Nos.
6, 7.]
Circulars :—Preparation to meet Distress.
43 No.
7.—
Preparations to meet Pressure of Distress during the Winter.
Poor Law Commission Office, Dublin, Sir, 24th September, 1872.
The Commissioners for administering the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland desire to draw the attention of the Board of Guardians to the state of the potato crop in Ireland, to the increase in the cost of the necessaries of life, and especially in the price of fuel, as making it most probable that an unusual degree of pressure may shortly take place upon the funds provided for the relief of the destitute poor.
Under these circumstances the Guardians of every Union will no doubt acknowledge the necessity of being prepared in due time for the possibility of an increased number of applications for relief; and that in the making of future rates it will be thought prudent in every sense, and especially for the interest of the ratepayers, that a liberal margin should be allowed for the possible contingencies of the season, so as to avoid, if practicable, the necessity for making supplemental rates, and for taking contracts at disadvantage on account of want of funds and postponed payment for supplies.
The sanitary precautions usually adopted at this season of the year, such as placing the drains and sewers in order and thoroughly cleansing and limewashing every part of the Workhouse, will no doubt be scra-pidously attended to by the Guardians, and every necessary step taken for securing ventilation as far as practicable, under the advice and super¬ vision of the Medical Officer.
A further sanitary precaution of much importance is the provision, beforehand, of ample stocks of bedding and clothing, to meet any degree of pressure on the Workhouse which is likely to occur.
If the Guardians permit themselves to be surprised by a large accession of numbers without having adequate supplies of clothing at then-disposal, the newly admitted inmates may have to wear, for a time, the clothing in which they were admitted, to the detriment of their own health, and at the risk of intro¬ ducing contagious disease into the Workhouse.
It is unnecessary to dwell on the paramount importance of making contracts for the supply of ai-ticles of food of good quality and seeing to the faithful execution thereof by the contractors.
The chief components in the Workhouse dietaries are cereal food, and other vegetable produce, and milk; and it is manifest that any defect in the quality of those articles must materially detract from the sufficiency of the dietary in respect of nutriment.
Of equal, if not greater importance, is the quality of the meat, spirits, wine, and other medical comforts provided for the useof the sick in hospital.
It is likely that the Guardians will place their main reliance on the vacant room in the Workhouse, as the most efficient means of meet¬ ing a possible increased pressure of distress; and in reference to able-bodied adult inmates of either sex and then* dependents, this view is in perfect accordance with the letter and spirit of the Irish Poor Relief Acts.
The Guardians will bear in mind, at the same time, that certain classes of destitute poor, designated in the first section of the 10th Vic, cap.
31, are relievable either in or out of the Workhouse, and that the power of giving out-relief may be occasionally exei-cised with advantage hi cases which fall strictly within the provisions above referred to.
By order of the Commissioners,
B.
Banks, Chief Clerk.
To the Clerk to each Union.
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