REPORTS AND RETURNS . RELATING TO EVICTIONS in The KILRUSH UNION. 3}resenttu to both £ousts of 33arliament bp (Tommand of £rr ſtºaſtstp. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICR. 1849. [ 3 ] R E PO R T S AND RETURNS RELATING TO EVICTIONS in Till. K I L R U S H U N I O N. Kilrush Union. ExTRAct from Report of Captain KENNEDY :—November 25, 1847. Extract from Re port of Captain “AN immense number of small landholders are under ejectment, or Kennedy. notice to quit, even where the rents have been paid up. “The universal and minute subdivision of land may have rendered this a matter of necessity and good policy, but its immediate effect cannot fail to prove most disastrous, a great majority being determined to overhold if they can, and are in the mean time deterred from doing anything to the land. “Such wholesale proceedings must, I fear, also affect the peace of the dis trict.” ExTRACT from Report of Captain KENNEDY :—February 11, 1848. Extract from ite port of Captain “THERE is a concentration of misery and suffering in Moyarta almost Kennedy. beyond the possibility of grappling with, and daily on the increase. Some idea of this may be formed from the fact that upwards of 120 houses have been ‘tum bled' on one property within a few weeks, containing families to a greater number; many of whom are burrowing behind the ditches, without the means of procuring a shelter. The relieving officer is intelligent and active, but his duties cannot possibly be performed by any one individual. “At Carrigaholt and the division of Moyarta, misery and suffering are no less rife, and death quite as busy. “I scrutinized a list of 575 families here, and saw each individual; their lamentable state of filth, ignorance, destitution, and disease, must be seen to be comprehended. It is hopeless for the very few respectable residents to struggle against such an overwhelming mass. On one estate alone, little short of 200 houses have been “tumbled ' within three months, and 120 of this number, I believe, within three weeks! The wretched, houseless, helpless inmates, for the most part an amphibious race of fishermen and farmers, scattering disease, destitution, and dismay in every direction.” Extract from Report of Captain KENNEDY :—March 16, 1848. Extract from Re port of Captain “WE admitted a considerable number of paupers, among whom were Kennedy. some of the most appalling cases of destitution and suffering it has ever been my lot to witness. The state of most of these wretched creatures is traceable to the numerous evictions which have lately taken place in the Union. When driven from their cabins they betake themselves to the ditches or the shelter of some bank, and there exist like animals, till starvation or the inclemency of the weather drives them to the workhouse. There were three cart-loads of these creatures, who could not walk, brought for admission yesterday, some in fever, some suffering from dysentery, and all from want of food. They were imme diately handed over to the medical officer, and provided with nourishment. I leave no effort untried to mitigate their misery.” - ExTRAct from Report of Captain KENNEDY —March 23, 1848. Extract from Re Mort of Captain “Whole districts are being cleared and re-let in larger holdings. Cennedy. These measures, though productive of immediate suffering, will eventually aid the working of the law, and facilitate the collection of rates. “Many of those evicted are deserting their families, some going to America, some in search of employment. I have every reason to anticipate a very great B 2 4 REPORTS AND RETURNS RELATING TO . Kilrush Union. increase of this class within a short period. If they are all brought into the workhouse, it will soon be converted into one vast nursery; and if relieved out, it would encourage and increase the evil to an unmanageable extent. Relief, I find, was extended to this class last year under the Relief Act; and I find, from personal inquiry, that many expect it this spring." Extract from Re ExTRACT from Report of Captain KENNEDY —March 28, 1848. port of Captain Kennedy. “I HAVE the honour to inform you that the Kilrush workhouse con tained two above the authorized number, on yesterday. This rapid filling is attributable to the numerous evictions on the 25th instant and demolition of cabins. “To meet the emergency I immediately proceeded with Mr. Meagher, Vice Guardian, and selected 50 cases for discharge, principally widows with one child dependent, and some elderly widows without any. I anticipate a con siderable pressure during the next fortnight. Cabins are being thrown down in all directions, and it is really extraordinary and, to me, unaccountable, where or how the evicted find shelter.” Extract from Re ExTRAct from Report of Captain KENNEDY :—March 30, 1848. port of Captain Kennedy. “I HAVE in former reports stated my anticipation of a pressure upon the workhouse about this period, though the season and increased occupation would lead to an opposite opinion. The pressure, however, is coming, and will con tinue; and this will not surprise the Commissioners when I state my convic tion, that 1000 cabins have been levelled in this Union within a very few months. The occupants of many of these were induced to give them up on receipt of a small sum of money, and that once spent they must seek the workhouse or starve.” Captain Kennedy to Captain KENNEDY to the CoMMissionERs:—April 2, 1848. the Commissioners. THE number of evicted and houseless far exceeds the numbers who will obtain employment at this season. However discouraging it may be, I look for a steady and serious increase of destitution daily. Sixteen houses were levelled upon one small property in Kilmurry division on Monday last. The inmates of these cabins have crowded the workhouse within two days. The Commissioners The CoMMIssion ERs to Captain KENNEDY :-April 5, 1848. to Captain Kennedy. WITH regard to the 16 houses which are adverted to in your letter as having been levelled in the Kilmurry electoral division, I am to inform you that the Commissioners are desirous of receiving more detailed information; and in order to ensure greater accuracy in the statements, the Commissioners would suggest that you should ground such information entirely on evidence upon oath. Extract from Re Extract from Report of Captain KENNEDY :—April 6, 1846. port of Captain Kennedy. “A TIMELY well organized and well superintended labour test, in and out of doors, is the only hope of stemming the torrent. The destitution in degree and character are, I trust, unknown elsewhere; improvident, ignorant, thriftless parents, scarcely human in habits and intelligence, only present them selves with 9 or 10 skeleton children, when they themselves can no longer sup port the pangs of hunger, and their wretched offspring are beyond recovery : the state of this Union must be seen to be believed or comprehended. I some times feel despair when I see the trifling impression my unceasing efforts can effect in its amelioration, aided as I am by the Commissioners' support and a º administration of the law; the fact is everything is left to the law a 10Ile. “There are none to assist, however many there may be to pervert or obstruct it when possible. “Hundreds of instances occur where an acre of land worth 15s. is let for 3!, and the occupiers, in default of full payment, bound to give 140 days’ labour to his lessor during spring and harvest, when the occupier himself requires them most ; this would (valuing his labour at 8d. per day) amount to 4!. I3s. EVICTIONS IN THE KILRUSH UNION. 5 “The same system obtains as to the letting of cabins; 100 or 120 days labour, Kilrush Union. during the only period the wretched labourer would earn, is exacted for a cabin, worth perhaps 7s.6d. a-year. “The occupiers, having thus pauperized the labouring class, get their work done for nothing, and complain of rates. I think I could show that the sum required to keep the paupers in this Union would, if expended in labour, keep the people and pay 20 per cent. Employment or wages there is none. “While hundreds are being turned out houseless and helpless daily on one small property in Killard division, no less than 23 houses, containing probably 100 souls, were tumbled in one day, 27th March. I believe the extent of land, occupied with these 23 houses did not exceed 50 acres. The suffering and misery attendant upon these wholesale evictions is indescribable. The farmers and occupiers in the neighbourhood take advantage of these occurrences, get their labour done in exchange for food alone, to the member of the family he employs, till absolute starvation brings the mother and helpless children to the workhouse. This is the history of hundreds. “The number of houseless paupers in this Union is beyond my calculation; those evicted crowd neighbouring cabins' villages, and disease is necessarily generated. On its first appearance the wretched sufferer, and probably the whole family to which he or she belongs, is ruthlessly turned out by the road side. The popular dread of fever or dysentery seems to excuse any degree of inhumanity. The workhouse and temporary hospital are crowded to the utmost extent they can possibly contain; the crowding of the fever hospital causes me serious anxiety. The relieving officer has directions to send no more in, yet, notwithstanding this caution, panic-stricken and unnatural parents fre quently send in a donkey load of children in ſever a distance of 14 or 15 miles for admission.