• of the masons of the el poem holed
!seen as
of the mho reseleed re-
/14 elemrostratal list a esesiderable poetise of the hem
bee net newly-erelvellimesigrants. At the same time, be
easseame of immfav dilly landing rendered It
that • larger number of persons, more or lees in a =114.1.
destitution, arrived in Liverpool from Ireland, thee the Isiah
actually relieved amounted to. Apprehensions,
began to be entertained on the part of Faison' eaOeeMd
with the administration of the poor-law in Liverpool. that
although relief was distributed so liberally m to give the
to considerable imposition, still there might beam of elee-
titrition and want which failed to receive proper atimilen or
insistance.
" Them consideretkau led the weeny to adopt a ben go in 1
the system of administering casual relief. From some time
before Christmaa till the let February applionlies for
relief were made by the destitutelrish immigrate,
or by persons pretend to be so,, at the diem
of the vestry, in sioelmsel, whirs, for onsral
hours every day, applitedem wore bawd sad renal
siren in bread and in tickets for seep by the rat relleviag
officers of the parish, ant a few meedesel senieteselik rer
some weeks the crowd of appymte was too lop for much
discrimination to be amendbi by the relieving oilcan in
Vat relief; and, hem be early part of Joarry, their
objeet wee to ilsedee the applicantas rapidly as
with en emera of maid Ingertioned to their de-
assin, what them be their wag wests, in order that the
wad =tol need the effete might b
e asa=aL
sal ot Issmory, thevesry a emo•
mitts. to saperintead the samba; of the I
On the 2nd February, is were enoteVrA
committee, by which the of the town easasialleg the
lodging-houses aid miles arapial by_ the lei
weedivided into thirteen rads% the size 81=:2$
regulated by the supposed sesimbee el Irish poor tesiling in
each. In every distriet ea lASI or relief station wee
opened for the relief of the theilale Irish of such diarist
Two assistant relieving tears were attached to seek of
eleven of these relief stations and one to each of the
remaining two. The difference in the number of
cams, in the cue of these two districts, was owing
to local eircurnstanees, which it is not necessary
to partieulirin. There were consequently twenty-four
instant relieving officers appointed for the parts of the town
inhabited by immigrants. Over this large body of officers
were placed two inspectors, one for the districts of the
northern put, end the other for thme of the southern part,
of the town, whose duty it was to convey information be-
tween the central office and the relief stations, if the urgency
of the ease required it, and also to report to the central office,
where the committee sat daily, any irregularities or incompe-
tency on the pert of any of the assistant relieving officer,.
Each district to which two officals were attached, was
divided into two subdivisions, and each subdivision was
Placed under the euperintendence and care of one of the dß-
ears In each of the districts with only one officer, the duty
of the latter was to attend to the entire district. Practically,

t&po,O;Wo were twenty tour MAIM, web ialit=
inn One widish every pauper
sad to owl. art O which aa aisistaaa t=4"Seillaw wos
attacked. Tit at wialthig dial* ton
was tote*, Ilia= ottbs Orli= twain an a=
Walks Old& they pornalsod that%Wtairg esswalt-
La/itior lallEloolt am, and aro roam is
appliorlaw air, sad in giving, which thee
they were to alt kgothar.
" Every assitant relieving officer was toroisbod with as
appliattioa rad rad book, socarilla ti:%:na which, bait
la rinsiced an orpalaseo
at arty- *iihs.ll=l=lsto mania imam&
smyst.. labia book Wu to be awrrod awry savannas Or
ralotilogathar' with a tadowont of Ow antowat relief
Biwa to gory applicant tow day to day. The book woe
oho braoatala the sumo end ape of %ha applicants, also the
lawallar, ages, and sen et their-children, tenather with any
aboorndims smaiderod atotariaL Every visa's bosh was
to bo mat up, owl a seam from it seat to the atonal Ohre
every might tt w that two day to day the eommittee WOK
helm psestsrta et suet knowledge of the program of deedd.
Mira losagat Me Irish poor.
" The lartaustioas given to the assistant relieving °Seen
were, hg, r require every applicant to appear every morn-
ing, at the station 'to the district in which he re-
sided, to ark* bit for relief ; 2nd, to visit after-
wards own Ns plane of abode, and to observe
mad albs Bib littarnota; led, to give relief according to
the mesemities of the eppelient. This relief was to be given
is amid% eons at Ow abode of the applicant, but more ge-
-1 nerelly it wee to be given at the station, in a subsequent
part of the day, upon the applicant attending for it. Con.
stun mommaaicatios on the partof the relieving officers with
the applissaas, together with unremitting visits to the
=Coma when they resided, was dered desirable
the eagles to obtain and preserveas much know-
ledge as peals of the applicants, and of the parts of the
town they noward to for lodging. The first object of this
was, that, in Ow vast crowd of immigrants, the chances
should be diminitheii as much as pueblo of any person suf.
1 firing from lust remaining unheard of by the tenoning
°Seen ; and, :iwasadly, that attempts at imposture might
receive every peesible check. Special instructions were also
given to the amiatant relieving ors (and it was one of the
matters which I personally attended to myself) to visit every
ease of sickness which they should hear of amongst the poor
in their districts, without waiting for an application for as-
sistance or relief, and to report it immediately to the central
office, in order that the proper medical assistance might be
promptly supplied.
The propriety of them arrangements, and others of
minor detail, has been illustrated by their operation.
" 1. From the Ist of February there have been only two
deaths in the perish of Liverpool, that I am aware of, to be
attributed directly to want of actual necessaries of life. Mr.
Curry the coroner of the borough, who has kindly given me
information upon the subject, tells me that in the first case,
that of Elizabeth Banashe, on 16th February, the cause of
death wu • disease of the bowels from want of food ;' and
in the second, that of Maria Roberts, the cause was ' bron-
chitis and want of food.' Much as it is to be lamented that
death in any instance, in the parish of Liverpool, is to be
attributed in the slightest degree to want of food, I may ob-
serve, that in neither of the two cases mentioned does it ap-
pear that want of food was occasioned by neglect on the part
of the vestry or any of its officers.
" One object in framing the new arrangements for admi-
nistering relief was to prevent imposition, and another to
provide sufficiently for the destitute. Up to the 2nd Feb-
ruary, a certain quantity of the relief distributed was given
to persons who were not destitute. The amount of relief
thus misapplied does not admit of being stated with accu-
racy, but it wss considerable. Since the 2nd February,
although the number of applicants baa been reduced nearly
two.thirds, the reduction in the amount of relief distributed
has not been very considerable. But relief has been con-
fined (as far as practicable) to the neonsitons, and they there-
fore have been more adequately relieved than was pre-
viously the case. A greater quantity of relief, and more
accurate attention to the claims of the destitute, became ne-
cessary with the new arrangements, iammuch as they were
accompanied by an expression of opinion on the part of the
vestry of the propriety of the inhabitants generally abstain-'
big from private almsgiving to penons who were strangers to
them ; they were also necessary as a precaution against the
threatened spread of disease, which would occur with in-
creased intensity in crowded neighbourhoods, if the inhab-
itants were allowed to suffer from want and destitution.

(To be continued.)

IRELAND.
Barr. 30.

The guardians of the poor of the unions of Castle-
island, county Kerry, have made an estimate of the
unemployed labourers in the union, a course which
other guardians would render good service if they
followed. .They state that in the whole district there
are 6,540 able-bodied labourers unemployed and des-
titute. Of these, Lady Headley's estates contain
1,110; Lady Frank's, 5,8; Mr. Herbert's, 700; Lord
Ventry's, 260; Col. Drummond's, 170; Mr. Francis
Chute's, 600 ; and Sir David Roche's, 46. These pro-
prietors are, it is supposed, about to make
ments to afford employment to those men, .1,717".
save their properties from excessive rates, and at the
same time improve them.
The landlords ought certainly not to be the parties
from whom the suggestion of non-payment should
proceed ; yet the doctrine has been propounded by
them. From what will be found recorded in "the
state of the country," your readers will perceive how
very
.apt the Irish tenantry are likely to become in
practising that lesson, and how very much that prac-
tic* will be calculated to embarrass the gentry of the
country. The non-payment principle is not without
its attractions for parties who owe more than they
can possibly discharge ; for there are few farmers in
three of the provinces of Ireland who are able to pay
this year the rent and arrears, owing to the
landlords, and the rates, and county taxes. Non-
payment being resolved upon, steps will, of
course, be taken to coerce the acquiescence of
those whe may be disposed to act more justly, and
such landlords as endeavour to enforce their claims
will be met
.by resistance. Hence we shall, most
probably, during the winter approaching, have many
such attacks recorded as those on the houses of con-
siderable farmers like Mr. O'Brien, and many such
oppositions to distress for rent as has been given to',
Mr. Gamble. In Mayo, the practice of distraint and
seizure is very general, and the clearances numerous. ,
The whole crops are seized in many instances, and
the tenantry then ejected; the destitution which in-
variably results is aggravated by the circumstance
that the new poor-law is not in operation in its more
humane provisions in that county. Three weeks
since, a relieving officer was appointed in Castlebar,
but he has not yet administered any relief or ad-
mitted a single pauper.
The Royal Agricultural Society had a meeting of
their council to-day, to consider the letter of his ex-
cellency to the Duke of Leinster neting the *Sri-
culMral instruction of the people. They agreed to
call a general meeting of the body, to co-operate with
his excellency's object, in three weeks.
There is not, it is said, any truth in the rumoured
elevation of Chief Justice Doherty to the peerage.
The other changes consequent on his rumoured eleva-
, time are, of course, untrue.