§ MR. SCULLYrose to put a question to the right hon. Baronet the Chief Secretary for Ireland with regard to the evictions that had recently taken place at Toomevara, where a most heartrending scene took place, 600 individuals having been dispossessed of their homes, in the midst of a dreadful storm of wind and rain. He had received accounts of this lamentable affair from an eye-witness, which fully bore out all that had appeared in the newspapers. He understood that the gentleman on whose estate these evictions had occurred, was a clergyman in the English Church, but who resided partly in England and partly in Ireland. He wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland, as one of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland, whether the board of guardians in the Nenagh union, in which these evictions had occurred, had made any provision for this large and numerous body of poor wretched individuals, and whether they had taken any steps to provide them with shelter, for he had since been informed that hundreds of them subsequently died on the high roads, in ditches, under trees, or wherever they could find shelter? Such a state of things surely ought not to continue in a Christian country. He was the more anxious to put the question he had done, because some time ago there was a memorial, very numerously signed by the ratepayers in the Nenagh union, forwarded to the Poor Law Commissioners in Dublin, complaining that the guardians of the union had refused to give outdoor relief, and that in consequence the workhouse had become so crowded that upwards of 1,000 persons died in about four months.
MR. DRUMMONDsaid, before that question was answered, he wished to ask a question of the hon. Gentleman the Mem- 1037 ber for Tipperary. A very strong attack had been made upon a gentleman with whom he (Mr. Drummond) had the honour to be acquainted, and he thought that an attack of this kind, founded on newspaper statements—[Mr. SCULLY: It is a private communication.] Well, it is the same thing. An attack of this kind ought not to be made upon an absent gentleman without giving him an opportunity to instruct some one as to his defence; and he said so the more confidently because they knew, from what the noble Lord at the head of the Government had recently stated, that they could not take all communications that came from Ireland without abatement.
§ SIR W. SOMERVILLEsaid, he had received no official information on the subject. If he understood the statement of his hon. Friend aright, it was that the board of guardians of the Nenagh union had failed to provide for those who were evicted under the provisions of the Act of last Session. In that case the guardians of the union and not the Poor Law Commissioners were the responsible parties. With regard to the memorial referred to by his hon. Friend, having had no notice of the question, he could not give an answer respecting it.
§ MR. J. O'CONNELLsaid, there was a more important question behind the present, which it would be well if the House would address itself to, and that was, whether they ought not to interfere and put a stop to the fearful system of evictions which was now going on in Ireland. An excellent Act had been passed at the end of last Session, which provided that before parties were evicted notice should be given to the relieving officer; but it was very evident, from the deaths which had occurred in consequence of these evictions, that that Act had never been brought into operation. Doubts had been attempted to be cast upon some of the accessories of these scenes, but there could be no doubt of the atrocities themselves. He held in his hand an account of some other evictions at Kilnafinch, in the same county. He trusted the Government would inquire into these facts; and if the Irish Members were, as it was said, continually misrepresenting—continually asseverating things that did not exist—let that be proved. He, for one, should be very happy to learn that these atrocities had not been committed.
§ Subject dropped.