The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 35, February 27, 1841Various
History
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 35, February 27, 1841
Various
Ireland -- Periodicals
Unions, Guardians, Workhouses, and Assessment, must, by the terms of the
act, in every instance precede relief. By the 41st section it is enacted,
“That when the Commissioners shall have declared the workhouse of any
Union to be fit for the reception of destitute poor, _and not before_,
it shall be lawful for the Guardians, with the approbation of the
Commissioners, to take order for relieving and setting to work _therein_
destitute poor persons.” Thus it appears that until a workhouse be
provided, the practical benefits of the act cannot be obtained.
It may be premature at present to speak of the interior economy of the
workhouse, but we may shortly refer to the leading views put forth by
the Commissioners on the subject. They disapprove, then, we collect in
the first place, of more land being occupied in connection with the
house than may be sufficient for the purpose of a garden, or than can be
conveniently managed by the boys, or the aged and infirm men. Employment
for the able-bodied is to be provided within the workhouse, to which they
are to be strictly confined so long as they remain dependent on the Union
for support. This, in the opinion of the Commissioners, given in their
Fifth Annual Report, “Should be of such a nature as to be irksome, and
to awaken or increase a dislike to remain in the workhouse, for which
purpose corn-mills will probably be found, as in England, to be the most
effective. With the aged and infirm the case is somewhat different: they
should all be employed, but their employment need not partake so much of
the character of a test: and with the children the test is altogether
inapplicable; so long as they remain in the workhouse, they should be
taught and trained to become useful members of the community; and for
this purpose an acre or two of garden ground, in which the boys may work
and acquire habits of industry, as well as skill and strength for manual
labour, will be found extremely useful.”
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