With regard to the county infirmaries, of which [Sidenote: County infirmaries.]there were thirty-one,[44] the committee, after referring to the several Acts under which they were established,[45] state that during the last year relief had been given to 7,729 intern patients, besides other medical assistance; and that the entire incomes amounted to 54,693_l._, the whole derived from local subscriptions and grand-jury presentments, excepting 3,000_l._ (Irish currency) furnished by government. The committee recommend that the several statutes should be consolidated, and that the grand juries should be enabled to provide more than one infirmary in the larger counties, and that their presenting powers should be extended in order to guard against insufficiency in any case. An efficient audit of the accounts, and a duly authenticated Report half-yearly of all particulars connected with the hospitals, together with a regular inspection by the grand juries, are likewise recommended; and with these alterations, the committee are of opinion that “the county infirmaries of Ireland may be considered as adequate to the purposes for which they were intended.” There does not however, it is added, appear to be any reason for continuing the government grant of 3,000_l._ Aid from the public purse should, it is said, be reserved exclusively for loans and advances, “and for cases in which local funds are inadequate to the immediate discharge of a necessary duty.” ----- [44] There was an infirmary in every county excepting Waterford, where the peculiar provisions of a local Act had prevented one being erected. [45] Namely 5th George 3rd, cap. 20; 45th George 3rd, cap. 111; and 47th George 3rd, cap. 50. ----- [Sidenote: Fever hospitals and dispensaries.]