§ MR. J. O'CONNELLdesired to put a question to the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland with respect to the present wages furnished to labourers on public works in Ireland. The right hon. Gentleman had been asked the same some nights since by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Limerick, and it had since appeared that the answer was misunderstood. The hon. Member had stated to the House that the wages to labourers in Sligo were 8d. a day, and had expressed an opinion that such a sum was inadequate to the maintenance of a family at a time when the prices of the necessaries of life ranged so high; and, in reply, the right hon. Gentleman had been understood to assert, that the wages were 14d., and not 8d. per day. It was of importance that the point should be made clear, as there was no doubt that no family could live in Sligo on so small a sum as 8d. per day.
§ MR. LABOUCHEREhad distinctly stated, when the question was asked, that a system of task-work generally prevailed in the employment of labourers on public works, and that when labourers were so employed the wages were 14d. a day. He had further said, that when task-work was not practicable, individual labourers were paid at the rate only of 8d. per day; and that, in the case of destitute families, who could not provide the proper food for themselves each day with such a sum, it had been decided that more than one member of such a family should, on application, obtain employment at the same wages. Task-work was always given when practicable, as a preferable system to employing labourers in day work; and, by the proportion of wages stated, every inducement 1241 was held out to individual labourers to make the most they could by their own exertions.