stablishing a system of poor-law
in Ireland on principles the same with those of the English law, Mr.
Nicholls proceeded to consider the details of its application in that
country. It was proposed that all relief out of the workhouse should
be absolutely refused. Another point to be insisted upon, was, that no
individual of a family should be admitted unless all its members entered
the house. All relief was to be given by the orders and direction of the
central authority. With respect to the formation and regulation of
the local machinery, the report recommended that, as in England, the
appointment of guardians should be vested in the rate-payers and owners
of property in the union. A scale was proposed, by which the number of
votes possessed by an individual rate-payer might be raised from one
to five, as his rating increased from five pounds to two hundred. The
commissioners had proposed that the owner should pay two-thirds of the
rate, and that the remainder should fall on the tenant: Mr. Nicholls
thought that it would be better to divide the charge equally between the
two parties. It was not recommended to establish a parochial settlement
in Ireland, as the habits of the people were migratory: if a law
settlement should be established, it would be a union of settlement,
making the limits of the union the boundary. The simpler the conditions
on which this settlement was made to depend, it would be the better.
They might, it was stated, be limited to two--birth, and actual
residence for a term of years; but, on the whole, it would be better
to dispense with settlement altogether. One great object in the
establishment of a legal relief for the destitute would be the right it
afforded to take measures for the suppression of mendicancy. The present
state of Ireland, and the feelings and habits of the people, threw
considerable difficulty in the way of an immediate enforcement of such a
prohibition. The best method, it was stated, would probably be to
enact a general prohibition, and to cast upon the central authority the
responsibility of bringing the act into operation in the several unions,
as the workhouses became fitted for the reception of inmates. With
respect to emigration, Mr. Nicholls did not think it should be looked
to as an ordinary resource; the necessity for its adoption would be
regarded as an indication of disease, which it would be better to
prevent than thus to relieve. The source, however, would be one w