In the year preceding 32 boards of guardians had been dissolved, and paid officers appointed to execute the law.[177] It became necessary likewise to dissolve some others in the present year;[178] but two of the preceding boards (Trim and Cavan) were revived under the provisions of the original Relief Act, and another (Mullingar) was revived under the _12th and 13th Vict., cap. 4_. By the operation of the latter Act, the boards of guardians will, on the 1st November next, be reinstated in all the unions now under the management of paid officers, except the five last dissolved, which will continue under paid officers until the 25th March 1850, unless previously re-established by order of the commissioners. ----- [177] Ante, p. 341. [178] These were Mullingar, Boyle, Cashel, Thurles, Listowel, and Tipperary. ----- [Sidenote: Sanction of out-relief.] The orders issued authorizing out-relief under the _2nd section_ of the Extension Act had, the commissioners say, been more numerous during the present year than was intended at its commencement. “But the rapid filling of the workhouses in certain unions, and the pressure of the representations of distress, left them no alternative but to intrust once more this extraordinary and exceptional power of affording relief to the able-bodied out of the workhouse, to those charged with the administration of relief in the western and south-western unions.” [Sidenote: Distressed unions.]The financial state of many of these unions was a source of continual anxiety. In the last year 23 of them had been furnished with assistance in aid of their rates, by grants from government and from the funds of the British Association, and they required like assistance in the present. The sums remitted for this purpose from time to time by the Treasury, were guarded by the condition that they should not be used in payment of debts already incurred, but be applied in purchasing the means of preserving the lives of the people, when in danger of perishing through want of the necessaries of life. There were other unions also whose finances were much embarrassed, although they had not yet received assistance; but all, whether assisted or not, are said to require perpetual watchfulness on the part of the commissioners and their inspectors. [Sidenote: The Boundary Commission.]