SELECT COMMITTEE ON POOR LAWS (IRELAND).
117 had just gone by.
I constantly urged the guardians to put on a new rate in H.
W.
Massy, Esq.
September and October, and at last I got them, in December, to consent to put on a new rate.
I made an estimate of what rate would be required; in making 29 June i^9-that estimate I took into account the entire expenditure for the following six months, and the amount required to be levied for the re-payment of the Government loan ; and taking both of those together, a rate of 25.
6f <tf.
in the pound would have been sufficient.
12896.
To what do you attribute the reluctance of the guardians to allow a rate so moderate as that to be struck?—They
objected to strike a rate, because it included a sum to repay the Government advance.
The guardians considered that the harvest had gone over, and that it would be exceedingly difficult to collect a rate at that time, having suffered so much from other causes, viz.,
the loss of the potato, and the bad wheat crop that was grown that year.
The landlords at the Board of Guardians were afraid that the imposition of this rate would affect the payment of their rents j and many of the tenants equally felt the state of the times, and were unwilling, if possible, to burden themselves with a further rate.
12897.
You had, 1 presume, at that period frequent communications with the Poor-law Commissioners, with reference to the state of the union ?—We
had frequent communications from the Poor-law Commissioners ; they urged us two or three times to comply with the law, but the guardians, I regret to say, were obstinate in refusing to do so; and I do not consider that the Poor-law Com¬ missioners then had any other course to pursue than to appoint paid officers.
In our communications with the Poor-law Commissioners we always found them to be exceedingly courteous, and to possess great knowledge of the minutiae of the affairs of our union, and to be always ready to carry out the fair views of the guardians.
My best thanks are due to Mr.
Twisleton.
12898.
What was the number receiving relief at the period at which your Board was dissolved?—About
16,000; our Board was dissolved on the 9th of January, and on the 23d of January, I find 16,411 were on the list; the increase Was very rapid between the 9th and the 23d ; on the 9th there were about 15,500 on the list.
12899.
Do you know what the number is now ?—The
number now on the in¬ door relief list is 3,266, and the number on the out-door relief list is 17,967; when I spoke of the 16,411, I included both the in-door and out-door recipients of relief; now the in-door and out-door recipients of relief are about 21,200.
12900.
To what do you attribute the very rapid increase which has taken place in the number of persons receiving relief in the union since the Board were dissolved ?—I
think it is mainly to be attributed to a want of local know¬ ledge on the part of the paid officers of the union.
12901.
Do you know what steps they take to ascertain the destitution of the applicants who apply to them for relief?—I
believe our vice-guardians have been exceedingly anxious to do their duty.
They take great interest in the affairs of the union, and devote their whole time to them, but with such a mass of pauperism existing in the union, they are obliged to depend upon the re¬ lieving officers a good deal.
The relieving officer is generally a person who, half from fear and half from a wish to avoid trouble, is anxious to have as many persons as possible on the list; because it is less trouble to him to give a great number of persons relief, than to investigate their claims, and make a report upon them.
12902.
Are the relieving officers who are employed by the vice-guardians the same as were employed under the elected Board r—Yes.
12903.
Why did not the elected Board use more care in the selection of the relieving officers?—The
relieving officers are as good men of their class as could be found, but members of the local Board acted as a check upon the relieving officer of each district; there were two or three guardians from that district present, and almost every name on the relieving officer's list was known to some member of the Board of Guardians, and if there was any case of impo* kition and fraud it was at once detected.
12904.
I gather from the last few answers you have given that it is your opinion, that the ^ ice-guardians of the Tipperary Union do all they can to administer the affairs of the union properly ; but at the same time you conceive that it is utterly impossible that the vice-gnardians can, so far as regards the proper selection of the applicants for relief, discharge the duty properly?—Yes;
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