Prev | Current Page 680 | Next

O'Rourke, John

"With Notices of Earlier Irish Famines"

Its chief provisions were: That Relief
Committees should be formed by order of the Lord Lieutenant, and their
powers were to extend to the 1st of November, 1847, on which day they
were to cease. Those Committees were to consist of the Justices of the
district, the Poorlaw Guardians, and one of the Inspectors appointed by
the Relief Commissioners. A Finance Committee was to be selected from
the General Committee, but the Lord Lieutenant was empowered to add
others to it. A chief duty of Relief Committees was to make out lists
of persons requiring relief, but the Finance Committees had authority to
examine such lists, and correct them if necessary. The money required
for this new system of relief was to be levied and collected as a
poor-rate; and the guardians of any Union who refused to do this could
be dissolved by the Poorlaw Commissioners, who were also empowered to
appoint paid Guardians in their place. The Treasury, on being applied to
by the Relief Commissioners, was authorized to make advances to enable
them to grant loans in aid of rates, but no such grant or loan was to be
made after the 1st of October, 1847.
There is a clause in this Act which is not without its interest at the
present time.


Pages:
668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692