194. REPORT— 1869. 



Poor-law iu Ireland till 1838. The parish vestry was found a couvenient orga- 

 nization in Eng-land, and a number of other rates, for purposes unconnected with 

 the relief of the poor, are therefore assessed and collected with the Poor-rate. In 

 Ireland, the parish vestry did not exist as a financial committee, and Church- 

 rates were abolished iu 1833. A distinct machinery is therefore found in Ireland 

 for the collection of each separate tax. 



Grand-Jm-y Cess is the most important and most ancient local tax in Ireland. 

 Its purposes, generally speaking, con-espoud to those of the County-rate, Hun- 

 dred-rate, Police-rate, &c. in Eugiaud. In the earliest attempts to raise a 

 County-rate in Ireland the machinerj' of the parish was resorted to (11 & 12 

 Jac. I. c. 7), but the later enactment (10 Car. I. c. 26. sec. 2) authorized the 

 justices of the county to malce the rate with the assent of the Grand Jury. This rate 

 was substantially a copy of the English Act of 22 Hon. '^'III., with the exception 

 of the provision requiring the assent of the Grand Jury. This provision was the 

 point of departure from which the systems subsequently diverged. In 183G, Pre- 

 sentment Sessions were created as a check on the grand jury. A Session is held for 

 each barony (a district about the size of a hundred in England), composed of the 

 magistrates of the county and a number of cess-payers chosen by ballot. Pre- 

 sentments must be passed by the Session before they are submitted to the Grand 

 Jury. 



The late Committee of the House of Commons (18G8) on the Grand Jurv Pre- 

 sentments, considered the propriety of substituting elective Baronial and County 

 Boards for the Sessions and Grand Jury. But they have recommended the con- 

 tinuance of the present system with modifications, which would make the Sessions 

 more representative of the general body of cess-payers. 



Grand-Jury Cess is applied to the purposes for which County-rate, Hundred- 

 rate, and Police-rate are applied in England. It also contributes to the sup- 

 port of fever hospitals, lunatic asylums, and reformatories, and pays the cost of 

 witnesses for the Crown. Some of these charities would appear more properly pay- 

 able out of the Poor-rate, but they were established when there was no Poor-rate in 

 Ireland. Tlie Committee on Grand Jury Presentments have recommended that 

 compensation for malicious injury (corresponding to the Hundred-rate) should be 

 limited in amount to £100, and tliat the holding of the injured person should bo ex- 

 empt from contribution. The charge of the Police or Grand-Jury Cess is now con- 

 fined to the cost of extra police in disturbed districts. The cost of the Irish consta- 

 bulary is paid out of the Consolidated Fund since 1847 ; a boon given to Ireland 

 as compensation for loss which it was expected would be sustained by the aboli- 

 tion of the Corn Laws. As to its incidence, Grand-Jury Cess is divisible into two 

 parts, one for general objects levied off the county, and one for objects of a more 

 local character levied oil" the barony. It is assessed, applotted, levied, and col- 

 lected by the Grand Jury and their officers, and is iu eveiy way distinct from all 

 other taxes. It is a first charge on the land and hereditaments, and not, like the Poor- 

 rate, assessed on the occupiers. The tax is, however, payable by the occupier, and 

 by him only, as the landlord pays no portion of it, unless he occupies the pre- 

 mises. The Committee of tlie House of Commons have recommended that in 

 future the payment of Grand-Jury Cess should be divided between the owners 

 and occupiers of land. 



Until 1838 there was no Poor-law in Ireland. The Irish Poor-law may be 

 generally described as fettering its administrators more as to general outdoor 

 relief, and less as to medical relief, than the English Poor-law. It is payable 

 by the landlord and the occupier in equal portions. The electoral divisions of the 

 Irish Union correspond in size to the average English parish, and forms an inde- 

 pendent district for the purposes of assessment of the rate. Union rating, now in- 

 troduced into England, was the principle of the original Irish Bill, but the House 

 of liords substituted electoral rating. 



The Acts for tlie goveruuicnt of towns are similar to the English -Vets for the 

 same purpose, but, in respect of many provisions, are considerably behind them. 

 Two important steps towards consolidation have lately been made in Ireland. In 

 the counties of the cities of Dublin, Limerick, and Cork, the powers of Grand 

 Juries of the city taxation have been transferred to the Corporations, and the im- 



