(NO. 26.) THIRD READING. (Hansard, 8 March 1880)

LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNE

wished to make a few observations before the Bill was read a third time, as he, unfortunately, had not been able to 548 be present when the discussion took place on the last occasion on which the measure was before their Lordships. He thought Boards of Guardians would be acting very foolishly if they acted as the noble Lord (Lord Emly) had described on Friday; and he also thought it was right in the Government to supplement relief given under the Poor Law system. He knew that the distress was very severe in some places, and that large sums had been spent by charitable persons in alleviating the distress. At the same time, he thought it was of the utmost importance that charitable relief should be so arranged that it should act pari passu with the relief given by the Poor Law; because he believed that it was highly important that too much relief should not be given. He found it had been mentioned by the noble Lord (Lord Emly) that in Donegal there were a great many families receiving relief, and that the distress was far more serious than had been anticipated. But there was also another matter to which he wished to allude. With respect to the state of Ireland, it had been said the other night that crime was much less prevalent in the 10 years ending 1868 than it was in the 10 years ending 1878. That was so, and it was a fact to which he had called their Lordships' attention very often, and the reason was that in the former period there were two Peace Preservation Acts in force of a very stringent character. Since those Acts had not been in force crime had steadily increased. He did not think any noble Lord, no matter on what side of the House he sat, would venture to say that the present state of Ireland was satisfactory. During the last five or six months there had been immense monster meetings called together for the purpose of urging the tenants, by force or fraud, to evade paying their just rents. He had no doubt that the Government were well aware of the fact that these meetings were not decreasing. Only yesterday, in the neighbourhood in which he lived, there was a meeting, which was called for the purpose of convincing the tillers of the land that the soil belonged to them, and there were printed threatening notices served on the whole of the population—he might say the whole of the householders, extending to some of his own personal servants. He considered that to be a 549 most unfortunate state of things. In the neighbourhood he spoke of, he and many other proprietors had borrowed money and were employing it. The landlords had, independently of the Poor Law, got seed for the people, and reductions of rent had been general, whilst, in many cases, large portions of rent had not been paid at all. It was remarked the other day by the noble Lord (Lord Emly) that it should be shown to the people of Ireland that property had its duties as well as its rights; but he would ask Her Majesty's Government to show that property had its rights as well as its duties. The Government had passed a measure for the feeding and employment of the people, and he asked the Government to show the people of Ireland that they must keep the law. Only lately process servers had been stopped and turned away by gangs of women and children, who took their processes away, and it had become necessary to send an escort of armed men with the process-servers. This was bringing the law into contempt, and he hoped the Government would take care to see that the law was carried out and respected.