My Lords have considered with the careful attention which the importance
of the subject demands the measures proper to be taken, with a view to
continue the late commissariat operations to the extent which may be
absolutely necessary for the purpose of providing supplies of food for
sale in districts to which the ordinary operations of the provision
trade cannot be expected to extend, the strictest regard being at the
same time paid to the pledge which has been given, not to interfere in
any case in which there is a reasonable expectation that the market will
be supplied by mercantile enterprise; and they will proceed to state the
course which appears to them to be the best adapted to secure the
important object in view.
Their Lordships have already given directions that no portion of the
stock of meal remaining in store in the different depots should be sold
merely for the sake of disposing of it, of which depots they will
relieve Commissary-General Coffin, who will remain on full pay, with a
view to his being employed hereafter, as the occasion may require.
It has been fully established by the experience of the late operations,
that the ports on the northern, eastern, and southern coasts, from
Londonderry to Cork, and those parts of the interior which are
ordinarily supplied from them, may safely be left to the foresight and
enterprise of private merchants; and it will only be necessary to the
government, so far as this part of Ireland is concerned, to take
effectual precautions that the supplies introduced by private traders
from abroad are properly protected, both while they are in transit and
when they are stored for future consumption; and for this purpose their
Lordships rely upon the Lord Lieutenant making every necessary
arrangement in communication with the Commander of the Forces in
Ireland, and the Inspector-General of the Constabulary Force.
Pages:
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883