Applications had been frequently made both to the Irish government, and to the Board in Dublin, representing that if the idiotic and harmless lunatics then confined in the gaols or maintained in the lunatic asylums, were transferred to the workhouses of the unions to which they belonged, those institutions would be greatly relieved, more especially the asylums, which would then be enabled to receive more curable cases, and thus extend their usefulness. To such communications it had always been replied—“that the Irish Poor Relief Act made no provision for the support of insane and lunatic persons, specially as such; but that a destitute person, being insane or lunatic, might be admitted into the workhouse if the guardians so decided, in the same manner as any other destitute individual.” To provide for cases of this description, idiot wards had been prepared in every workhouse, which were calculated to afford accommodation for about 2,400 of this class of paupers, whenever the guardians in the exercise of their discretion, should think fit to admit them. It had however been thought right to discourage any forced or immediate transfer of insane or idiotic persons or harmless lunatics from the asylums and gaols, but rather to wait for the gradual absorption by the workhouses of such of these unfortunates as could be properly relieved therein.
Fruitless efforts were made, particularly at Cork and Belfast, to raise the funds necessary for defraying the expense of emigration. In Cork, Dublin, Waterford, Belfast, and certain other large towns, a considerable number of young persons chiefly females, and for the most part the remnants of a former system, had as has been before stated,[115] accumulated in the workhouses, for whom emigration would afford at once the most eligible, and it may almost be said the only outlet. Yet in the present state of the law, it was found nearly if not quite impossible to take advantage of it. The workhouses had not created the present burden, but they had gathered it into mass, and might be made useful auxiliaries to a well-directed plan of emigration. The commissioners declared that it would materially facilitate this object, if the boards of guardians were empowered to apply a portion of the rates for the emigration of such fit persons as had been resident sufficiently long in the workhouse for testing their actual helplessness and destitution. This would in fact be reverting to what was originally proposed, but which had been altered in the progress of the bill through the house of lords, by substituting divisional chargeability for that of the entire union—a change to which is mostly owing whatever difficulties have since occurred in the working of the measure.
The 18th and 44th sections of the Relief Act provide for dividing the unions into electoral divisions, and for charging against each electoral division not only its proportion of the general expenses of the union, but also the expense incurred for the relief of persons stated in the registry to have been resident in such electoral division; the relief of others not stated to have been so resident, being charged against the union at large. These provisions were inserted in the bill in the house of lords, on the motion of the duke of Wellington, with the professed view of assimilating the mechanism of the Irish unions to the unions in England; but the circumstances in the two countries were widely different, and there would be little analogy between the long-established English parish, and the newly-created electoral divisions. This difference was however overlooked in the desire for assimilation, and the electoral division system was incorporated in the Act, together with a sort of quasi settlement as between the different divisions, approximating to settlement as between parishes in the English unions. Under these circumstances, it can hardly occasion surprise, that although arranged with the utmost care, and with every endeavour to give them a general harmony and coherence, the electoral divisions did not work smoothly. Their separate chargeability interfered with the efficient action of the unions for general purposes, as in the case of emigration, and led to struggles and contention in the boards of guardians as soon as the unions got fully into operation, each division endeavouring to relieve itself from the charge of a registered pauper, by fixing it upon some other, or by casting it upon the union at large; and thus one of the evils of the English settlement-law was inflicted upon the Irish unions, contrary to the intentions of the original framers of the Act, and contrary likewise to what a more thorough knowledge of the condition of the two countries would it is believed have dictated.
There was moreover still considerable difficulty with respect to the valuations, and the difficulty was not a little increased by the complexity of the form in which the rate is directed to be made out. This form is expressly prescribed by the Amendment Act, and is rather calculated for the state of things in England, than for what exists in Ireland, although it is too minute and complex to admit of its working satisfactorily in either. The form was engrafted on the bill in the house of lords, with a view to other than poor-law purposes, and contrary to the author’s earnest representations. As the number and the business of the unions increased, it was found nearly impossible to adhere to this form, owing to the extreme subdivision of property.[116] In all the 130 unions the number of persons rated whose valuations did not exceed 5l. was 630,272, whilst the number whose valuations were above that amount was 550,866, and those at 50l. and upwards 46,565; thus showing that a considerable majority of the ratepayers were valued at and under 5l.[117] Believing that such would turn out to be the case, the author had recommended that no occupier under 5l. should be called upon to pay the poor-rate, but that the rate on all such holdings should be paid by the landlord. It was however provided by the 72nd section of the Act, that instead of the exemption of 5l. holdings, the landlord might agree to pay the rate himself, and be allowed a rebate of 10 per cent. for so doing: but this provision has not been acted upon, and all the small tenements are required to be rated in the complex form of the 2nd schedule of the Act, comprising no less than eighteen distinctive columns, under penalty of the rates being deemed illegal. There can be no doubt that in the abstract, as the commissioners observe, “all property should contribute to the rate, and the whole population be interested in the prevention of pauperism, and in the well-being of the class for whose immediate benefit statutory provision has been made.” But the small ratepayers in Ireland are so numerous, and the amounts to be severally collected from them are so trifling, whilst the distinction between them and the destitute is often so little perceptible, that Ireland seems to constitute an exception to the general rule in this respect; and it would be a great convenience, and tend to facilitate the working of the Poor Law, if as was at first proposed, the burden of the rate on the smaller holdings were to be thrown upon the owner or immediate lessor, rather than on the tenant himself.
The defects above noticed are explained and commented upon at great length in the fifth Report. They no doubt impede the orderly working of the law, and add to the labours and embarrass the proceedings of the entire executive; but they do not affect the principle of the measure, nor very materially detract from its usefulness. They are of a different origin from the measure itself, having been grafted upon the bill in its progress through parliament; and they will no doubt be removed, or so modified as to be less obstructive than at present, to which end they were now brought prominently under notice.
The Report of 1844, like those preceding, is dated the 1st of May; and it will be convenient to commence the account of the year’s proceedings with a summary of the Act for amending the law, which was passed on the 24th August 1843, and which what is said above will have prepared the reader to expect.
Sections 1, 2.—That where the property rated is not of greater value than 4l., or in certain boroughs named than 8l., the rate on such property shall be made on the immediate lessor, and if his name be not known he may be rated as “the immediate lessor;” and the rate is to be recoverable together with costs, notwithstanding any defect or error in the name, by action, or by civil bill, or by complaint before a justice, but no action is to be brought without consent of the Poor Law Commissioners.
Sections 3, 4.—If a rate be not paid by the lessor in four months, it may be recovered from the occupier, who in such case may deduct the amount from the rent due to the lessor, or recover it from him. If a house be let in lodgings, the lessor is to be rated for the whole house, and if the rate be not paid within thirty-one days, it may be recovered from the occupiers, who will be entitled to deduct it from the rent due by them; but the Municipal Corporations Act is not to be affected by any of these provisions.
Sections 5, 6.—When the property rated is above 5l., the lessors may in like manner be rated instead of the occupiers, if both enter into a written agreement for the purpose, and if the guardians consent thereto. All goods and chattels to whomsoever belonging, found on premises for which the occupier is liable to pay rate, may be distrained for the same.
Sections 7, 8.—To remove certain doubts with regard to valuators and valuations, the commissioners are empowered to appoint valuators, or they may direct the guardians to do so; and the person so in either case appointed, may enter premises for the purpose of making or revising any survey or valuation; and rates are to be assessed on the valuations so made or revised, and sealed by the commissioners; and are not to be altered unless appealed against, when on receiving a copy of the order of court amending such rate, the commissioners are to authorize its alteration in conformity therewith. The appeal in all cases is to be made to the sessions of the peace of the county, or county of a city or town within which the hereditaments are situate.
Sections 9, 10, 11.—Any person affected by a rate, may on all days except Sunday, between ten o’clock and four, inspect the valuation on which the rate is made, and take copies thereof. The form of rate prescribed by the Amendment Act is repealed, and the commissioners are empowered to prescribe the form in which the rates are to be made. The clerk to certify that the rate when made conforms to the valuation, and the chairman and two or more of the guardians present are to certify that they allow the same. In Dublin the poor-rate is to be collected in the same manner and with the like remedies as the grand jury cess.
Sections 12, 13.—The residence required in order that the expense of relief may be charged to an electoral division in any case, is the occupation of a tenement for eighteen months, or having usually slept within such division for twelve months before the person’s admission to the workhouse. The expense of all others not having so occupied or slept, is to be charged against the whole union. If a person after quitting the workhouse be again admitted within six months, the expense of such person is to be charged as before. The charge of every child admitted, is to conform with that of the person liable for its maintenance. The guardian or any three or more ratepayers of an electoral division, may with consent of the commissioners appeal against its being separately charged in any case.
Sections 14, 15, 16.—The guardians, subject to the commissioners’ approval, may send any poor deaf and dumb or blind child under the age of eighteen, to a deaf and dumb or blind institution, and defray the expense of its maintenance therein; and may also defray the expense of conveying any poor person from the workhouse to a fever hospital or lunatic asylum and his maintenance therein. Persons affected with fever or other contagious disease, may be relieved in houses hired for the purpose under the commissioners’ regulations, and the expense be charged upon the rates.
Section 17.—The guardians may charge the rates with any expense reasonably incurred, in apprehending or prosecuting offenders against the provisions of any of the Poor-law Acts.
Section 18.—Two-thirds of the guardians of any union, subject to the regulations of the commissioners, may assist any poor person who has been in the workhouse for three months, to emigrate to a British colony, and may charge the expense on the union, or on the electoral division to which such poor person has been chargeable; but the entire amount of such expense is not in any one year to exceed sixpence in the pound on the net annual value of the rateable property of the union or the electoral division respectively.
Sections 19, 20, 21.—If the number of ex-officio guardians be reduced by death removal or disqualification, the commissioners may appoint a day for the election of another ex-officio guardian in the place of the one so removed. A person put in nomination for an elected guardian, may refuse by notice in writing to serve the office; and in case of vacancy or refusal to act, the commissioners may order a fresh election if they think fit, but not otherwise.
Sections 22, 23.—A person convicted of felony fraud or perjury, or adjudged liable to forfeiture under the provisions of the Poor Law, is incapacitated for acting as a guardian. The commissioners empowered to inquire into and decide disputes in regard to the elections.
Sections 24, 25.—Notice of claims to vote by owners and proxies, extended from one week to one calendar month. Any person knowingly tendering a false claim to vote, or forging falsifying or altering any such claim, or altering carrying off destroying or defacing any voting-paper, subjected to a penalty of ten pounds.
Sections 26, 27.—In case of reasonable doubt in regard to any claim, the returning officer may refuse the vote until proof of its correctness be produced. Ratepayers, guardians, and union officers, not incapacitated for giving evidence.
Section 28.—This and the two previous Acts (1st and 2nd, and 2nd Vict. cap. 56 and 1) to be construed as one Act, except where otherwise provided.
The alterations made by the above Act relate exclusively to matters of detail. There is no change of principle in the measure. The electoral division system remains entire, except only as regards emigration, the expense of which the guardians have now the option of making either a union or a divisional charge. The definition of residence for establishing the chargeability of an electoral division, may be of some practical convenience, and would amount to a law of settlement if a power of removal were given; but as it is, it will merely in a slight degree facilitate the working of the divisional system. The abolition of the previous complicated form of rate is no doubt an advantage, as is also the power of rating the immediate lessors in certain cases, instead of leaving it optional with them to compound for the rates of their tenantry as before. The provisions in regard to fever cases will be of much use, especially as the measure proposed for regulating the medical charities was not carried into effect.[118] The additional powers given to the commissioners in election cases are likewise desirable; and it may indeed be said of the Act generally, that it is calculated to remedy certain minor defects and omissions, and to promote the more orderly working of the law.
We will now turn to the commissioners’ Report of 1844, which commences by declaring that “The administration of relief of the poor in Ireland had been attended with some difficulties during the past year, arising in a great measure from the political influences which had agitated that country.” The influences and agitations here alluded to, were connected with the great movement for a repeal of the Union, stirred up and organized by the late Mr. O'Connell, the consequences of which were in various ways exceedingly pernicious, diverting the people from their legitimate and necessary occupations, exciting jealousy and ill-feeling towards England, inculcating distrust of the government, weakening the authority of law, and inciting to a resistance of whatever was established, of course including the Poor Law. Some indications of this hostility appeared before the author quitted Ireland towards the end of 1842, but shortly afterwards it was openly manifested, and the Poor Law was declaimed against as being an intolerable burden inflicted and enforced by England and English officials, and that it ought consequently to be opposed by every true Irishman.
Under these circumstances, and in the then state of Ireland, it cannot excite surprise that there should be resistance to the law, and that efforts should be made to evade its provisions. As early as the end of 1842 there had been resistance to payment of the rates in some of the divisions of the Skibbereen and Waterford unions, which afterwards extended to Tipperary and several other unions in different parts of Ireland. At Skibbereen indeed a death had unhappily occurred, through the violent resistance made to the constabulary while assisting the collectors in levying the rates. In a return made to an order of the house of commons, 21 unions are named as having down to the 1st of January 1844, so far resisted the payment of the poor-rates as to require the intervention of the constabulary or the military to enforce the collection. In 11 of these unions, a military as well as constabulary force was deemed necessary. In the other 10, the constabulary alone were found sufficient to protect the collectors in the execution of their duty. But it was not alone resistance to the rates which obstructed the working of the law; in the Tuam union a rate was made in October 1842,[119] but no part of it had been collected on the 1st of January 1844. This was not owing to resistance on the part of the ratepayers, but to the unwillingness of the guardians to proceed in the administration of relief. The workhouse, capable of accommodating 800 persons, had been declared fit for the reception of destitute poor in August 1842, a master matron medical officer and porter had been appointed, but such was the backwardness of the guardians in fulfilling the requirements of the law, that no case of destitution however urgent, was or could be relieved except by application to some neighbouring union.
Even after the workhouse had been opened, and relief therein administered, there were several instances of unwillingness on the part of the guardians to make rates of sufficient amount to meet the liabilities of the union, and at the same time to provide for the relief of the poor. Some of the boards moreover refused to borrow and charge the rates with the sums necessary to cover the expense of building the workhouses, on the alleged ground of dissatisfaction with the architect’s certificates in favour of the contractors, or of the manner in which the work had been executed.[120] Legal proceedings against the guardians were in consequence taken on account of these refusals, and much expense was thus injudiciously incurred, whilst the poor were curtailed of their needful relief. The contracts entered into under such circumstances for supplying the workhouse, if they could be made at all, were necessarily made on extremely disadvantageous terms; and thus the intentions of the legislature were frustrated, and disaffection towards the law was generated, by the very parties appointed to carry out the one, and guard against the occurrence of the other. Several unions are named in the Report, in which such was or had been the case, and in one (Carrick on Shannon) a poor man had died in consequence of being refused relief. Yet there can be no doubt that where the unions were properly in operation, a large amount of actual destitution and extreme suffering was effectually met by opportune relief afforded in the workhouses. In many cases however the poor people were so reduced as to be in an extremely debilitated state when admitted, and they often died shortly afterwards. In this worst extremity to which, in a physical sense, a human being can be exposed, an institution affording shelter, medical attendance, and the last consolations of religion, must surely be one of the most effective forms in which relief can be administered, more especially among a population such as exists in Ireland.
Much dissatisfaction continued to be expressed with regard to the apportioning the charge of relief upon the several electoral divisions. Those in which the rated property was large, and the number of poor inconsiderable, complained of the proportion they had to pay towards the common charges of the union, whilst the amount of relief required by them was so small. The divisions on the contrary in which the number of paupers was considerable, and the amount of relief bore a large proportion to their rated value, complained of the high rate of poundage to which they were subjected, in comparison with the other divisions. The change now made in the law may help gradually to reconcile although it does not remove these distinctions. As new admissions take place, the proportion charged upon the union at large would most likely increase, and there would thus be a closer approximation towards an equal rating of the whole union. But many boards of guardians expressed themselves as not satisfied with this gradual and partial change, and declared themselves favourable to a union rate, whereby all charges would be borne by an equal poundage-rate over the several electoral divisions. That these guardians took a correct view of the question seems hardly to admit of doubt. They had seen the evils of divisional chargeability, and wished to apply the obvious remedy by bringing the law back to what was originally proposed; but the time for so doing had not arrived, and the evils and inconveniences were still to be continued, although perhaps in a somewhat mitigated form.
At the date of the present Report (1st May 1844) resistance to the collection of the rates was in great measure overcome, and the authority of the law vindicated. The general results of the collection are stated to have been as follows—In 98 of the unions, in which the rates made previously to the 24th August 1843 amounted to 605,864l., there remained uncollected on the 1st January 1844 only 46,322l., or something less than 8 per cent. of the entire amount. But it must not be supposed that even the whole of this arrear was collectable. All tenements, whether occupied or not, are usually included in the rate, the infinite number of small tenements making it impossible to distinguish with certainty what are unoccupied at the time the rate is made; and it is only the occupied tenements which pay. Public property legally exempt is also often included in the rate, and the arrears in the South Dublin union amounting to 4,479l., are likely to include sums of this nature. On the whole therefore, it appeared to the commissioners, that “considering the great difficulty of collecting the rates from the occupiers of very small tenements, on which class a large portion of the entire rate is laid, these results would not be regarded as unsatisfactory.”
In order to secure regularity and efficiency in the collections, and the proper keeping of the union accounts, it was determined to appoint four auditors, who would be employed exclusively in that capacity; and it is expected that they would be the means of establishing a greater degree of uniformity as well as accuracy throughout all the unions in Ireland.
Fourteen workhouses had been brought into operation in course of the year 1843, the cost of relief administered in which amounted to 23,277l., and the number of inmates to 1,529, on the 1st of January 1844—on which day the number of inmates in the 92 workhouses in operation prior to 1843 was 31,981, and the cost of relief 221,097l. So that the entire number of persons relieved on 1st January 1844 in 106 workhouses was 33,510, and the cost of relief during the year amounted to 244,374l. This appears less than in the preceding year, but the difference is probably owing to the much greater number of workhouses which were opened in 1843, and the extra expenditure always attendant upon first bringing the houses into operation. By a statistical table appended to the Report, the total number of inmates of all classes in the several workhouses on 31st January 1845, is shown to have been 43,293, of whom 9,231 were able-bodied (that is 2,809 males and 6,422 females) and 11,441 were disabled through sickness age or other infirmity. Another minutely framed table in the Appendix to the Report shows, that of 27,529 adults above the age of fifteen, and 22,585 children under that age, 5,942 of the former were widows, and 3,622 widowers; and that of the children 19,886 were legitimate (4,164 being orphans) and 2,639 were illegitimate.
The Report of 1st May 1845, commences by declaring that “the administration of the law in Ireland had proceeded satisfactorily upon the whole since the date of the last Report.” The instances of resistance to the collection of the rates, or in which violence had occurred, were comparatively few, and the financial embarrassments which had operated prejudicially in several of the unions, had for the most part ceased. There were altogether 118 workhouses open for the purposes of relief. Of the 12 which remained, 3 were not yet declared fit for the reception of inmates, and in a few instances the guardians still neglected or refused to proceed in duly administering relief, although the workhouses had long since been declared. The most remarkable instance of this kind was in the Tuam union; but the commissioners had deemed it right to proceed against the Tuam guardians by mandamus, and their submission to the authority of the law was shortly expected. Meantime however they had, it is said, been sued for debts which they did not hesitate to incur, although they neglected to provide the means of payment.
Many of the unions had taken steps under the 15th and 16th sections of the late Amendment Act, for providing for the relief of persons suffering from fever or other contagious complaints, either by building fever wards distinct from the workhouses, or hiring premises for the purpose, or by arranging for the reception of such cases into fever hospitals; and the result had in several instances been highly beneficial. “In Galway for example, during a severe epidemic, the guardians erected a temporary hospital near the workhouse, and received into it during a period of about six months 1,096 cases, of which 995 were discharged cured.”
A statement is given in the Appendix to the Report, showing the progress made in bringing the Vaccination Act into operation in Ireland. By this statement it appears that, although not duly carried out in several of the unions, the measure had obtained a wide and beneficial operation, and was in course of gradual extension. The amount expended for vaccination in all the unions during the previous year, exceeded 4,000l., the rate of payment being 1s. on each case successfully vaccinated for the first two hundred cases, and 6d. on each successful case afterwards. This is one of the charges for which the poor-rate is made liable, although not strictly appertaining to the relief of the poor; but it is no doubt calculated to prevent a far greater charge, by protecting the people against the smallpox, a fearful scourge which generally leaves disablement and destitution in its train.
In the 106 workhouses which had been opened prior to 1844, the number of inmates on the 1st of January 1845 was 37,701, and the expenditure on relief amounted to 251,467l.[122] In the 7 workhouses declared in course of that year, the number of inmates on January 1st 1845 was 1,474, and the expenditure 18,063l., making the total number of persons relieved on that day in 113 workhouses amount to 39,175, and the expenditure on relief during the year to 269,530l. The average weekly cost of the inmates of the workhouses was 1s. 5½d. per head for maintenance, and 2½d. for clothing, making together 1s. 8d. per head. The cost had at the outset been estimated at 1s. 6d. per head.[123] Rates were made in 126 of the unions, in all in fact excepting four[124] situate in the extreme west; but in 8 of the unions in which rates had been made, the workhouses were still not in operation. The commissioners trusted however, that they would “be enabled to report next year that the whole of the 130 workhouses in Ireland were open for the reception and relief of the destitute poor, in accordance with the intention of the legislature, and the provisions of the Irish Poor Relief Act.”
On comparing the expenditure with the net annual value of property rateable in each union, it will be found that it does not on an average amount to sixpence in the pound. The expenditure moreover includes the instalments which had been repaid on account of the workhouse loans; but as there was a large arrear of these instalments then due, and few of the workhouses had their full complement of inmates, it was thought likely that the average might be higher by and bye, although not so much higher as to afford reasonable ground for dissatisfaction or alarm. The aggregate of the loans granted by government for building and fitting up the workhouses amounted to 1,140,350l., or about 1s. 8d. in the pound, on the net annual value of rateable property in Ireland, that is a poundage of somewhat less than 1d. in the pound per annum for repayment of the money borrowed. The poundage varied considerably however in different unions, according to the proportion the cost of the workhouse bore to the value of the rateable property.
Advantage was at this time taken of the experience acquired during the five years that the law had been in operation, to revise the orders and regulations which were at first promulgated. And accordingly an amended order was issued for the election of guardians, together with a new circular of instructions to the clerks of unions with regard to the duties to be performed by them as returning officers. An amended general order was also issued regulating the proceedings of boards of guardians, and defining the duties of union officers; and likewise a general order containing amended regulations for the management of workhouses, together with a new form for the half-yearly abstract of accounts, with ample instructions thereon. In short, nothing in the way of regulation which came within the powers confided to the commissioners, was omitted or neglected; and all resistance to the payment of the poor-rates having ceased, it was hoped that henceforward the working of the law would everywhere proceed in an orderly and effective manner.