§ MAJOR GENERAL ALEXANDER (for Mr. COCHRAN-PATRICK)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is the fact that, during the year which ended 29th September 1882, 465,646 persons received poor relief in Ireland; and, if there is any ground for hoping that the number of the population receiving aid from the rates, either 879 in the shape of poor relief or medical relief during the past year, will be sensibly diminished?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the method in which this Question is stated might give rise to some misapprehension. It is true that 465,646 persons received relief for the year ending the 29th of September, 1882, exclusive of the number who received medical relief, which, of course, is very different in Ireland to England or Scotland; but that number does not represent individuals, but eases. The same person is often relieved many times in the year, and each time he is relieved or enters a workhouse is put down as a fresh case. The more reliable gauge of pauperism is the average daily number receiving relief. In 1882 the average daily number receiving relief in Ireland was 109,404, in a population of about 5,000,000. In Scotland, 99,341 were receiving relief on the 14th of May, in a population of 3,773,128. In England, on the 1st of January, 803,381 were receiving relief, in a population of 25,965,000. There is, I think, some ground for hope that the number of those persons receiving relief is decreasing. I calculate it may be put at about 5,000.