Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1849

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POOR RELIEF (IRELAND) ACT 1849

CHAPTER CIV.

An Act to amend the acts for the more effectual Relief of the destitute Poor in Ireland.[¹] [1st August 1849.]

[Preamble.]

[S. 1. rep. 55 & 56 Vict. c. 19. (S.L.R.)]

Adjustment of liabilities on alteration of limits of union or electoral division.

2. [Provision repealing in part 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56. s. 16 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)] It shall be lawful for the Commissioners for Administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland, and they are hereby required, in all cases wherein any change shall be made under the provisions of the said Act in the boundaries of any union or electoral division, to make such order under their seal as to them shall appear necessary for the adjustment of the liabilities of such union or electoral division existing at the time of change, and the proportionate share thereof to be borne by any townland or townlands affected by such change, and likewise for indemnifying any union, electoral division, or townland for any loss or exchange of property occasioned by such alteration of boundaries, and for charging on any such union, electoral division, or townland the value of any property or share thereof acquired or taken in exchange by reason of such alteration, and the expence of such indemnification as aforesaid; and the said commissioners shall be empowered to direct, if they shall see fit, the levying of any sum which it shall be necessary to raise for such adjustment, charge, or indemnification as aforesaid by special rate or otherwise on any union, electoral division, or townland, as in the said order shall be expressed; and every such special rate shall be made by the parties and in the manner to be specified in the said order, and shall be levied by all the same powers, ways, and means as are provided for the levying of rates under the provisions of the said Act, and of the several Acts amending the same, and of this Act.

Temporary appropriation of workhouse áccommodation on formation of new unions.

3. If upon the formation of any new union it shall appear to the said commissioners expedient that until sufficient workhouse accommodation shall be provided for such union, either by the erection of a new workhouse or by the adaptation of any existing buildings for such purpose, a portion of the workhouse accommodation existing in the union or unions of which any portion of such new union shall have previously formed a part should, for a limited time, be reserved for such portion of the new union, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to make such order under their seal as to them shall appear necessary for appropriating any part of the workhouse accommodation of such union or unions for the use of such portion of the new union as aforesaid, and to make such regulations for the government of such workhouses, and for the admission and discharge of paupers therefrom, for any period not exceeding three years from the formation of such new union, as under the circumstances they may think proper; and it shall be lawful for the guardians of such new union to make order for the admission of any paupers chargeable to such new union, or to any electoral division thereof, into any workhouses to which such order of the said commissioners shall apply, and for their discharge therefrom, in such numbers and according to such regulations as shall or may from time to time be prescribed by the said commissioners, and to provide for the conveyance of such paupers to or from such workhouses; and such orders of admission or discharge, made by such guardians according to the regulations prescribed as aforesaid, shall be binding on the guardians of the unions in which the workhouses are situate, and on their officers; and it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, and they are hereby empowered, from time to time to fix and determine the sum which shall be paid by such new union or any part thereof for the maintenance and clothing of the paupers chargeable to such new union or any part thereof, and the proportion of the establishment charges which shall be paid for the accommodation reserved in such workhouse, and, subject to the provisions herein-before in this Act mentioned, shall make order for the payment of such sum on the guardians of such new union, specifying the periods at which such payments shall be made, either wholly or in part; and the said commissioners may, at their discretion, from time to time suspend, alter, or rescind such orders and regulations aforesaid, or any of them: Provided always, that if any pauper who shall have been sent to any workhouse as aforesaid situate out of the union to which or to any electoral division of which such pauper is chargeable shall be discharged therefrom, either by order of the guardians or at his own request, and shall become destitute in the union in which such workhouse is situate within twelve calendar months from his discharge, the expence of his maintenance in such workhouse shall be chargeable against the union or electoral division from whence he was originally sent.

Payment by new union, how to be enforced.

4. If the guardians of any such new union shall refuse or neglect to make the payments according to the terms and at the periods prescribed by the said commissioners as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to make an order under their seal, requiring such payments to be made by the treasurer of such new union, and thereupon the treasurer of such new union shall pay to the treasurer of the union in whose behalf such order shall have been made the sums specified in the order of the commissioners, at such times and in such portions as shall be prescribed by such order, and the receipt of the treasurer appointed in such order to receive the payments prescribed shall be sufficient discharge to the treasurer of such new union for so much money paid by him, and shall be allowed in auditing and passing his accounts.

8 & 9 Vict. c. 18. incorporated with 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, and this Act, for purchase of lands for workhouses.

5. In order to enable the said Commissioners for Administering the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland to purchase and hire such lands, tenements, and hereditaments as they are by law authorized to purchase and hire for the purpose of providing workhouses in unions, the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, shall be incorporated with the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, and the Acts amending the same, and this Act: Provided always, that all things by the said first-mentioned Act required or authorized to be done by the promoters of the undertaking may be clone by any two of the said commissioners under their hand and seal.

1 & 2 Vict. c. 56. s. 19.

Qualification of guardians in different electoral divisions.

6. And whereas by the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, the said commissioners were empowered to fix the value of the qualification of persons eligible to serve as guardians of the poor, but were not empowered to fix a different qualification in value for different electoral divisions in the same union: Be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, in fixing the qualification of guardians as aforesaid, to fix a different value, if they shall see fit, for different electoral divisions of the same union, anything in the said recited Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

Justices holding property in union, but not resident, may act as ex-officio guardians in certain cases.

7. In any union in which the number of qualified justices shall on the twenty-ninth day of September in any year not be equal to the number of elected guardians, every justice of the peace acting for any county in Ireland, and otherwise qualified under the laws now in force to be an ex-officio guardian of any union within such county, and who shall be seised, possessed, or entitled for his own use and benefit of or to any lands, tenements, or hereditaments situate within such union, or in the rents and profits thereof for any life or lives in being, or for any term of twenty-one years at the least, such estate being of the yearly value of fifty pounds at the least, shall, for the year next following such twenty-ninth clay of September as aforesaid, be an ex officio guardian of such union, notwithstanding that such justice shall not be resident within the same: Provided that when the number of justices so qualified as is herein-before provided shall make the entire number of qualified justices exceed the number of elected guardians, such only of the highest rated justices, so qualified as aforesaid, shall be entitled to act as ex-officio guardians for such year as aforesaid as shall make the whole number of ex-officio guardians equal to the number of elected guardians; provided also, that any justice becoming qualified to act as an ex-officio guardian after the twenty-ninth day of September in any year shall not be entitled so to act until the twenty-ninth day of September following, if by his so acting the number of ex-officio be made to exceed the number of elected guardians in the union, but otherwise he shall be at once entitled so to act.

Electoral divisions may be united for the purpose of electing one guardian for the same. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56.

8. It shall be lawful for the Poor Law Commissioners, as and when they shall see fit, by order under their seal, to combine two or more electoral divisions of a union into one district, for the purpose of electing one guardian for such district, anything in the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, to the contrary notwithstanding; and all the provisions of the said Act, and of the said Acts amending the same, which relate to the election of guardians, shall apply to the election of a guardian for such district of electoral divisions, in the same manner as if such district were a single electoral division formed under the provisions of the said recited Act for the election of a guardian or guardians: Provided always, that no such district shall be formed for the election of more than one guardian.

Appointment of assistant guardians.

9. It shall and may be lawful for the Poor Law Commissioners, if they shall think fit, upon the request of the board of guardians of any union, to appoint one fitting and proper person to act as assistant guardian for the union so applying, in the execution of the duty of guardian for the union to which he may be appointed, in the same manner in all respects as if such assistant guardian were an ex-officio or elected guardian for such union; and the Poor Law Commissioners shall be authorized to remove such assistant guardian, and to appoint another from time to time, and, if they shall think fit, to discontinue such appointment altogether, whensoever they may consider it to be expedient to do so.

Hereditaments exempt from rating under 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56. to be rated to the extent of one half of future rates.

6 & 7 Vict. c. 92.

10. And whereas doubts have arisen whether, under the provisions of the said recited Act, persons in the receipt of rent in respect of hereditaments used for charitable or public purposes are rateable in respect of the profits derived from such hereditaments: Be it enacted, that in every rate which shall be made for the relief of the poor every person receiving rent in respect of any hereditament exempt from rating under the provisions of the said recited Act shall be liable to be rated in respect of such rent, to the extent of one half the poundage of every rate which shall be made in or for the electoral division in which such hereditaments shall be situate, and the amount thereof shall be recoverable from such person by any of the means by which the rates in respect of tenements rated under the yearly value of four pounds may be recovered directly from the lessors thereof, under the provisions of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1843, as amended by this Act.

1 & 2 Vict. c. 50. s. 74.

Occupier not to deduct from rent more than one half the amount of the rate paid.

11. And whereas by the said recited Act it is provided, that where the person occupying any property rated to the relief of the poor shall be liable to pay a rent in respect of the same, he may deduct from such rent, for each pound of the rent which he shall be so liable to pay, one half of the sum which he shall have paid as rate in respect of each pound of the net annual value (whether such rent shall be greater or less than such annual value), and so in proportion for any less sum than a pound; and it is expedient to amend the said provision: Be it enacted, that in making a deduction from such rent on account of any rate which shall be made it shall not be lawful for any occupier of property rated in or paying such rate to deduct from the rent payable in respect thereof a larger sum than one half the amount of the rate which he shall have paid in respect of such property, anything in the said Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

[S. 12 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.) Ss. 13–16 rep. 55 & 56 Vict. c. 19. (S.L.R.)]

Civil bill decree for pool rates removed into superior court to have the effect of a judgment of a superior court as to lands of defendant within the union.

17. [Recital.] All civil bill decrees for the recovery of poor rate pronounced or made by any assistant barrister in Ireland . . . or by the recorder of Dublin, shall be removable into any of her Majesty’s superior courts of law in Dublin, without any writ of certiorari or other writ or process for that purpose; and upon the production of such civil bill decree to the master of any such superior court of law, and upon production of an affidavit made by an attorney of such superior court, verifying the signature of such assistant barrister . . . or recorder to such civil bill decree, and upon payment of a fee of two shillings to such master, he shall receive and file the said decree upon a file to be kept for that purpose, and shall enter the same in a book to be kept for that purpose, which shall be open to inspection; and immediately upon the filing of such decree as aforesaid such decree shall, with respect to all lands of the person against whom such judgment or civil bill decree shall have been obtained situate within the union where such poor rate shall have accrued, be deemed a record of such superior court, and shall be of the same force and effect as a judgment recovered in such superior court, and execution and all other proceedings shall and may be had and taken thereupon, or by reason or in consequence thereof, as if such decree had been originally a judgment of such superior court; and such decree may be registered in the office of the registrar of judgments, in like manner as a judgment of any such superior court.

Registered judgments, &c. for poor rates to have priority as to lands within the union, except over crown rents, &c.

5 & 6 Vict. c 89, &c. 10 & 11 Vict. c. 32.

18. Every judgment obtained in any action or suit in any superior court of law against any person or persons for poor rates, and every civil bill decree for poor rates filed in a superior court as hereinbefore provided, shall, when the same shall have been registered in the office of the registrar of judgments, be a charge, and take priority as a charge, on all the estate and interest in any lands of the person against whom such judgment or civil bill decree shall have been obtained situate within the union wherein such poor rates shall have accrued, before all charges and incumbrances whatsoever, and wheresoever made, save and except crown rents and quit rents, rent-charges in lieu of tithes, and all charges (if any) existing under and by virtue of the Drainage (Ireland) Act, 1842, and two other Acts since passed amending the same, and all charges (if any) existing under and by virtue of the Landed Property Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1847.

Limitation of proceedings for recovery of arrears of rates against persons not primarily liable.

19. When any rate for the relief of the poor shall be made, it shall not be lawful to commence any proceeding for the recovery of any arrear thereof against any person not primarily liable to pay the same, unless within the period of two years next after the making and publishing of the said rate.

Statement as to audit of accounts of unions to be appended to annual report.

20. . . . to the annual reports required to be laid before Parliament there shall be appended a statement of the date up to which the several accounts of the unions shall have been closed and audited, together with a statement of all such charges and payments disallowed, struck out, reduced, or inserted by such auditor, and of the steps taken at law for the recovery of the same, or the enforcement of any disallowance, surcharge, or other demand founded on the auditor’s report, from any guardian, treasurer, or other person having the control of the poor rate, or any part thereof, or being accountable for any balances or any sums applicable for the relief of the poor, and the amount of such disallowances, surcharges or balances which have been recovered and paid into the hands of the treasurer of the union.

Rate books to be deposited for inspection before rate is made.

21. The guardians of the poor of the several unions shall, before the making of every rate, leave the rate books open for the inspection of any rate-payer between the hours of ten in the forenoon and four in the afternoon during fourteen days at the least before the making of every such rate, and such guardians shall give the same public notice of the deposit of such rate books for inspection as they are now required to give in relation to the making of such rates; and in all cases the names of occupiers for whom the immediate lessor is primarily liable for the payment of rate shall be inserted in the rate book.

Agent of appellant may sign notices, enter into recognizances, &c.

22. For the purpose of giving due facility of appeal against the said rates it shall and may be lawful for the known agent of any appellant, appointed in like manner as a proxy is appointed for voting in the election of guardians, to sign the notices and enter into the recognizances required by law in cases of appeal, which notices and recognizances, so signed as aforesaid, shall be in all respects as good and effectual in law as if signed by the appellant in person.

1 & 2 Vict. c. 56. s. 111.

Recognizances to try appeals under recited Act.

23. And whereas by the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, it is, amongst other things, enacted, that within five days after notice given of an appeal to the quarter sessions the person or persons appealing shall enter into a recognizance before some justice of the peace, with sufficient securities, conditioned to try such appeal at the then next sessions of the peace to be held in the presence of the assistant barrister, and to abide the order of and pay such costs as shall be awarded by the justices and assistant, barrister at such sessions: And whereas it is expedient to repeal the said provision, and to substitute another provision in lieu thereof: Be it therefore enacted, that within five days after notice given of any such appeal as in the said recited Act or any Act amending the same provided the person or persons appealing shall enter into a recognizance before some justice of the peace, with sufficient securities, conditioned to try such appeal at the sessions of the peace to which such person or persons shall have so appealed, and to abide the order of and to pay such costs as shall be awarded by the court at such sessions.

Names of persons relieved to be entered in books.

24. The board of guardians of each union shall cause the names of all persons relieved out of the poor rates to be duly entered in books to be kept, one for the union at large and one for each electoral division, and under the heads of the townlands in which they are stated to have last resided, and such books shall be open to the inspection of all persons assessed to the poor rate within the union from ten o’clock in the forenoon until four o’clock in the afternoon on one day at least in each week.

Number of persons relieved to be published weekly.

25. On each Saturday the board of guardians of every union shall cause a statement to be prepared and posted on the door of the poorhouse, showing the number of persons who shall have received relief in such union during the seven days then next preceding, and further showing the number of persons chargeable against the union at large, and against each separate electoral division.

Advances by guardians for emigration.

26. For the purposes of defraying or assisting to defray the expenses of the emigration of poor persons resident within any union or electoral division it shall be lawful for the guardians of such union, with the consent of the commissioners, to be testified under their seal, or for the persons for the time being appointed or authorized to act as guardians of such union, with such consent and so testified as aforesaid, to apply any monies in their hands arising from any rate or rates on any electoral division or divisions in defraying or assisting to defray the expences of the emigration of poor persons resident therein respectively, or to borrow and obtain from time to time any sums or sum of money from any person or persons willing to advance the same, or from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners, upon the security of the rates of such union, or of any electoral division or divisions thereof, on the terms and subject to the provisions herein-after mentioned: Provided always, that no such sums or sum of money shall be advanced by the said Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners, unless with the consent of the Treasury: Provided also, that it shall not be lawful for any paid officers appointed to act as guardians by the said commissioners to exercise the said power of applying or borrowing money for the purpose of emigration without the consent of a majority in value of the rate-payers of the electoral division or divisions to be charged the rewith, assembled in the manner provided by the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, for the purpose of agreeing to and signing an application to the said commissioners for the raising of a rate to assist emigration.

Borrowing and repayment of monies borrowed for emigration. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56.

27. The repayment of all and every such sums and sum of money so borrowed shall be from time to time secured by a charge on the said rates respectively by a debenture, made out in such form as the Poor Law Commissioners shall direct, under the seal of such guardians or persons, as the case shall require, which shall carry interest after such rate or rates as in every such charge shall be specified; and every person having any right or interest to, in, or under any such charge (save only and except the said Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners) may from time to time, by endorsement thereon or otherwise, assign his or her said right or interest therein to any other person or persons, upon first giving notice in writing of such assignment to the guardians or persons appointed or authorized to act as guardians of the said union, and thereupon such assignee or assignees, and his or their representatives or assigns, shall be entitled to stand in the place of the person assigning the same, and in respect of such right or interest: Provided always, that the sums or sum of money so to be borrowed and charged upon any electoral division or divisions as aforesaid, and remaining outstanding and unpaid, in respect of the emigration of poor persons resident or relievable within any such electoral division or electoral divisions respectively, shall never exceed in the whole the amount or proportion of eleven shillings and eight-pence in the pound of the clear yearly value of the rateable property situate or arising within the electoral division or respective divisions the rates whereof shall have been so charged with the repayment thereof, and that any sum or sums of money so borrowed and charged upon the union at large as aforesaid, and remaining outstanding and unpaid, in respect of the emigration of poor persons resident in and redevable by the union at large, shall never exceed in the whole the amount or proportion of two shillings and four-pence in the pound of the clear yearly value of the rateable property situate or arising within such union; and the sums or sum of money so to be borrowed shall be repaid by annual instalments, each instalment being not less than one seventh part of such sums or sum respectively, and the first of such instalments to he so repaid at or before the end of one twelvemonth next after the day whereon such sums or sum shall have been first advanced, and that for the purposes aforesaid it shall be lawful for the guardians or persons appointed or authorized to act as guardians of such union to provide for the repayment of such annual instalments out of the rate or rates levied in the said union under the authority of the Acts for the relief of the poor in Ireland.

Application of money raised for emigration.

28. All and every the sums and sum of money so to be borrowed and charged as aforesaid shall be from time to time applied, under the direction of the said commissioners, by the guardians or persons appointed or authorized to act as guardians of the union borrowing the same, in defraying or assisting to defray the expences connected with the emigration of poor persons resident or relievable within the respective electoral divisions or division on the rates whereof the same respectively shall have been so charged, or resident in and relievable by the union at large on the rates whereof any such charge on the union at large shall have been so charged, to any of the colonies or possessions of this realm, or to any foreign state; and it shall not be lawful for any person acting in the execution of this Act to apply or expend any such sums or sum, or any part thereof, in any other manner or for any other purpose whatsoever.

Amendment of errors in proceedings at quarter sessions.

29. For the purpose of facilitating and rendering more effectual all legal proceedings of quarter sessions or before any assistant barrister in Ireland, . . . or before the recorder of Dublin, in anyways relating to the collection or recovery of poor’s rate, or relating to appeals or other proceedings respecting rating, it shall and may be lawful for such assistant barrister, or recorder, if he shall so think fit, to correct or amend any variance, clerical error, or irregularity, not affecting the substantial merits of the question to be tried, and which may be found in the notices, recognizances, processes, decrees, or other forms or instruments of a like kind, brought before him in relation to this Act or the Acts herein-before recited.

Proceedings for rates against immediate lessors, where to be instituted.

30. In any case in which it may be necessary to institute proceedings by civil bill before any assistant barrister in Ireland, . . . or before the recorder of Dublin, against any immediate lessor primarily liable to the payment of rates for premises the occupier of which is exempted from such payment, it shall be lawful for the guardians of the poor to institute such proceedings before the assistant barrister for the county wherein the rated premises are situated, and in the division thereof wherein the same are situate; and in case the said rated premises are situated within the county of Dublin, or within the City of Dublin, then before . . . the recorder of Dublin, . . . first giving to such immediate lessor, or to his known agent or receiver of his rents, fourteen days notice of the proceeding about to be taken against him as aforesaid, by service of process; and the service of process in such civil bill on such immediate lessor, his known agent or receiver, at any place out of such division and county, or at any place out of the said county of Dublin or City of Dublin, shall be as effectual as a service of the same upon such lessor within such division, or within the said county of Dublin or City of Dublin.

Construction. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56.

31. The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838, and the Acts amending the same, and this Act, shall be construed as one Act.

[S. 32 rep. 38 &39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

[¹Short title, “The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1849.” See 55 & 56 Vict. c. 10.]