Appendix (A.)
668
'
APPENDIX to FIRST REPORT from ihe COMMISSIONERS for inquiring Vagrancy.
be glad to get at them that way.
The farmers will not sell less than a basket*; I Would
rather give a higher price to get as much as I wanted at the time, and have them brought Munster, to my door."
& County Cork.
Qi(j an(^ mnrm people are unable to carry any great weight, and they generally expect ExammatioITtaken by something else besides potatoes ; they get oatmeal perhaps, and sometimes a little flax or Thomas Martin, Esq.
wool, but there is not much of those commodities in the parish.
Tuomy says*, " I know two John Lalor, Esq.
old blind men that beg about the country, to go to every fair within 20 miles, and they know
_
the day exactly, the same as if they had an almanack; there is one of them, Cotter, better Parish Skull.
ciaci tjmn when he was working for 5d.
a day and his diet; he has two sons and two Bar.
West Carbery, daughters.
There is one ofthe sons at service, earning about 9 s.
or 10 s.
a quarter; the other (West Division.)
is alittle boy, who goes to guide his father; the wife and daughter are gone away somewhere.
——-— .
— Sometimes he comes home from his travels, and brings wool and flax ; he covers himself that
way; he does not beg here; he was formerly a farmer, then reduced to a workman; when he got blind he had nothing to do but go beg; but he was ashamed to do it in his own country.
The other blind man is one Burke, middle aged; it was of late that he happened to go beg; he was a small farmer, and did not lose his hold of the ground yet, but he must soon; he has a mother and wife and two children ; sometimes the wife goes to guide him sometimes he begs here at home; he goes to all the fairs; he comes home with flax and wool; he has a blue great coat on him now, that he made up that way, it is worth over 255.;
there are twelve bundles -f of frieze in it, worth 2 s.
a bundle, and the tailor charged him Is.
Gd.
for making it (he would charge me 2s.
Gd.);
he has about a couple of acres and a pig, but he could never do without the begging, since he cannot work.
I was at a house about six months ago, where he slept, and he had a bag of wool that he would not give for a guinea; it w*as offered to him, and he refused it; I am sure it took him six months voyaging about the country to collect that much."
Drunkenness, rogueries, and deceptions to excite compassion, were common among a set of men called " boccoughs," who were very numerous 20 or 30 years ago.
A few still exist, but their practices are not so bad as those of their predecessors.
Mr.
Swanton thinks " there are about a dozen who show themselves at every fair, and subsist entirely by begging."
Crippled and diseased children are sometimes carried about, but the witnesses believe that the parents would be glad to have them cured.
Sullivan says,
" I have heard people say, that the mothers that take lame children about in the arms, would rather keep them so than cure them; but I do not believe it; it is not in a mother's heart."
In order to get more potatoes, a family of beggars sometimes divides, and each party applies and obtains relief from the same house.
Murphy says,
" I would not care if I gave it to them for God's sake."
Mahony says, " Most people would care, and would not give them anything, if they knew them to do such a thing."
The able-bodied men who are seen amongst vagrants, beg only for a season, and stop when they can get employment.
The question being put, whether such persons would be willing to emigrate to America, the witnesses thought that they would be glad to do so.
Sullivan says,
" Any man that can work, and cannot get it, would prefer it.
If we had the means, what is here of us would go off."
Beggars are, in almost all cases, persons who are compelled to become so by sheer necessity.
Murphy says,
" It is the last time with any one; a man that could get work would never do it."
All agree on this point.
The following evidence, given by Hagarty, a beggar, is illustrative of the habits and feelings of his class generally : he says, <(I am nearly 50 years old.
I have a wife and four children ; the eldest is only nine.
I went to beg last summer ; it was the first time.
My wife is begging these six years ; we suffered great distress before she went; I had no employ¬ ment, and could not get any.
She went out every summer since; she did no more than support herself and the children; she brought home nothing.
In the winter I used to gather twigs, and make little baskets for gathering potatoes; I would get 3 d.
or 4 d.
a piece for them.
The neighbours used to give us potatoes in the plentiful season.
I was obliged to go out myself last May; we had another young child, and I went to carry it.
I would rather stay at home if I could.
We staid out about three months ; we went to Ross, Drumaleague, Mintervarra, Bantry and other places not farther off; we used to get enough to eat while we were out; we never wanted for lodging; we got it from labourers and poorfarmers.
We used to get about a weight of potatoes, boiled and raw, in the day ; it was just enough to do us; we seldom got more.
We made 1 s.%
while we were out, and we bought some clothes for the child ; the children used often get a drink of milk from the farmers.
In winter we get something from the neighbours at home.
I would rather stay at home than go out again.
I would take a pleasure in seeing tbe people again that were kind to us, but I would not go out for that; I would rather a great deal work for 8 d.
a day.
I was offered work while I was out, but I could not stop from the children; my wife would not be able to carry them.
Few farmers would take me in the rags I have, and I could not stand the worfc myself in winter without better covering*.
I would be willino-to go to America now, if any
* Basket of potatoes, six weights or nine stone.
Murphy observed, "six weights is the right currency, but I do not say they give it."
f A measure of two feet.
f X By selling the surplus potatoes when they were able to procure more than what was sufficient their own consumption.
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