The Irish standard., 1891-04-11

Ireland is called. Though the distress
is quite as great as it has been In any
season Of scarcity since the great fam
inc OF 1845 AZ, the Balfour furd is, [
believe, much smaller than the amounts
raised on former occasions. A certain
dislike to entrust money to those who
Rave ruled Ireland so harshly, has some
thing to do with the falling OFF. no
doubt. Unhappily, the relief Of Irish
distress is accounted political card in
Balfour's hands. By this means the
brutal pounding Of unoffending people
as at Cork and Tipperary, and the long,
harsh terms of imprisonment suffered
by members of Parliament, are to be
put out of memory.
The fund is comparatively small, and
the castle authorities have to make as
much of penny as possible. How
shary are the limitations put upon this
relief, are apparent from the instrnc
tions given to the police who admins
ter if. No family is eligible TO reliet if
it has an able bodied man, or even a
boy over IA, or which is in receipt of
even a shilling or two week OF out
door relief from the poor law guardians.
Even family eligible for out door re-
lief, though neglected, cannot recsive
anything, nor can anything he given to
a family holding less than a quarter Of
an acre of ground. There are several
other limitations. but these will do.
No wonder a government official said
On reading the circular: ''WhO the
dickens will they relieve. then?"
Some private funds raised for relief
have been used to give meal a dav TO
every child in certain schools. This is
an excellent thing to 90, for not one in
tea of these children Of misery ever
tastes a drop of milk, and as the pota-
toes ara out, their diet is of the scanti,
est. No doubt you will hear that a
meal day is given to all school chill
dren in the famine-smitten district
from the BalfOur fund. | asked good
parish priest about it the other day and
he showed me the remittance to feed
the children ia his schools, Which con-
tain 800 enrolled pupils, but in which
the average attendance is little less
than 800 in this planting season when
80 many able bodied men are forced TO
work for $l,75 a week on the relief
works ia save the families from perish
ing, while women and children plant
the potatoes. For the children IN the
potato patches nothing can we'll be
done, and figured upon the remittance
in The priests hand about $14 for feed
ing nearly 800 children a week. It
would be less than q half~pennY day
to child. What sort of a dinner for
a child Will one cent buy in place
fifty miles from railway and where
nearly all food must be imported?
How will you get portion small enough
to make the provisions diyislble?
In order to help the good father out
of his perplexitY the Castle had sent
him the following notice:
LAS in many districts it may ba diff.
cult for the managers to obtain regu-
lar supply OF bread and other suitable
food for their schools. you NAV be GLAD
to know that biscuits, specially recon-
mended for childrens use, made of pure
whole meal -four, with an extra quanti-
ty of sugar, may be procured in Dub
lin at the rate of IS shilling per hum
dred weight (about 1000 biscuit)."
That is to say, after making allow
ance for railway freight to Galway. and
the carting from Galway. say, to the
wretched villages on the south side of
Renoyle bay, the remittance will barely
enable the parish priest to give to every
child actually present in the schools one
sweetented graham cracker day for
five daYs in the week. suppose. how
ever, it vii! enable Mr.. BalfOur to de-
clare that his fund has given meal a
day to ali the school children in this
parish, and to all in the famine district.
One OF the necessary reliefs under
taken by the government is the impor-
tation of seed potatoes from Scotland.
AS in all government business, the
price paid is enormous. The govern
ment charges the potatoes to the local
poor law guardians, who sell them on
credit to the peasants, and these poor
fellows are already overburdend with
debt to the shopkeepers. These pota-
toes in the Clifden union cost the peo-
pie about 2 cents a pound, ana they are
terrified to have this new debt hanging
over them. A fund collected in Eng
land and America, to be distributed by
Miss Surge. who has found basket
making industry at Letterplack, is ad-
ministered for her by another philan-
thropic English lady, Miss Mander.
This fund has saved many from starva-
tion during the winter. At present.
what remains of the money used chiefly
to supply necessary food to the sick and
to furnish seed potatoes to the very
poorest inhabitants of some Of the most
poverty ridden villages in this vicinity.
OF course all cannot be relieved, and
even while / write, poor no potatoes,
some Of them barefoot, are standing at
the hotel door IN a biting north wind
clamOring for potatoes after they had
all been distributed. One lad who had
walked many long Irish miles with q
bag under his arm said 70 me with q
1 =