The Relief Act,
10 Vic. c. 7, was intended to take the place of the public works, _and
that immediately on their cessation_; but this was far from being the
case,--a point upon which this second report is not at all satisfactory.
In it the Commissioners express their regret that on the 15th of May
there were only 1,248 electoral divisions under the operation of the
Act, whilst all relief works had ceased on the first of May. That was
bad enough; but what the report makes no mention of is that the Act was
not in operation in any part of Ireland on the 20th of March, the day on
which twenty per cent--146,000 individuals--of those who were employed
on the public works were dismissed. On introducing that Act in
Parliament, both the Prime Minister and the Irish Secretary promised
that employment on the public works should be continued until the new
system of relief would be in full operation, whilst this report tells us
that on the 15th of May, a full fortnight after _all_ public works had
been stopped, out of 2,049 electoral divisions only 1,248 were under the
operation of the Act. Besides, "under the operation of the Act" is
itself a doubtful phrase: How long were they under it? How far was their
machinery complete and efficient? Did the Act, to the full extent,
supply the place of the public works, where it had come into operation?
These are questions to which we have no answers from the Commissioners.
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