BOYLE UNION.
4 TT It LI URN to an Order of the Honourable TLj House ol Common*, ^"w* ^ dated 29 May 1848;-^?-,
COPY "of CORRESPONDENCE between the Poor-law Commissioners and
the Guardians of the Boyle Union, previous to their Dismissal."
Poor-law Commission Office, 1 W.
STANLEY.
Dublin, 9 June 1848.
J
Seeretar)
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 3 July 1848.
CAPTAIN WYNNE TO THE COMMISSIONERS.
Sir, Carrick-on-Shannon, 13 April 1848.
I have the honour to state, for the information of the Commissioners, that in compliance with their request, contained in your letter of the 6th instant, No.
18620/48, I proceeded on Tuesday the 11th instant to Gorteen, being the most convenient place to hold the investigation into the cases of death from starvation specified in the letter of the Rev.
J.
Henery to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.
On receipt of your letter I put myself in communication with Mr.
Henery, as also with the Board of Guardians of the Boyle Union, requesting of the former that he would furnish me with the names of such parties as were able to depose to the facts stated in his letter, as also that he would be present on the occasion; and of the Board of Guardians to depute some member or mem¬ bers to attend to give such explanation as their books and knowledge of the facts might enable them to afford.
I received the names required from the Rev.
Mr.
Henery, and summoned the parties, who were accordingly in attendance on Tuesday, the earliest day on which it wras possible to complete my arrangements : the Rev.
Mr.
Henery, Joseph M'Donnell, Esq.
of Doo Castle, Rev.
Mr.
Brennan, p.p.,
Rev.
Mr.
Bi\jwh, p.p.,
Mr.
Stanley, late guardian, &c.
&c.;
and on the part of the Board of Guardians, Mr.
Holmes of Clogher.
I forward you the evidence of each witness, as I took it down, and shall make such remarks in explanation thereof as the character and station of the witnesses will render necessary to lead the Commissioners to a true conclusion.
I shall take the cases seriatim, and would premise that the greatest possible exertion was made, not only to get up a case against the Board of Guardians, but also to prove that the poor law was inadequate to meet the distress that at present exists in the union, and thereby to establish a claim to part of a sum of 3,000,000 /.,
which they stated had been promised by Lord John Ru&sell last year.
It'is a fact more curious than uncommon, that those persons most clamorous and apparently most zealous in the cause of the suffering poor, were, without exception, defaulters in their rates; no individual present, with the exception of Mr.
Holmes, having paid up the last rate, and some owing to the two last.
All expressed themselves most anxious for an extension of relief; but not at the expense of the union.
Case of Anne Kilkenny.—John
Kilkenny showed a remarkably strong animus, and contradicted himself several times; was a disappointed applicant for out¬ door relief, being able-bodied.
456.
A Mr.
