' He also read a letter that had been received that day,
addressed from Colonel Jones, the chairman of the Board of Works, to Mr.
Trevelyan:--'Upon reading the Dublin journals,' writes Colonel Jones,
'it would be supposed that the men discharged from the works had been
deprived in an instant of their daily food; the fact is, that they were
not entitled to be paid until the Tuesday or Wednesday following, and
the payments so made were to be the means of procuring subsistence for
another week, so that with the time between the publishing of the order
and the moment when the money would be expended, ample time was afforded
for procuring other employment, or for the electoral division committees
to have made the necessary preparations for supplying the destitute with
food.' He (Mr. Labouchere) trusted the House would be satisfied that as
much consideration had been shown for the people as it was in their
power to bestow, and he had the satisfaction to think that on the whole
this great reduction had been carried into effect with as little
temporary suffering and embarrassment as possible."
The first thing that strikes one with regard to the above reply is, that
the Board of Works used the discretion given to them with reference to
the dismissals, in opposition to what Mr.
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