On the 23rd of March, three days after the twenty per cent were
dismissed, a Dublin newspaper said, with regard to the new Relief
Act:--"It is not in operation in any district of Ireland. Even in
Dublin--the head quarters of the Relief Commissioners--the residence of
the official printer--the requisite forms for arranging the
preliminaries could not be supplied to the relief committees yesterday,
they not having been as yet printed."[261]
On the 25th of March, some of the Irish members appealed, in the House
of Commons, to the Irish Secretary not to allow the labourers on the
public works to be dismissed until provision could be made for their
support under the new Act. It was understood by both sides of the House,
Mr. Smith O'Brien said, that the Government had given instructions
against any dismissals taking place until other means had been provided
to enable the people to procure subsistence. Unless this were done, he
said, the greatest confusion must follow the putting in force of the
order for dismissing persons from the public works, which was to come
into operation on the 20th inst. Seven weeks had elapsed since the
temporary relief bill had become law, and he could not conceive why
relief committees had not been constituted.
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