§ MR. MOORE, in rising to draw attention to the state of the workhouse schools in Ireland; and to move—.
That, in the opinion of this House, the condition of the workhouse schools calls for the immediate attention of Government,said, that his only wonder, in bringing the matter before the attention of the House, was that the state of things he was about to describe should have lasted so long. They had in Ireland a system which had been abandoned in England, and exploded in Scotland; and he was glad to say that in the greater portion of the British Islands it was a thing of the past. He did not think if the Irish Government were represented in sufficient numerical strength in the House of Commons that that state of things could have existed. The right hon. Gentleman who presided so ably and courteously at the Irish Office was the most overworked official in Her Majesty's Service. He combined in his Office a variety of Departments, each of which required the concentrated energy of a Minister in itself. The result was that the working of the Poor Laws in Ireland was left entirely to a Board out of harmony with the sympathies of the 751 people, and in its policy dogged and dictatorial.Notice taken, that 40 Members were not present; House counted, and 40 Members not being present,
§ House adjourned at a quarter after Nine o'clock till Monday next.