§ MR. BAGWELLsaid, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, If his attention has been drawn to the statements made in the public journals of destitution, amounting to starvation, prevailing in certain parts of Ireland; and whether the official communications he receives from the Poor Law Commissioners justify or deny the truth of such statements?
§ SIR ROBERT PEELreplied, that his attention had been drawn to certain statements by the correspondents of the public journals. They were not, however, wholly to be depended upon, for sometimes rather exaggerated reports were published. If his hon. Friend would be good enough out of the House to mention the source from whence he derived the particular Report to which he alluded, he (Sir Robert Peel) would attend to it; but he had received no communication from the Poor Law Commissioners of the existence of a destitution amounting to starvation. No doubt there were a number of small farmers suffering under distress. A good deal of distress existed, he was grieved to say, but he had not heard of any case amounting to actual starvation.