318 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. 



APPENDIX I. * 



REASONS FOR RECOMMENDING VOLUNTARY ASSOCIA- 

 TIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE POOR. 



I. BECAUSE there are, and must necessarily be, conti- 

 nually arising, many cases of real destitution which can- 

 not be relieved by a compulsory assessment without bring- 

 ing claims upon it to an unlimited extent. The attempt 

 was made in England to meet all cases of distress by a 

 compulsory rate, and the consequence was, that in one 

 year the rate amounted to the enormous sum of more 

 than 7>800,000/. sterling ; and, besides the oppressive 

 amount of the assessment, it did much evil in pauperizing 

 a large portion of the labouring population of that part of 

 the United Kingdom. 



II. Because, although such cases of distress might, and 

 probably would, be relieved by spontaneous charity, yet 

 the leaving of such cases of distress to be relieved by the 

 operation of undirected benevolence inevitably leads to an 

 extensive vagrancy. If it be generally known that there 

 are many cases of real distress, for the relief of which 

 there is no public provision, the humane naturally listen 

 to applications made to them individually; the conse- 

 quence is, that the idle and dissolute avail themselves of 

 this facility of obtaining a maintenance without labour. 

 They invent tales of distress, and exhibit appearances of 

 extreme poverty and misery ; their artifices prove too fre- 

 quently successful, and the land soon swarms with va- 



* Relating to Section XXVII. of the foregoing Report. 



