The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-25 00:00:00

an sutrhcehyase
shouldrod
as far as they were able, distribute relief,
teoesttahhch3s'h s hstomupl d
depots, e enabled
erd to
to the famishing applicants, and that they should not
require this indispensable test of work—(Heitia hear.)
but that a labouring man should be allowed to wurk
upon his own plot of ground or on the farmers, and thus
his labour would tend to benefit the approaching harvest,
and perhaps, by such an arrangement, he might be en-
abled to earn some small trifle in addition to the relief
afforded him by the committee. After we had considered
this scheme, I communicated it to the Lord-Lieu-
tenant of Ireland. We have committed the various
officers of the Beard of Works and the Commis-
sariat Department, they are prepared to consider
it favourably, and we will endeavour, by a
series of preparatory measures, and next by
a Bill, to carry into effect the arrangement.
We propose that these arrangements shall be carried
out under the superintendence of a gentleman, who has
had extensive experience of public works. The person
to whom I allude is Sir John Barrow.—(Cheers.)
At the present time the Inspector-General of fora-
cations in this country.— (Hear.) I sent for him the
other day for the first time, and having explained to
him what we wanted, he said he would obtain leave of
absence from his preseet duties, and instead of devoting
the time to relaxation he would consider it his duty to
devote it to the services of the country, and that he
would be ready to go to Ireland at any time when
called on.—(Loud cheers.) That Gentleman will be in
communication with the Lord Lieutenant, and will co-
operate or not, as he thinks best, with the Board
of Works, with the Commissioners of the Poor-
law. with the heads of the constabulary force,
and with any other parties in Ireland that
may be calculated to assist him.—(Bear, hear.) The
question with regard to proposing this measure as one
of immediate relief, and for the more efficiently supplying
the people with food who are in want, will be treated in
connection with what has been done already; while
every thing will be done to give speedy effect to the
operation of this measure ; at the same time, care will
be taken, and the Lord-Lieutenant will see to it, that its
substitution for the system of public works, already in
operation, shall be easy of transition. There will
be no rude dismissal of the people at once, but when all
the arrangements of the present scheme are made, then
no further presentments shall take place, or new public
works will be commenced.—(Hear.) The Lord-Lieutenant
states that in regard to the roads already commenced,
if they are abandoned, they will be left in a most
miserable state ; he, therefore, suggests that these
shall, at least, be finished. These works will,
therefore, be allowed to go to completion.
With respect to this advance a claim has been made,
that the whole of it should not be a burden to Ireland.
I think that the misfortune was so severe that, passing
by the remote causes of it, we ought not to throw the
full burden of it on the possessors of property in Ireland.
It would be right that the whole of the burden should
not remain on Irish property. I should, therefor, pro-
pose, on some future day, that an arrangement should
be made by Parliament, by which, in each succeeding
year when the instalment became due, one half of that
instalment should be paid and the other half should be
remitted, taking care that the whole debt should be
kept up until the half is paid; but when the half was
paid the remainder should be remitted to them, provid-
ing that one half of the whole charge shall be refunded.
I should state, with regard to the financial part of the
question, with regard to the sums hitherto issued,
that they have been issued by bills on the
Exchequer and the Consolidated Fund, but
it neither has been, nor is it now in contemplation to
issue Exchequer-bills in order to meet this decrease.—
(Hear, hear.) But, however, it must be considered
when we are making these propositions to Parliament,
that it is placing a very considerable burden upon the
finances of the country—(Hear, hear)—and that in
placing that burden on the finances of this country I do
feel myself disabled from making some propositions
which I should be called upon to make ; and all
of 'them entailing expense, but with the very heav)
burden arising from the destitution in the present
year, it would be hardly fair for the people
of this country to propose them ; because,
whether it is stated that the burden is borne
by the Consolidated Fund, or whether the burden be
borne by the imperial Treasury and the general finances,
it must always he recollected that these sums are not to
be granted by Parliament or the Government without the
most serious consideration, for they are all sums derived
from the payment of the people of this country, and who
pay it on their soap, their sugar, and their tea and
coffee. It is from that source is derived the surplus by
which we are enabled to come to the assistance of Ire-
land. The people are willing, as I think, to do all that
is liberal in this respect. 'We must always consider what
is meet and just to the people of this country. We must
consider the difficulty and privation, and by what hard
labour they earned these sums.—(Loud cries of " Hear,
lie thought that the whole burden of these public works
should not be borne by Ireland, and he, therefore,
should propose that each year, as an instalment
bcame due, if one-half was paid, the other should be
remitted, keeping up the whole debt until one-
half should be paid. It should be recollected
that this was placing a considerable burden
on the finances of the country, and which prevented
him from making several propositions entailing expense,
which he should otherwise have proposed. It should be
remembered that these grants from the consolidated
fund were grants from sums paid by thc people
on their soap, their tea, and their sugar, and
it should always be borne in mind that these
were levied upon the people of this country out of their
daily toil. He also proposed to advance a sum, not ex-
ceeding 50,0001., to be repaid before the end of December,
for the purchase of seed. He proposed that this advance
should be made to the proprietors and not to the tenants.
In proposing these advances he declared that he did not
nor could he expect to ward off the effects of the awful
visitation of Providence with which Ireland had been
afflicted. It was not in the power of man to do away
with the effect of such a calamity. Ho should not
have felt it necesspry to make the declaration so empha.
tically had it not been for a paper put forth by the Mar-
quis of Siam), urging his countrymen to demand from Par-
liament that they should take steps to secure an immediate
and cheap supply of food. He was surprised that any
man of education could have imagined that it was in
the power of any Government to turn famine into
plenty. It was impossible. The utmost they could do
was to alleviate the calamity. But what surprised him
was, that at Castlebar there was a union workhouse
capable of containing 600 inmates, but which contained
but 130, because it was said the rates mould not be col-
lected to maintain more, while among those who
ought to have paid those rates were sure
who scarcely were capable of so doing. He regretted to
see in this a tendency to recommend the adop-
tion of some vague and visionary plan, while
the easy . end practicable duty of paying
rates for the support of the poor was neglected
The interference of Government to alleviate distress
might be made in this way. Assistance might be
granted to proprietors by loans for the improve-
ment of property—by public works—by enacting
that relief should be given to the destitute by
law, These three modes should be kept sepa-
rate. In advancing to proprietors security should
be taken that such advances should be applied to
the purposes for which they were granted. Such secu-
rity was taken by the laws passed in the last session,
and by the Drainage Act more particularly. They pro-
posed to take the terms proposed in the Drainage
Act, for making advances, and to extend it to
other improvements, doing away with the technical dif-
ficulties which obstructed the operation of that Act,
allowing proprietors to borrow money at 3i per cent., to
be repaid in twenty-two years, making an allowance for
repayment if such repayment should take place earlier.
This would be better than combining such a plan with
any plan for the relief of the poor. They also proposed
taket o c o nbsyo
tl ihdea Let
aatne dt me
rpercol va em taht ei Dn
ofr a i
an
pa go er
tiportion
tos ,f
tt oh
euwn Ada
se
tre-
lands of Ireland. They proposed to devote 1,000,00e1
to this purpese—that if the proprietor chose to part
with it he might sell it, but that if he refused to
sell or to improve there should be a compulsory
power of taking land by the Commissioners of
Woods and Forests, when its value was be-
low 2s. 6d. an acre. It was proposed that
should be generally reclaimed, roads be made, buildings
erected, and divided into lots of :from 25 to 50 acres
and either let to a tenant for a number of years or sold'
but they did not intend to undertake by that grant,
the task of cultivation. He anticipated great
advantage from the location of the expelled tenantry
from other properties on these holdings, and he thought
it would be a nucleus for the formation of a body of small
independent proprietors. He did not think that
the small holdings were the cause of the misery
of Ireland, :for in the county of Armagh, where the
small landlords were the most numerous, the people
were the most prosperous. In stating these measures,
which they proposed to introduce immediately, he had
not stated all the measures which they intended to in-
trodune. With regardito measures for the relief of the
destitute, he
proposed that relief should no longer be confined to

the workhouse. He proposed to bring in a Bill for the
more effectual relief of the destitute poor oflreland, em-

powering the guardians to give relief either in or out
of the workhouse at their discretion to the infirm
poor, and to all those who are permanently disqualified
from earning their living by labour, thus giving the
guardians power to relieve the destitute at their own
homes, ,and when the workhouse was full he proposed
to give the Poor-law Commissioners power to give leave
to the g uardians to give relief to the able-bodied poor
out of th.e workhouse, relief to be given in food only.
He proposed to appoint relieving officers, who, in case
of urgent distress, should have power to
take persons into the house, or to give outdoor
relief until the next meeting of the board of guardians.
Such were the measures for the relief of Ireland which

he propowd immediately to introduce.,
(LIST SITTING.),