The aged and infirm poor in 1836 in the houses were 973.

The HOUSES of INDUSTRY and FOUNDLING HOSPITALS in Ireland, with the Amount of their respective Incomes for 1833, were

IRISH POOR LAW.-Irrespective of the numerous Institutions in Ireland for the relief of the sick and destitute, Parliament has recently introduced a system of Poor Laws into Ireland, nearly similar to the system adopted in England. By means of the working of this Law for nearly two years, we shall be enabled to estimate the truth of the following passage, from the Repealers' Address, in the Preface, p. 5:

Widely spread pauperism has covered the land, and the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry have authenticated the awful fact, that more than 2,385,000 of the people are, some for the entire and others, at least for a portion of the year, in a state of ABSOLUTE DESTITUTION."

The truth of this statement may now be ascertained; remembering that no indisposition to enter a Poor-house is manifested; on the contrary, the Guardians have to exercise great discrimination in their admissions; and the Irish Poor Law is now in sufficient operation to test the amount of absolute destitution in Ireland. If there were, as alleged, 66 more than two million three hundred thousand paupers in a state of utter starvation,” we should find an immense augmentation of the inmates of the workhouses; where food, raiment, fire, and medical comforts are abundantly supplied. In the official returns we see the following facts:—

Thirty-seven “Unions" were opened prior to 1842. The number of paupers in these thirty-seven Unions on the 1st Jan., 1842, was 15,327. During the year 1842 there were admitted and born in these Unions 38,170; there were discharged or died during the year 1842, number 35,968, and there remained on 1st January, 1843, number 17,529. The expenditure from 1st January, 1842, to 1st January, 1843, on these thirty-seven Unions was 150,0507. These Unions include the principal cities, and some of the poorest and most populous districts. It may be sufficient to name a few: Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo, Londonderry, Clonmel, Newry, Athlone, Tipperary, Ennis, Trim, Fermoy, and others. Yet we find that the whole number of paupers for the year was but 38,170.

During the year 1842 there were fifty-five more Unions opened in various parts of Ireland, and during the year the total number of paupers admitted and born in the fifty-five Unions was 34,107; discharged or died in the year 20,064, and remaining on 1st January, 1843, number 14,043; which, in addition to 17,529 paupers remaining in the previously mentioned thirtyseven Unions, shows the total number of paupers in the whole ninety-two Unions at the commencement of the present year no more than 31,572.

The abstract of a table which gives the number, ages, and sex of the paupers relieved from the first week in March 1840, to 4th February, 1843, shows that the highest number receiving

relief in any one week was, in the first week in August, 1842, 37,663, and in the first week in February, 1843, 37,313.

And although we do not perceive any augmentation in the number applying for relief during the six months ending February, 1843, when the maximum was 37,668, yet we may average the number at one time receiving relief at 50,000. But, doubling this number and rating the paupers receiving relief in the Irish Workhouses at 100,000, how very far short the number falls of the alleged "more than two million three hundred thousand paupers in a state of utter destitution!" The number of paupers receiving parochial relief in England is, on a moderate computation, one million. In Ireland not one-twentieth of the number. During a recent tour through the poorest parts of Ireland, the number of beggars was observed to be very few, compared with former years.

The average numare open, have been They are mostly old

There are, or rather, there will be, 130 Union Workhouses in Ireland. Of these, about 100 are now open, and in operation, and the remainder will shortly be so. ber of paupers in the houses which about 35,000 during the present year. and infirm persons, and young children; in fact, the very description of persons whom one would wish to see in a workhouse.

The 130 Workhouses are capable of accommodating about 94,000 inmates, which will be amply sufficient for "the 2,385,000 destitute persons," of whom so much has been said, and which exist only in the imaginations of those who write and talk about them.

Statements have been made of the exorbitant expense of the Union Establishments in Ireland, and that, whilst 8d. out of every shilling went to defray such charges, only 4d. went in relief of the poor. Indeed, it has been stated that no more than a penny out of the shilling was applied in relief of the poor. All this is totally unfounded. On an average, in round numbers, it may be said that 8d. out of the 1s. is expended in the clothing and maintenance of the paupers, whilst the other 4d. covers the

establishment charges, which include all the salaries of the Union officers, clerical, medical, and otherwise; election expenses, repairs, furniture, lights and firing, vaccination of the entire Union, the valuation and some other charges, and lastly, the repayment of instalments of the loan for building the Workhouses.

As to the total cost of the Poor Law to Ireland, it is most probable that the original estimate of 1s. in the pound on the rental, will entirely cover it.

The annual value of property assessed in Ireland is under 14,000,000l. This valuation is below the actual value, which might safely be taken at 15,000,000l.; but, taking it at the former amount, it would give, at 1s. in the pound, 700,000l. per annum, —a sum which it is not probable it will ever reach. The Workhouses in Ireland are beautiful as well as useful structures-models of architecture, and ornaments to the neighbourhood in which they are built. Upwards of one million sterling have been contributed from the Imperial revenue for their construction; and it is to be hoped that this sum will not be demanded from England, but presented as a gift to Ireland. The Poor Law Unions have been made admirable establishments for training children to habits of industry and order; and of giving their natural talents a practical utility. Economical and skilful farming is being introduced. Mr. George Nicholls, whose judicious exertions for the welfare of Ireland deserve the highest praise, has drawn up an admirable Manual of Husbandry for the peasantry, which is being extensively circulated; and his actively benevolent mind is constantly employed in advice to the ignorant, as well as in aiding the impoverished. It remains only to be added, that the Protestants and Roman Catholics assemble as Guardians at the same Board; and, by a better knowledge of each other, religious and political asperities are softened or obliterated.

To the legislation of the Imperial Parliament, Ireland is indebted for a most efficient establishment of Lunatic Asylums, whose number and expense is thus shown in March 1843:

Upwards of 200,0007. have been expended on the District Lunatic Asylums of Ireland since the Union, and the annual expense at present is over 31,0007.

The only extensive establishments for the reception of lunatics (not being district asylums) are those of the Houses of Industry in Dublin and in the city of Cork, and St. Patrick's Hospital in Dublin. The county and city of Cork are the only parts of Ireland unconnected with the system of district lunatic asylums. The Prison Commissioners report, that much to the credit of that great county and city, an asylum has been kept up for a long series of years, on a more extensive scale than any district asylum within their inspection, and which not only receives those patients who are the proper objects of a district asylum, but also provides for incurable lunatics, epileptic cases, and idiots, the number of inmates amounting to 400. It is