“Because—although the system of providing for the poor by means of voluntary associations, aided by the public purse, and constructed upon well-digested principles, may not succeed at once in every part of the country—yet that, so far as it does succeed, it will tend to bring the population into a sound state with respect to the poor, and will we trust gradually work its way over the face of the island, and probably supersede in many places, as the Scottish system does so extensively, the necessity of a compulsory rate. Whereas we are convinced, that although a compulsory rate might be rendered general more rapidly, and be administered by artificial means, it would every day become more difficult to manage, and tend to bring the country into a worse state than our inquiry has found it.” ----- [68] The commissioners who signed this schedule of reasons are, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Murray the Roman catholic archbishop, Rev. Mr. Carlisle, Mr. F. Hort, Mr. John Corrie, Mr. W. B. Wrightson, the Right Hon. A. R. Blake, and Mr. J. J. Bicheno. The two latter had been subsequently added to the original commission. ----- The arguments for and against establishing a system of relief in Ireland founded upon voluntary contributions, are here deliberately stated by the advocates of such a procedure on one side, and by its opponents on the other. The question is vitally important with regard to the relief of the Irish poor, and deserves the most careful consideration. If the voluntary system be susceptible of the organisation and the certainty its advocates assume, it might doubtless be made to a considerable extent available, although still open to the objection that it would operate unequally upon the absentee and the resident proprietor, upon the liberal man and the niggard. The majority of the commissioners, we see, attach much weight to the example of Scotland, where they believe the voluntary system to have “been eminently successful.” How little ground there was for such belief, is shown in the recent working of that system;[69] and as regards the combining public aid with voluntary contributions which is recommended, it may be remarked, that such a combination has always led to the whole charge being eventually borne by the public. ----- [69] See ‘History of the Scotch Poor Law.’ The number of parishes assessed to the relief of the poor in Scotland in 1855, was 700, and the number unassessed, in which the relief is raised by voluntary contributions, was 183. The latter are continually diminishing, and will probably ere long cease altogether. ----- [Sidenote: Mr Bicheno’s remarks on the evidence.]