Appendix (A.)
664 APPENDIX to FIRST REPORT from the COMMISSIONERS for inquiring Y.ygraxcy.
time it is stated that an able-bodied man is rarely to be seen asking for alms ; this devolves
on the wife and children, and whilst they beg, the husband either stays at home or look:, Munster, for employment in the north of the country.
The Rev.
Mr.
Molony says, " In the town County Cork.
there are two or three young fellows who idle about, and are ready for any mischief, but they are the only men able to work in the parish who can really be called beggars.
The ^ThoTafM^tif^sqf town beggars are, for the most part, old men, but besides these, there are a few of its inha-Jolm Laior, Esq.'
'
bitants, such as the wives of labourers, who have either partial or no employment, or who • have large families, who go out in the country to solicit charity, but only during the Par.
Ross Carbcry.
summer.
The wives even of employed labourers have been known to adopt the same Bar.
East Carbery, expedient."
" I have," observes Mr.
McCarthy, " employed men myself, whose wives were (West Division.)
beggars."
Instances are rare where mechanics or tradesmen belonging to the town have — been seen begging ; but a short time ago the town was inundated with crowds of vagrants, who represented themselves to be distressed weavers of their districts.
The number of
these latter have, however, diminished of late; and Mr.
Smith states, "that although the summer before last he had several batches of such persons coming to him, he had but a few last season."
The number of labourers who go to England from this parish in search of employment is not great, whilst on the other hand, a good many make their way durino-the season for digging potatoes to the county of Tipperary, and the northern parts of the county of Cork; during their absence, these poor people support themselves by their labour, and none of them have ever been known to beg on the road.
The quantity of potatoes or other provisions which a beggar or vagrant can collect during the day, depends in a great measure on his or her strength, so far as it enables him to travel a greater or less distance, and also on some other circumstances.
A woman with children will not often be able to collect more than.barely
sufficient for the maintenance of herself and family, whilst a man or single woman, wdio can make application in many places, will, though getting less actually at each, still in the end have more proportionately, and will most probably have it in their power to dispose of their surplus for money; on this point, Mr.
McCarthy remarks, " I think the strange beggars do make a little money, for I have occasionally seen them selling potatoes."
But the Rev.
Mr.
Molony adds, " Strange mendicants have sometimes died in the parish, and they have always been found pennyless, so much so, that it has been necessary, in many instances, to bury them by sub¬ scription."
A labouring man who was present at the investigation, said that "the begging trade was not so good as it used to be formerly; it was overstocked like every other."
A family of beggars, consisting-of many members, invariably obtains a larger donation at a farmer's house than any single individual; and it may be generally stated, that an applicant infirm through disease or other causes, will receive more than one who may be considered able to earn his livelihood by labour.
But of all classes of mendicants, it is thought that a woman with one or two children will, on an average, be found to have collected the largest quantity beyond what she can consume or her wants require.
It is always a paramount object with a mendicant to accumulate a surplus of potatoes, to be exchanged for money, which is most usually expended in the purchase of some necessary article of clothing.
One of the witnesses, a shopkeeper, says, "A beggar has sometimes bought a thing at my shop, and has paid part of the price down; at the end of the season he has returned to pay the remainder, with what he had been able to put together in the mean time-It is probable that the entire surplus earnings of a beggar during the season do not often amount to more than a few shillings."
Nicholas Lombard, a beggar, an able-bodied man, living in the parish of Ardfield, states, in reply to some ques¬ tions addressed to him, " that he begged for three seasons, always taking a little child with him; that on some days he collected a w*eight of potatoes, on some days half a weight, and on some days barely a quarter, but generally he got about half a weight, and some¬ times he got his dinner besides.
He sold the surplus whenever he had any, and he used to make about 4s.
or thereabouts each season.
He (Lombard) had a cabin, which he built himself on some waste ground called 'The Mountain Common,' but it was scarcely covered.
This cabin he used to let each season, before he went out to beg, for Is.,
and altogether in this way he made up money enough to thatch it."
When the Assistant Commis¬ sioners saw this man, he had just purchased straw for the last-mentioned purpose.
Those mendicants who reside in the town of Ross Carbery are not supposed to be guilty of the practice of resorting to deceptive means in order to excite charity.
Their cha¬ racters are in general well known, and being a good deal subject to observation, any attempt at fraud could not fail to be sooner or later detected.
The strange vagrants who make their appearance during the season of distress in summer, are pronounced equally free from the suspicion of deceit.
These latter have the character of being poor people who are driven to mendicancy, for the time only, by the pressure of real want, and they differ much from those who at all times live entirely by begging.
Of these professional beggars, there are not a few who wander about the country during the whole year, and who may be seen at every fair for many miles around.
Amongst vagrants of this description, there is reason to believe that the appearance of disease and infirmity is often simulated with the intention of producing sentiments of compassion.
Mr.
McCarthy men¬ tioned a case which came under his notice, about four or five years preceding.
It was that of a woman who seemed to have met with an accident, which had lacerated her arm in a very shocking manner; something induced a suspicion that she was an impostor, and on examination it was discovered that the appearance had been counterfeited, bv a piece of skin ingeniously applied, and covered over with an ointment.
The class ot beggars, among whom practices of the kind iust described are supposed to have been most
J rr
common,
