The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-10 00:00:00

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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
ROUSE OF COMMONS. Mach 9.
NOTICES OF MOTION.

Mr. BRIGHT gave notice that he should postpone
his Bill on the game-laws till this day fortnight.
Mr. LUSHINGTON gave notice that, to-morrow,
he should present a petition from a number of the
electors and inhabitants of Westminster, praying
that an inquiry might be instituted into the foul and
disgusting practices which are still retained in several
workhouses of the metropolis.
Mr. BANKES gave notice that to-morrow he would
put a question to her Majesty's Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, as to whether any reply had been
received to the representations made by the Minister
at the Court of Madrid on the subject of the in-
creased duties the Government of Spain proposed to
place on articles of British manufacture; also, why
no return had been made, in compliance with an
order of the House, with respect to the tariffs of
Spain and Portugal.
COMMITTEE OF PRIVILEGES.

Lord H. VANE brought up the report of the
Committee of Privileges.
Mr. G. BERKELEY said, that on the part of the
petitioners he should feel it his duty, when the report
was printed, to call the attention of the House to the
same.

THE CASE OF ANNETTE MEYERS.
Lord NUGENT wished to know from the Right
Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home
Department whether he had received any further
communication from the Lord Chief Baron on the
subject of Annette Meyers, who had been found guilty
of murder at the sessions at the Old Bailey, and if
so, whether it was the intention of the Government
to act upon the recommendation of the jury.
Sir G. GREY said that he thought he should best
discharge the painful duty which devolved upon him,
as Secretary of State, by declining to give any answer
to the question of the Noble Lord.

THE TREASURY.
Sir B. HALL gave notice that on Monday, the
18th instant, he should move for the original estimate
of the improvements in the Treasury, with the name
of the architect, together with the entire cost.
THE IRISH POOR-LAW.
Mr. S. CRAWFORD then rose to move for leave
to introduce a Bill to amend the " Irish Poor Relief
Extension Act," with a view to the repeal of the 10th
section, called the " quarter-acre clause." He said
the clause as it stood inflicted the greatest injustice
upon the poor tenant, as it crippled his industry, and
kept him constantly in the most abject state of poverty.
The provisions of his Bill might be stated in a few
words. He proposed to repeal the quarter-acre clause,
and empower the guardians to give relief to such
persons as in their judgment might deserve it. The
third clause would enable the guardians to afford
relief to parties in distress by way of loan, and to take
as security for its repayment a lien upon such pro•
perty as the parties might possess. These were the
short provisions of his Bill; and without troubling
the House further, he begged to move for leave to
introduce it.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. O'FLAHERTY said he had been requested by
the Bon. Member for Limerick, slho was unavoidably
absent, to second this motion, and he certainly had
great pleasure in doing so. In the present state of Ire-
land it was absolutely necessary that the House should
amend the existing poorlaw. All the institutions
in his own district had been converted into receptacles
for the starving population, and he had this morning
received a letter from a Roman Catholic clergyman of
the neighbourhood, giving a most frightful account
of the state and condition of the poor.—(Hear, hear.)
He earnestly trusted that the Government would look
to the fearful state of things in Ireland, and endeavour
to provide some remedy for the seine.
Sir W. SOMERVILLE said that it was with
considerable pain that he rose to oppose the introduc-
tion of this Bill. The Honourable Member had gone
in his remarks entirely upon a wrong supposition--
he had confounded the interpretation of this quarter-
acre clause with the manner in which the landlords
had carried out the provisions of that clause. The
Right Hon. Baronet then proceeded to read extracts
from a correspondence which had taken place
between the Commissioners of the poor-law
and several persons who had applied to them on the
subject of the operation of that clause, to the effect
that the boards of guardians were bound to relieve all
destitute persons without regard to their being
possessed of a quarter of an acre of land.--(Hear.)
After reading the instructions of the Relief Commis-
sioners, he said he thought the House could have no
doubt that all the objections of the lion. Gentleman
fell to the ground. He wished the House and the
Hon. Member to bear in mind that the horrible
cases of ejectment to which he had referred had not
their origin in the poor-law. If the houses of poor
persons were entered during their temporary
absence and levelled to the ground, the poor-
law could not be blamed, as it could
neither provide against nor punish any
such proceedings—proceedings which he was bound
to say were of the most shocking character, and
most harrowing to the humane feelings of Hon.
Members in that House and the community
out of doors.—(Hear, hear.) He opposed the Bill
because it would give rise to hopes that could not be
realised, and would accomplish more mischief than
good. He believed he should best consult
the interests of bath rich and poor by re-
sisting the introduction of the Bill.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. FAGAN said that if there were abundant agri-
cultural employment in Ireland there might be some
justification for this quarter-acre clause; but with
2,300,000 people in a state of destitution for six weeks
in every year, and 95,000 families endeavouring to
subsist on farms under one acre, it was certain to work
both cruelty and injustice.
Mr. P. SCROPE complained of the want of suffi-
cient authentic information as to the operation of the
poor-law in Ireland ; but as far as he had been able to
ascertain, his worst suspicions as to the effect of this
clause, which he originally opposed, were being
realised by its being made, as he bad foretold, thein-
strument of clearances upon a small scale. He had
always been of opinion that the application of the
English poor-law to Ireland would never suffice
to meet the necessities of the country without some
supplemental measure to provide for the employ-
ment of the people, and at the same time to develop
those natural resources with which no country was
more blessed. It was a monstrous anomaly to see
thousands of able-bodied men daily fed in idleness,
with those resources untried. This was not the prin-
ciple of the poor-law of Elizabeth, nor of the exist-
ing English poor-law. The true principle of a poor-
law
was to relieve, gratuitously, the aged and infirm,
and find productive labour for the able-bodied.
During the past years no less than 740,000 able-bodied
men had been relieved, and there was every likeli•
hood of a similar number being relieved in the course
of the present year. He warned the House that if
immense masses were to be thus made chargeable on
the rates for their support, without giving any equi-
valent in the shape of labour, the country would soon
sink to ruin. The Hon. Gentleman having declared
himself favourable to the introduction of the Bill as
likely to amend the law, announced his intention of
renewing in the present session his proposition for
makng the waste lands of Ireland available for giving
at once employment and relief to the able-bodied poor
of that country.
Mr. F. O'CONNOR complained generally of the
want of sympathy in England for the Irish poor,
while the warmest sympathy was evinced towards the
English in France. If the Government persisted in
their unjust and cruel treatment of Ireland, that
country would not remain much longer subject to the
dominion of England. Conceiving that the lion.
Member for Rochdale had fully made out his case, he
would support his motion. It was not only a great
anomaly, but most unfair, that in such a country a
man possessed of a quarter of an acre of land, and in
ft state of destitution, should be refused relief.