MR. DAWSONsaid, he was anxious to call the attention of the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the House to the concluding paragraph of the Report of the Select Committee of 1858 on county rates in Ireland, containing the recommendation that the Government should take into consideration the propriety of sanctioning half the medical relief expenditure of the Irish Poor Law Unions to be charged on the Consolidated Fund, in a manner similar to that practised in England and Scotland, instead of throwing the entire burden of the outlay upon the ratepayers. That Committee was composed of 534 thirteen Members, six of whom were English and Scotch, and it was presided over by the hon. Baronet the Member for East Somersetshire (Sir W. Miles). The Report of that Committee completely justified the view of the case taken by the late hon. Member for Antrim, a gentleman always remarkable for his assiduity in protecting Irish interests, who moved for that inquiry in June, 1858. He was happy to say that during the last year the State made itself responsible for the expense of certain criminal prosecutions and the maintenance of misdemeanants, as also the costs of prosecutions, and the expenses of witnesses at assizes and sessions, a burden which had been previously thrown upon the local rate-payers. He did not think it necessary to refer to that part of the Report relating to schoolmasters, in respect of whom a certain modified assistance had been given by the National Board of Education in Ireland, when the schools of the Union were placed under their inspection. He would confine himself to the case of the half medical relief in respect to which the Report stated that that Committee were of opinion that though no promise had been held out by the late Sir Robert Peel that the half medical relief in the Irish poor-law unions should be secured under the same law as that relating to England and Scotland, nevertheless, inasmuch as the system in regard to Ireland was alterered in the month of January, 1852, so as to assimilate the law of Ireland to that of England and Scotland, the Committee recommended the House to take into consideration the case of the half-cost of the medical men in those unions, with the view of throwing the payment upon the Consolidated Fund. Now, it never was alleged that any such distinct promise had been made by the late Sir Robert Peel, but it was considered but justice that this expense should be defrayed in the same manner as that of Scotland and England. The number of dispensary districts was 716, at an average cost of £45 each, being the half salary of the medical officers which varies generally from £80 to £90 per annum. The whole sum amounted to about £32,000 a year. That sum was not large, but it was still important as regarding equal justice to all parts of the United Kingdom, and the payment of which by the Consolidated Fund would give a practical relief to the poorer ratepayers. Since 1846, Ireland, until last year, received no credit for the remis- 535 sion of those local charges which were recommended by the late Sir Robert Peel, in his statement on the subject of the corn laws. He was, however, unwilling to blame the successive Governments for this omission. He thought the blame more properly rested upon the Irish grand juries, who neglected making the demand for such relief. He therefore appealed to the right hon. Gentleman for his assistance in effecting a remedy for those complaints, and for his support with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, himself a member of that Select Committee, to obtain, under the prospective financial arrangements of the nation, a parity of exemptions in the local burdens of the two countries.
MR. CARD WELLsaid, in the course of the year just expired the Treasury had given full effect to the recommendations of the Committee referred to by the hon. Gentleman, upon which they had been unanimous. With regard to the concluding paragraph of the Report to which the hon. Gentleman called his attention, he would remind him that the recommendation contained therein was only carried in the Committee by a majority of four to three, the chairman, upon whose report it was an amendment, having been precluded from voting, so that it might be said that the Committee were tolerably equally divided upon the point. The Committee, were, however, unanimous in that part of their Report regarding the financial arrangements of 1846 as to certain remissions of taxation of local rates. As regarded the expense of certain prosecutions and the maintenance of prisoners, the Government had already acted upon the recommendations. Sir Robert Peel had promised two allowances out of the Consolidated Fund to Great Britain, namely, one half, the charge of the medical officers, and one-half the charge of schoolmasters in unions. His hon. Friend (Mr. Dawson) asked for a sum of £32,000 to put Ireland in a particular respect on an equality with England; but Ireland was allowed the moiety formerly paid by the ratepayers of that country towards the maintenance of the constabulary. Pursuant to Sir Robert Peel's promise, the entire expense of the constabulary in Ireland, amounting to an annual sum of £350,000 per annum, was now paid out of the Consolidated Fund. England received no corresponding sum to that; a circumstance which he hoped his hon. Friend would consider when asking for a sum of not one-tenth that amount, on 536 the ground that Ireland ought to receive equally with England the advantage of a particular payment out of the Consolidated Fund. On the whole, he thought Ireland had no reason to complain.