The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-09 00:00:00

THE POTATO CROP.
The following is an extract from a report of the Commit.-
sieners of Inquiry into matters connected with the failure 4:
the potato crop :

Dublin Castle,•Asn. 20, Ig4t.
We have not understood it to be within, our ITovince to'
sttCgest to the Government measures inveheing'
important'
questions of policy; but we consider it not otAy' Vithin our •
province, but our imperative duty, to bring, without further
delay, under the notice of Government, a state Of
stances which appears to us to call for immediate cetoit;
tion, and in which questions of policy may be iirroys d.
Two questions of very pressing nature have been under tth
consideration of the board, which, for the present, have been
disposed of by a suggestion that those interested in the re—
spective localities shall avail themselves of the Act 1 Via.„
c. 21, which enables the Board of Works, upon certain pre- •
liminaries being takes, to advance money for the execution
of local works.
We beg to refer your Excellency to the reports of these
cases, and especially to that of Nobber, as precenting pro-
bable indications of that which must be expected ire very
many instances to occur. We cannot disguise from (Ply-
selves, that the remedy we have suggested in these cases`
may fail of being successfully adopted, and if adopted, may
be but a temporary alleviation of the distress then prevail-
ing; and that numernuse cases of distress are likely to occur
and some are near at hand, for which neither the Act
pointed out by us, nor any other, as far as we know, in exist-
ence or in the contemplation of Government, can provide an
effectual remedy.
It appears, from undoubted authority, that of 32 counties
in Ireland, not one has escaped failure in the potato crop; of
130 poor-law unions, not one is exempt; of 2,050 electoral
divisions, above 1,400 are certainly reported as having suf-
fers('; and we have no certainty, until the receipt of more
minute returns, now in progress of completion, that the re-
maining 600 have altogether escaped.
Every variety, in point of extent of loss, and every shade
of subdivision in point of locality, will be found in the re-
turns laid before us; and this circumstance, while it implies
an exemption from widely extended mad uninterrupted loss
in one continuous locality, complicates, on the other hand,
and renders difficult the application of relief in the manlier
apparently most desirable, by employment in labour.
The poer-houses will, without doubt, he found • most im-
portant means of relief, and we consider it a most pfoviden-
tial circumstance that such an extensive resource is avaiLable
against A calamity more widely extended, and more serious
in its nature, thee any that has affected the Irish poor since
the year 1117. We hays the satisfaction to know that the
resource is still open to a very great extent, and that even in
the most distressed district the poor-houses are very far from
beingfull. 'We look with anxious attention to their proress
towards repletion, as a strong, though not conclusive indica-
tion of the state of the union to which they belong. We
refer, however, to the comAstbulary report of the recent oc-
currence at the poor-house at liens (in which union Nobber
is situated), fora proof that it would be unsafe to rely upon
the state of the respective poor-houses, either as a certain
test of the amount of distress in the union, or as a sole re-
source for its relief.

The ordinary expenditure for one year of the poor-houses
in Ireland is about 260,0001., including establishei charges,
repairs and instalments for repayment of building ; and
taking the largest pecuniary estimate of the relief which
their capacity would afford, we cannot consider it as at all
equivalent to meet any such deficiency in the crop as that
estimated.
In turning therefore from this branch of resource for the
poor to those afforded by existing and contemplated laws
for the encouragement of public works, we are mist by diffi-
culties attaching peculiarly to the present emergency.
In all cases of public distress, it is necessary, as stated by
the Commission of 1822 (16th May), to prefer small local
undertakings, where employment in labour is to be given, to
those on a great scale. Works on a greater scale have a
tendency t• invite an accumulation of numbers to a given
spot, aid probably to disappoint the greater part of them.
That which is necessary on all such occasions is pecu-
liarly necessary now ; the extreme variety in the extent of
the potato failure, and the minute and insulated subdivisions
•f land in which it prevails, lead us to entertain the greatest
doubt whether any adjustment of public works can be made
to meet the need wherever it may occur; and it must be
met, or death from famine may be the result.
Sir John M`Neill, a highly competent authority, in a
d•cameit transmitted to us, estimates the distance to which
the benefit of employment in public works extends at fill,
miles only. (Signed)
EDWARD LUCAS, Chairman.