The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-07 00:00:00

HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL (IRELAND)

In reply to another question from the HoN. MEMBER,
Sir W. SOMERVILLE slid it was the intention of
the Government to introduce the Health of Towns (Ire-
land) Bill.

INLAND REVENUE BILL.
The second reading of Lois Bill was postponed.
RELIEF OF DISTRESS (IRELAND).
The House went into Committee upon this Bill.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in
rising to move that a vote be granted in order to afford
relief to destitute persons in the west of Ireland, said it
would probably be in the recollection of Hon. Members
that a similar vote was proposed at the close of last
session, and that the Government gave answer that it
did not then think it expedient to bring forward any
measure on the subject. They did, however, request the
House to entrust them with some small-discretion for
the actual preservation of life in that country, and there
appeared to be a general concurrence in favour of
that course. In calling attention to what had
been done during the recess, he said it would
have been seen by the report of the British
Association that, although a larger quantity of potatoes
were planted last year, the failure of the crops was nearly
as bad as in 1847, and of course it was necessary that
further relief should be afforded. The British Associa-
tion having exhausted all the funds placed at their dis-
posal, applied to the Government for a grant, and, in
compliance with that application, 3,0001. had been ad-
vanced by the Government. Having thus stated what
had been done, the Right Hon. Gentleman alluded to
the necessity which existed for further allowance being
made towards the relief of certain portions of the
western coast of Ireland. He regretted that the papers
upon the table of the House did not give a greater
amount of information, but they would be found to con-
taia sufficient to justify the vote he was about to propose.
He considered that it would be much more advisable that
relief should be afforded by the Treasury of the United
Kingdom, and that the poor-law was the best machine
through which that relief could be administered. It
was necessary that the most stringent regulations should
he adopted to carry out any plan of relief, and it seemed
to him that the poor-law would meet the state of cir-
cumstances, which was owing to the failure of that food
upon which so large a proportion of the population
existed. The Honourable Gentleman then read selec-

tions from documents, showing the amount of dis-
tress which existed in various portions of the country.
By a list of those who were in arrear for highway rates,
it appeared that out of twelve, there were only four on
whose lands there were effects at all, the rest being en-
tirely waste. As an instance further of the state of the

country, ho might say that out of the lands in one union,
which altogether was assessed at 11,919/., the acreage
on which 11,4921. was assessed, were altogether either
given up to the landlords, or in the hands of tenants so
destitute as to be utterly unable to pay any rates. I
any Hon. Gentleman would only 1-:ok at the amount of
rates collected, the expense incurred in collecting them,
and the amount voted for the relief of the inhabitants, he
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was assured that he
would see that it would be utterly impossible to avoid
granting the relief which he had to propose.—(Hear.)
lie had already stated that in the Ballina union the sum
of 10,000/. had been expended, but that it was altogether
inadequate to pay the expenses. The same was the csse in
the Dublin union, and in several others beside. The amount
received on the rates had nevertheless been on the in-
crease during the last three years. At the end of Sep-
tember, 1846, it came up to 371,0001., at the end of
September, 1847, it reached 638,000/., and at the end
of September, 1848, it was 1,127,000/. derived from the
land. It was, therefore, manifestly evident that no ade-
quate sum could be collected for the relief of the poor
from that source, and that it was impossible that the

poor could be sustained unless the House came forward
with that aid which was now imperatively required.
He did propose, therefore, that in granting the supplies,
they should vote a certain sum for this specific purpose;
and he was happy to say that there were means by
which the money could be given without any public
inconvenience whatever. He had last year proposed
the grant of a certain sum from the Consolidated Fund;
that sum was 1,700,0004 Of that amount he was
authorised to borrow 100,000/., but from the increased
revenues of the country that had been unnecessary, and
it still lay in the Exchequer. Further, he had found
that.it was unnecessary to spend the whole of the sum
entrusted to him for the relief of Ireland by the sum of
106,0001., which still, therefore, formed a portion of the
Consolidated Fund. Thus there was a sum at present
quite available and ready for this purpose. He had also
ho satisfaction of saying that a sum of 78,0001. had
been repaid for advances made during the previous year,
which he thought might properly be applied, and might
very fairly be applied, to the object of this grant. When
laying his improved estimates before the House last
year, he had stated that in his opinion the available in-
come of the country would be equal to its expenditure
within the amount of 292,0001. From the agreeable
fact to which he had just alluded, viz., the increased re•
venue of the country, he had been very satisfactorily
mistaken, and he was happy still more to say that from
the estimates which had been prepared for the present
year he had full reason to believe that the revenue of

the country this year will be fully equal to its expendi-
,ure.—(Cheers.) Taking all these circumstances into
consideration, he was quite prepared to ask for a sum -
comparatively small sum—from the Consolidated Fund,
of 50,0001. fur the relief of Irish distress. This
was, as he bud stated, a small sum, but with the recol-
lection of what had already transpired, he was not dis-
posed to give much at a time, and with the 184,000 L
already on hand, he believed that would be sufficient at
any rate for all present purposes.—(Cheers.) The Right
Hon. Baronet then proposed that the sum of 50,0001.
•hould be granted from the Consolidated Fund for the
relief of the distress in Ireland.—(Cheers.)
Mr. P. SCROPE was glad to see that the Govern-
ment were at last alive to the necessity of not only re.
lieving the distress in Ireland, but also of seeing
hat the money which was voted by the House should
be judiciously expended. Ile had voted most readily
or the Irish poor-law, but unfortunately that law had
been accompanied by a wasteful mode of granting relief,
ind of dispensing :large sums in the most extravagant
manner. Some two or three years ago they had granted
8,000,0001. or 10,000,0001. for the relief of Ireland, and
a great portion of that amount had been applied to
public works, and nearly the whole of which had
been almost entirely thrown away. Indeed, he had
been assured by a gentleman who was a witness to
the fact that upwards of 100/. had actually been paid to
the peasantry for breaking a heap of stones, for which,
in the ordinary payment for labour, would have cost
only thirty shillings. By this and numerous other in-
stances which he could cite he was convinced that it
would be worse than useless to grant further moneys
tt iless they took a security on the land. If there was no
stock on the property, then if the advance was nob re-
paid, let the land be sold to repay it.
Next, he was unwilling to grant this money
unless it was also to be used in the employment
if productive labour; for unless it was so employed they
were only increasing the evil which they desired to
avoid. That there was ample opportunity to employ
his labour profitably was evident from the fact that, in
eight unions, which comprised no less than 2,220,000
Acres, there were only 221,000 acres, or less than one-
Toth, under cultivation. Now, in those eight unions,
during the year ending 29th September, 1848,
there had been granted in relief 222,311/., of
which only 44,1951. had been collected in the
shape of rates, while a sum of more than 160,0001.,
more than four times the sum collected from the inha-
bitants, had been given by the Government almost, he
might say, as a premium for idleness. The Right
Hon. Gentlemen had spoken largely, and he believed
justly, of the resources of Ireland; and he quite concurred
in the view that that country, if rightly administered,
was fully competent to sustain all its own poor. But
under the plan which they had now been adopting they
were doing nothing more than rendering the work..
houses of Ireland like the national workshops of Paris,
injurious alike to the artizan and to the country. They
were, in fact, giving a premium for throwing lands
out of cultivation, and rendering labour unproductive.
The deaths in the workhouses amounted to one. fourth
of the actual inmates, and in the course of the year in
these establishments the amount of mortality was very
great. It had been admitted by the Right Honourable
Gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) that
Ireland was in an abnormal state, and he
would ask why the Government hesitated to
apply an abnormal remedy ? Having apologised
for detaining the House so long, the Hon. Member con •
eluded by proposing the following amendment as an ad-
dition to the resolution:—" That no appropr.iation of
moneys taken from general taxation be in future applied
in aid of the poor- rate of Irish unions, except on con-
dition; 1. That its repayment be secured by a lien on
the rateable property of the union; 2. That it be ex-
pended, as far as it is practicable, in the productive em-
ployment of the able-bodied poor."
Mr. CHRISTOPHER said, as an English representative,
he was not prepared to concur in the vote. When he consi-
dered the very short period that had elapsed since this coun-
try granted eight millions of money for the relief of the Irish
people, a very small past of which had been repaid,
and of which he predicted a very small portion would return
to:the Treasury—and when he saw that our:workhouses were
being rapidly filled with able-bodied paupers, he protested
against the House being annually called upon to sanction
votes of this character. In the south of England the
condi-
tion of the poor was as miserable as it was in any part of
ireland, and he would ask, was it right or fair
that the over-taxed people of England s.hould
taken
to make a further grant, more especially
it Ito consideration that in Ireland there walisennoitinwcaosme-tax
a rid no assessed taxes ?
dthe House would
amendment than the orignnael wmeoutiodn ;rwabthuetr bseupppreorttestthede
gainst the vote altogether, andhethterufrtiesh
people ought to
ow lay down the principle that(flear, hear.)
m aintain their own poor.—(Sear, . • ,
44c. F. Luna potwitimilugung the btropg lAn.