RELIEF OF THE POOR. 333 



but in inducing the majority of wealthy proprietors and 

 inhabitants to contribute to the support of institutions so 

 meritorious, and so freed from even a suspicion of blame. 



VII. Because the Mendicity Institutions of Dublin, 

 Limerick, Newry, Birr, Sligo, Waterford and London- 

 derry, as well as the voluntary poor's fund established in 

 some of the rural districts, afford strong proofs of the in- 

 efficiency of the support afforded to these institutions ; for, 

 although they have not totally failed, yet their subscrip- 

 tions are falling off, and they are by no means adequate 

 to the relief of the objects they contemplate. 



In Londonderry, one of the most prosperous, "The 

 Committee find the subscriptions stationary ; persons of 

 property are to be found who either refuse to subscribe, 

 or give sums very disproportionate to their means, and in 

 consequence the funds fall very far short of the demands 

 on them/' 



VIII. Because the present mode of establishing and 

 maintaining dispensaries where the public contribution 

 depends upon the formation of a voluntary fund, strongly 

 exhibits the partial workings of the system. These insti- 

 tutions have been too frequently established, less with a 

 regard to the wants of the poor, than to making a suitable 

 provision in a favoured district for a well-educated medi- 

 cal practitioner. The evidence shows that dispensaries 

 do not exist, either in number or in distribution, ade- 

 quate to the necessities of the population. If the rich 

 refuse or neglect to subscribe, the poor are left totally 

 neglected ; if, on the other hand, the contributions are 

 liberal, then the district is taxed more in proportion to 

 the amount subscribed by wealthy, and often interested 

 individuals, than with reference to the fuller relief of the 

 objects of these institutions. 



